Mystery on Hidden Lane: An Utterly Gripping Cozy Mystery Novel

An Eve Mallow Mystery, Book 1

By: Clare Chase

Narrated by: Eilidh Beaton

Meet Eve Mallow: an American far from home, a professional busybody...and an amateur detective?

Seasoned obituary writer Eve Mallow has a new assignment: to tell the life story of famed musician Bernard Fitzpatrick. A chance to spend a few days in the sweet little village of Saxford St. Peter, walking the country lanes with her beloved dachshund, Gus, and meeting new people sounds like a dream. But it turns out that Bernard’s life was much less interesting than his death. On the day she arrives, news breaks that the charismatic cellist was the victim of a grisly murder. Could this quaint English village be hiding a dark secret?

As Eve starts to interview Bernard’s friends and colleagues, she finds that he’d ruffled a few feathers. In fact, from the keepers of the Cross Keys Inn to his own staff at High House, there’s barely a person in town who doesn’t have some reason to hate him.... Is one of the friendly villagers a cold-blooded killer?

Eve hoped Saxford St. Peter would be the perfect escape from her busy city life. But there is darkness even in the most sunlit of settings. And when a second body is found, Eve becomes certain that one of the people she’s met must be the murderer. She has never done any detective work before...but is there something in her notes that can crack the case?

©2020 Clare Chase (P)2020 Bookouture

Charming Cozy Mystery

Was fun to follow the main character as she researched an obit for a successful classical musician in a seaside community. The twist. Shorty after she arrives to his town the news breaks that he was murdered. Her work then has a dual purpose: to learn about the man and find his killer. Good characters. Good pacing. Keeps you listening. Recommended!

Gripping Musician Mystery

Enjoyed it very much. T character studies were unique and detailed. The occupation of the main character is absolutely a first for me and simply makes the story more different . It also made me enjoy this main characters deep take on every person with whom she became involved.

Pretty Good

Overall, a good story but it could have been told in half the # of pages. Enjoyed the characters and truly enjoyed the narration.

Too much time on detail

Series could be good if it focuses more on mystery. Too much of book one is spent on filler, such what Eve wore and why. Some focus would be fine, but fashion choices shouldn't take up as much time as clues.

not awful but not good either

storyline was dumb, narration is highly subjective but for me this narrator was too monotonous and mechanical. Often telling you thoughts, motives, emotions without any feeling or emotion whatsoever. I won't be purchasing this series. Frankly, it was tough to get through and the characters were wholly undeveloped so one couldn't care less about them. I truly never related to any of the characters, they were all much too thin to have any information on them so how could you care? and if you don't care about the characters then you really don't care who did it and why.

Not my favorite.

Struggled to finish. Did not hold my attention. will not be listening to remainder of series.

Impossible to listen to at normal speed

It”s a good book, rendered almost unlistenable by the narration. At 1x the reader’s voice is intolerable…speedy, squeaky, and also somehow saccharine … i tried 9.5… then 9… wound up listening to the whole thing at an unbelievable 8.5
At which speed …EXTREMELY slowed -down, i realized the reader actually has a fine voice- you’d almost say a lovely voice. (!!!!!?)

Obituary Writer and a Mean Musician

I found this English cozy mystery charming, even though it was slow paced. I really like the townsfolk, with their quirks and their quick wit, and I took to Eve, the Obituary Writer/Teacher right away. The subject of her obituary was a heel to be sure, but a talented and famous one, and digging into his life and past took Eve into some strange places and circumstances. I thought it was funny that the little town thought Eve was American even though she clearly had lived in England most of life and her father was English. Having an American mother marked her as coming from the US. Yet they embraced her warmly. I didn’t figure out who the killer was until nearly the end. Fun series that I will continue 😊

Gripping Cozy Listen

Mystery on Hidden Lane by Clare Chase pulled me in immediately. I loved the imagery the author wrote in this cozy mystery. The story features Eve who is starting over and her dog Gus. I found the characters to appeal to me. The descriptions and emotions were so fitting. The twists were unexpected and very well done. Eilidh Beaton, is a new narrator to me. Her accent and voice were perfect for this book. She added the right emotions and tone to her performance.

Could have been shorter

Nearly gave up on the story b/c it seemed to drag on and on. Wasn't until Chapter 33 that it started to pick up and get to the nitty gritty of clues to whodunit. However, author creates wonderful characters descriptions. Narrator was good.