Deadly Desires at Honeychurch Hall

In Dennison’s droll second whodunit set in Devon (after 2014’s Murder at Honeychurch Hall), Kat Stanford, who describes herself as a “former TV celebrity of sorts” for her stint hosting the show Fakes & Treasures, was planning to start an antique business with her mother, Iris. But Iris (who secretly writes torrid romance novels under the alias Krystalle Storm) is now preoccupied with a local campaign opposing a new high-speed rail network known as Operation Bullet. Iris still finds time and energy to play matchmaker for her daughter and thinks she’s found a promising beau in Valentine Prince-Avery—until she learns the man is working with Operation Bullet to assess compensation owed to those who would be displaced by the railway lines. Dennison takes her time before the first body shows up, which may try the patience of readers less than engaged in the complex and often farcical mother-daughter dynamic. [em]Agent: Dominick Abel, Dominick Abel Literary Agency. (May) [/em]