The Body at Rookery Barn by Kate Hardy

Reviewed by Nas Dean

THE BODY AT ROOKERY BARN by author Kate Hardy is an October 2023 release from Storm Publishing.

Georgina is a widow and lives alone. So, she gives a cottage out for rent to tenants. But what she never expects is to find the body of a guest in the cottage. And she is the prime suspect as she was the last person to see him alive. She needs to find the real killer now to clear her own name.
Detective Colin investigates but what was Georgina hiding from him? He intends to find out all her secrets. But he also wants to take her to dinner.

THE BODY AT ROOKERY BARN is well written, engaging and full of emotion, craziness and joy. Georgina and Colin are just perfect, each afraid, scared and just trying their best each day. Author Kate Hardy fans of strong character development and life-affirming stories will enjoy this wild ride. It is a delightful sense of humor and understanding…make this a riveting story.

A captivating cozy mystery. Colin doesn't do commitment and he doesn't lose control but when he is with Georgina, he goes out of his mind, and he wants things he knows he can't have. The tension, banter, mystery, suspense, chemistry and the slow burn romance in this book was top notch. An absolute pleasure to read.

Highly recommended for all readers of romance.

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Reviewed by Janie

I'm not normally a mystery book reader, but I enjoyed this story. Who would've thought that the small town of Little Wenborough, in rural Norfolk, would lead to a dead body in a rental property? Georgia Drake finds the dead body of University professor Roland Garnett. Now she's a person of interest in that murder so it's up to her to try and clear her name.

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Reviewed by Patty Duplechin

If you love a good mystery that you can’t put down, this one’s for you. When Georgina Drake lost her husband two years earlier, she decides to move to a new place because of the sad memories. Little Wenborough is a small sleepy town in rural Norfolk, England. Perfect place to start over. She also a freelance photographer. 

She travels a lot for her work. Georgina uses her barn as a rental place for vacationers. When she goes to clean the place since her guest was supposed to leave, she finds the body of him. Since she’s the last to see him, she becomes a suspect along with her gardener, the woman who comes in and cleans, and the woman who cooks and delivers meals to her guest from her restaurant. 

Granted Professor Garnett, was not nice but didn’t deserve to die by a deadly Orleander poisoning. Who could have done it? Each one had a bad experience with him but knew he would be leaving soon. Between trying to clear their names to say and their businesses, Georgina finds she has a ghost. She’s the only one who can hear her. Can she help the ghost find her way back? 

The ghost who’s name is Doris and Georgina have become close, so she decides to help Doris too. Lots of crime keeps adding up but so do clues. Georgina and her friends become sleuths. DI Colin Bradshaw is not happy with them getting involved. 

There are so many people who dislike so much, can they figure out who it is? It has twist and turns and I loved that I couldn’t figure it out. Worth the read. Kate Hardy really did a great job with this book. My first read by her and it won’t be the last. I received this book for my honest review. I gave it voluntarily.

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Reviewed by Antoneth Petrache

"I don't know when or how it's going to happen, but it's going to happen, and I'm a true believer."
Cleaning the name of a person is not easy thing to do but the truth will set you free...
but one lie can keep the truth can destroy one life can change everything
you can change the future if you are brave enough to do that you can do that if you want to! Mistake can give us a challenge to be a better person.

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The Body at Rookery Barn

A Georgina Drake Mystery #1

Kate Hardy

Reviewed by Helen

What a great start to a new series, a new genre for romance author Kate Hardy and it was fabulous, I loved meeting Georgina Drake, freelance photographer who has moved to the village of Little Wenborough a year ago after the loss of her husband, she has two adult children Will and Bea and now she has a beautiful property with a rental, the Rookery Barn, never did she expect to find the body of a guest.

Moving to Norfolk has been very good for Georgina, she has made some wonderful friends and is settling in well, but when she arrives to clean the barn after her guest has departed, someone is telling her not to enter, who and why, who is talking to her, upon opening the door she realises why, her guest is dead.

She is stunned and shaken by her discovery, she already knows that Dr. Roland Garnett was not a very nice man and to have a woman talking to her that she cannot see, what is happening, the police arrive and questions are asked it appears that Georgina was the last to see him alive and the one to find him dead and she now is a suspect.

Detective Inspector Colin Bradshaw is on the case, he needs to do find the killer and starts his investigation with gusto after the cause of death is revealed as poisoning and soon not only is Georgina a suspect but her close friends, Sybbie, Cesca and Jodie are as well and they decide that they need to clear their names and together they too are doing their own investigation, which then puts Georgina in danger.

Georgina and Colin are soon becoming friends and are also sharing clues and there are many suspects and working out who the killer is turns in many directions, will they get their man or woman?

I thoroughly enjoyed this cozy mystery and would highly recommend it to anyone who loves to join in solving the murder, and I am really looking forward to book two and getting back to the beautiful village of Little Wenborough and another mystery to solve, I loved the setting and the characters, a must read.

My thanks to Storm Publishing and Netgalley for my copy to read and review.

5 stars

October 24, 2023 by Storm Publishing