I'm a big MRC kasasian fan.

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.

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6 people found this helpful

Ummm… ok

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.

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3 people found this helpful

characters

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

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Masterful storytelling

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

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a very honest review

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.

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9 people found this helpful

It's good. But is it good enough?

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.

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4 people found this helpful

entertaining but meandering

Loved the Sidney Grice series, liked the Betty Church stories, but bit ambivalent about this one. I found the story and setting interesting, the main characters likeable but the style of writing off putting. The constant interruptions by fictional characters in the hero's head with sarcastic and/or inane conments became tiresome and distracting.

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Funny and Fascinating

Kasasian is a charactersmith (if the word didn't exist before it's worth coining for him) of the first water. His imagination must be as teeming with characters as his eponymous heroine Violet Thorn.

I have loved his former novels and I love this just as much. I can't get enough of his originality or his invention, and I hope he continues creating hilarious atypical characters and their equally eccentric escapades forever (or at least until he draws his last breath).

My favourite character in this is Gerrund. He is my new book boyfriend.

Emma Gregory is as brilliant as always and these novels must be a delight to read as they are to listen to.

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Disappointing

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!

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1 person found this helpful

I’m a big MRC Kasasian fan

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.

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