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The Horror of Haglin House

The Violet Thorn Mysteries 1

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The Horror of Haglin House

By: M.R.C. Kasasian
Narrated by: Emma Gregory
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About this listen

Home is where the horror is...

Jilted thriller writer Lady Violet Thorn has withdrawn to the Suffolk market town of Montford with two servants and her leading character, the adventuress Ruby Gibson, for company.

Violet’s peace is disturbed when a stranger asks her for help, claiming that a friend is being kept prisoner in her own home. Her visitor seems so afraid that Violet, despite her scepticism, is persuaded to investigate.

A woman is killed outside Violet’s house, then another murdered in the town and, as the deaths mount up, she becomes convinced that they all lead to one place: the increasingly forbidding Haglin House, and whoever lives there...

M.R.C. Kasasian returns with a fresh, witty and totally enthralling take on the classic crime genre, perfect for fans of Anthony Horowitz, M. C. Beaton and Oscar De Muriel.

Martin Kasasian was raised in Lancashire. He has had careers as varied as a factory hand, wine waiter, veterinary assistant, fairground worker and dentist. He is the author of two previous historical mystery series including the Gower Street Detective series.

©2023 SAGA Egmont (P)2023 SAGA Egmont Amateur Sleuths Detective Historical Mystery Private Investigators Fiction Witty Scary

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All stars
Most relevant  
I enjoyed this latest outing. However, I must agree with previous comments. I would have loved to have seen another Sydney Grice or Betty Church book appear. Hopefully, this will be in the pipeline. Another outstanding narration by Emma Gregory.

I'm a big MRC kasasian fan.

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I just don’t know what to think. I didn’t dislike it, but I have to agree with other reviewers, I would rather have had another Betty story. Emma Gregory makes it listenable, but were there bits cut out or bad editing… it seemed disjointed.

Ummm… ok

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i liked the story very witty and read by a brilliant narrator am looking forward to the next book in the series

characters

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M R C Kasasian has created vivid, warm, funny protagonists and dastardly antagonists in each series of books, and the callbacks and cross references are always satisfying… the plots are as air tight as a lead-lined coffin and Emma Gregory really brings these books to life with her incredible range of voices (is this really the work of one person??)… I highly, highly recommend these audiobooks

Masterful storytelling

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I will try to be as honest as possible here.
is this my favourite Kasasian story - no.
would I have rather spent another adventure with March or Betty - yes (iykyk).
is this still better than 90% of other fiction writing out there - yes.
is it worth your money - yes.

I did not warm to the main character in quite the same way as previous Kasasian novels but this remains a well written novel with a strong multi dimensional female lead and even on a bad day Kasasian walks all over most authors of similar genre. there is some reassuringly good Kasasian-esque stuff in here it just didn't quite do it for me in the same way as all the previous books. I should caveat this by saying Kasasian is one of my favourite authors and I have repeatedly read every single other one of his books over and over again they are that good. go try out the Gower St Detectives or Betty Church mysteries before you come to this one. Emma Gregory faultless as always on narration.

a very honest review

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For most of 2022 and 2023 I was eagerly anticipated the fourth book in the Betty Church series as the fabulous ‘The Ghost Tree’ left us dangling. And so I was disappointed to see that we were actually getting a new series.

What? No...!!

Oh well, it’s M. R. C. Kasasian. It’s going to be brilliant, right?

‘The Horror of Haglin House’ is good. Very good in places. The new central character, the diminutive Lady Violet Thorn, is as likeable as she is quirky, and the dark humour we’ve come to expect drips from every line. Emma Gregory (thank God the new publishers retained her services!) gives another 5-star performance. But, somehow, all this was not enough. It seems Sidney Grice, March Middleton and Betty Church set the bar too high. On the strength of this outing, the diminutive Lady Violet Thorn could walk under it without knocking her bonnet off.

It's good. But is it good enough?

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Lovely Emma Gregory made me finish this but I didn’t enjoy the book. The protagonist didn’t come to life for me. Please may we have more Betty Church!

Disappointing

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I’m a huge fan of MRC Kasasian’s work - always reading new books in one go and enjoying them enormously. This book took me a month to finish. And I agree with most comments - the story was…difficult to follow, the multiple narratives were confusing and unnecessary. I’d much rather follow one of the previous protagonists- Betty or Sidney. The narration was excellent and somewhat saved this book for me. But I probably won’t be buying any further books in this series. It is very rare than an audio book gives me a headache…this one has sadly managed to several times.

I’m a big MRC Kasasian fan

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Sadly this became a bit of a long winded struggle.
I loved previous bookings and Martin R. C. Kasasian such a good writer but for me this one wasn't as good as the others. It's still very good but the protagonist was

Good

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Though it is undoubtedly clever and witty, and despite a skilled narrator, I feel I should have read rather than listened to this book. The persistent interventions of the voices of the protagonist’s characters from her own fiction becomes annoying and is over-contrived. I have enjoyed other titles by this author - just a matter of taste.

Narrative strategy over-contrived

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