D.S. NELSON - HATS OFF TO MURDER

Synopsis/blurb….

Hats Off To Murder - A Novelette:

'A milliner must understand his client, capture their personality and crown them with it.'

Blake Hetherington is no ordinary Milliner. Fascinated by human nature, he is not content with simply selling hats; he must know his customer. Two deaths, a sudden disappearance, and a visit from Miss Delilah Delibes, set the man milliner on the path to solving a mystery. But what lies beneath the hat? Can a milliner discover the truth?

A shrewd and sometimes intolerant widower; Blake has a big heart, a true sense of justice and weakness for the damsel in distress. Often finding himself on a 'sea of assumptions without a paddle of truth', he carefully and methodically gathers the evidence to solve the mystery. The odd glance, the chance meeting or the peculiar habits of his customers all lead him to the answer.

About The Author:

D S Nelson's introduction to murder came from Agatha Christie. Her inquisitive Miss Marple, of St Mary Mead, and very Belgian Poirot, with his 'little grey cells', captured her imagination from a young age. The intellectual and astute Sherlock Holmes, of Arthur Conan Doyle's detective fiction, is also a clear influence in her writing.

With a passion for cosy murder mysteries, her writing includes cosy crime novelettes, and short stories. She is currently working on the Blake Hetherington series of mystery books, the first of which is 'Hats Off To Murder.'

Another new author for me and having taken my eye off this particular ball my first female author this month. A long short story or a short novella…or a novelette take your pick.

Interesting up to a point, I really enjoyed Blake Hetherington when he was imparting wisdom from the confines of his milliners shop. The short chapters on the various customers and their particular hat choice was amusing and informative – not being a hat person myself.

The back end of our tale slightly less so, for this reader. I enjoyed our main character less when he was drawn out from his usual abode and was investigating the fates befalling his various customers. Slightly less believable in my opinion.

If challenged I would read more from this author in the future, though probably not about this particular character if I’m honest. It was enjoyable enough and a decent way to pass an hour or so when not in the mood for a more complex read. The story and tone of the narrative was a million miles away from my usual fare and was a trip to the gentler end of the crime fiction spectrum, but it was an entertaining trip nevertheless.

DS Nelson has written more Blake Hetherington tales and this particular piece ends with the first chapter or two of the next installment. Her website is here.

3 from 5

Bought recently on Amazon for Kindle.

In a last ditch effort to salvage something from my year’s reading and at least get close to my target number of books I’m loading the back end of the year with a lot of shortish items from my Kindle and various bits and pieces I have lying around.