Why a Booktrail?
2023: A snowstorm. A country house. Old friends reunited. It’s going to be murder…
Helle and Death
What you need to know before your trail
Torben Helle – art historian, Danish expat and owner of several excellent Scandinavian jumpers – has been dragged to a remote snowbound Northumbrian mansion for a ten-year reunion with old university friends. Things start to go sideways when their host, a reclusive and irritating tech entrepreneur, makes some shocking revelations at the dinner table. And when these are followed by an apparent suicide, the group faces a test of their wits… and their trust.
Snowed in and cut off, surrounded by enigmatic housekeepers and off-duty police inspectors, not to mention a peculiar last will and testament, suspicion and sarcasm quickly turn to panic. As the temperature drops and the tension mounts, Torben decides to draw upon all the tricks of Golden Age detectives past in order to solve the mystery: how much money would it take to turn one of his old friends into a murderer? But he’d better be quick, or someone else might end up dead…
Locations
ResetTravel Guide
Northumberland
Bastlehaugh might be fictional but there are plenty of small villages in and around Northumberland that you could imagine are the setting of the book.
Bastlehouse
“…Derived from the original building, sixteenth century, of a type characteristic of Northumberland – tum tee tum – thick walls, fortified against the Scots.”
The house, the Northumberland setting, the snow blocking any chance of escape, the journey up to the Tyne Valley, the Danish links – what more could you ask for?
Booktrailer Review
A fun and very different murder mystery set in a Northumberland mansion house. There’s a Danish detective, snow storms, trouble getting in and out and plenty of shenanigans in the house itself. Oh this was delightfully different and it felt fresh and golden age all at once. Recommended!
BookTrail Boarding Pass: Helle and Death
Destination: Northumberland, Tyne Valley Author/guide: Oskar Jensen Departure Time: 2023
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