Murder in the Grotto’ by Amy Myers

Published by Severn House,
6 May 2025.
ISBN: 978-1-4483-0999-3 (HB)

Cara Shelley is happy running her café, the Happy Huffkin, situated in the grounds of Tanton Towers in Kent. Tanton Towers is the property of Max Farran Pryde and his wife, Alison, and Cara loves the quirky stately home, with its eccentric architecture. She knows that her contribution to making the Towers a successful tourist venue is appreciated by Max and Alison, however, she feels wary when she is invited for a meeting in the family wing of Tanton Towers, because she knows that Max’s aunt is visiting them. Cara is grateful to Lady Izzie, who advised Max and Alison to accept Cara’s proposal to open the Happy Huffkin, but she knows that her ladyship can be both eccentric and forceful. Cara’s instinct for trouble is correct. Lady Izzie announces that she is the honorary president of the Tanton Ghost and Phantom Society, and she is planning a celebration of their twentieth confirmation of a ghost sighting, to honour her nephew, Thomas Chalcott, the previous chair of the society, who had died of a heart attack, ten years ago, on the morning after an overnight ghost hunt in the grotto.

Max and Alison had thought that Lady Izzie was planning a grand dinner for the society members, and had summoned Cara to discuss the catering, but they are taken unawares when her ladyship announces that after the meal, they will hold an overnight ghost hunt in the grotto. The Tanton Towers grotto is one of the most spectacularly eccentric features of an architecturally remarkable house, but despite Max’s protests, Lady Izzie is adamant. At first Cara is amused by Lady Izzie’s determination, and she is looking forward to the first evening event the Happy Huffkin has catered. She is less happy when Max and Alison insist that Lady Izzie will not sleep in the grotto, and she pressurises Cara into attending at least the start of the ghost hunt in her place. Cara does not think that she believes in ghosts, but Lady Izzie’s request makes her shudder. Her fears increase when Lady Izzie reveals that she is convinced that her nephew had been murdered and she believes his ghost will appear to reveal the identity of his killer.

Despite her misgivings, Cara tries to find out about Thomas Chalcott and talks to the present members of the society. Lady Izzie assures her that everyone likes the chairman, Berowne Dyer, and Cara has to admit that he is very charming. However, soon she discovers that Berowne is a womaniser and that many of the society members are angry and resentful that Berowne, a comparative newcomer, ‘stole’ the job of chair from more established members when Thomas resigned.

The dinner and the start of the ghost hunt passes successfully, despite verbal sniping between the society’s members and an inflammatory speech by Lady Izzie. Cara feels relieved when she has overseen the start of the ghost hunt and returns home to her cottage for the night. However, in the morning she discovers that a violent death has occurred. Some time ago, when another murder had happened at Tanton Towers, Cara had helped to solve it, and she had started a relationship with DCI Andrew Mitchem, but when Mitchem was posted overseas the romance fizzled out. To her dismay, Mitchem has just returned from abroad and is the Senior Investigating Officer. All of Cara’s old feelings for him surge back, but she is unsure whether Mitchem reciprocates. Lady Izzie’s bulldozer tactics push Cara into continuing her investigation into Thomas Chalcott’s death, and Mitchem says he has no objection as long as she avoids the current murder investigation.

As Cara interviews the surviving members of the society, she is conscious of a constant fear that somebody is secretly watching her. Lady Izzie’s grand plan culminates in a ghost tour of Tanton Towers, led by Cara, who has been studying the ghost stories that abound around the historical house. At the end of it, despite Lady Izzie’s histrionics, Cara is relieved that her quest can be declared finished, but it seems the killer has other ideas, and Cara is in more danger than she realises.

Murder in the Grotto is the second book in the series featuring Cara Shelley, Andrew Mitchem, and the other inhabitants of Tanton Towers and the Happy Huffkin Café. This is an excellent addition to the series, with a delightful unconventional setting, an engaging cast of eccentric characters, and an ongoing relationship story between the two protagonists. Murder in the Grotto is an enjoyable cosy crime novel, which I recommend for anyone who enjoys gently-paced, quirky crime fiction.
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Reviewer: Carol Westron

Amy Myers was born in Kent, where she still lives. For many years she worked as a director in a London publishing firm, before realising her dream to become a writer. Her first series featured detective, August Didier, a half French, half English master chef in late Victorian and Edwardian times. She also writes a series with her American husband James Myers, featuring Jack Colby, car detective, there are 8 books in the series. Her most recent series is set post WW1, featuring chef-sleuth Nell Drury. There are three books in this series.  She has also written nine books featuring Marsh and Daughter, and in between a series about a Victorian chimney sweep Tom Wasp. Amy also writes historical novels and suspense under the name Harriet Hudson.  

http://www.amymyers.net/  

Carol Westron is a Golden Age expert who has written many articles on the subject and given papers at several conferences. She is the author of several series: contemporary detective stories and police procedurals, comedy crime and Victorian Murder Mysteries. Her most recent publications are Paddling in the Dead Sea and Delivering Lazarus, books 2 and 3 of the Galmouth Mysteries, the series which began with The Fragility of Poppies.  

www.carolwestron.com