With the crazy edicts of the new Police Superintendent, Inspector Deighton
is counting the days to retirement. To top it off, he is assigned to
investigate what sounds like a prank, something about a bird tethered to a
little girl’s hat. The complainant is Lady Carmella, new in town.
Deighton pays Lady Carmella a visit. Her story prompts his recollection of a
case from years back. He explains the people she saw were her neighbors, a
retired circus troupe, engaging in stage pranks. He relates how their antics
caused quite a stir when they first moved to town. Lady Carmella wants to
believe him.
Two days later, the Chief Inspector returns the case to Deighton when Lady
Carmella is found unconscious. In looking for answers, Deighton finds more
questions.
The craziness ramps up. Hijinx, hardened criminals, meat pies, racist
violence, ex-KGB, blackmail, vigilantes, cockroaches, human cadavers,
police corruption, beheaded sheepdogs, candle light vigils, water hoses and
greenhouses…all begin to emerge.
Deighton needs to find out what is happening in Huffinfield.
Not everyone wants the truth uncovered.
P.S. I’m working on a second edition with illustrations.
Table of Contents:
WEEK ONE
WEEK TWO
WEEK THREE
WEEK FOUR
WEEK FIVE
LATER THAT YEAR
Characters of Huffinfield by Tina Marie L. Lamb is now available as an ebook or a paperback at Barnes and Noble and at Amazon.
The ebook is also available at Kobo and at Smashwords.
Check it out. Add to Goodreads book list.
GC says: May have worked better as two separate stories.
AH wrote, “So dark.”
JA says, I couldn’t get past page 113.
CC wrote: “I just finished your book. Wow!”
Mayda rated it 3/5 stars and wrote a review: “Lady Carmella witnesses what she thinks is child abuse. She reports the incident to the police, but then is told the people she saw are really part of a circus troupe, and what she thought she saw was really an illusion. She goes to visit these people at their home, to be friendly. She is given a drugged tea, and nearly dies. Rescued by her cousin Nancy and taken to hospital, she remembers little of what happened. Thus started this strange and quirky tale. Mostly satire, part mystery, and at times making little sense, it is a story of cruelty, racism, murder, black-mail, corruption, and puzzling behavior. Ex-KGB operatives are deadly, but Lady Carmella is not one to give up easily. The writing is somewhat disjointed, with the action (and there is plenty of action!) jumping from one thing to another. The inspector finds more questions than answers as he investigates, (I know how that feels!) but eventually the story winds down to a mostly satisfying conclusion.”
Corrie van Os wrote a Dec. 6, 2022 book review:
“This book was difficult to read. It started quite well, the first chapters were fun.
Until about one third of the book, it as a nice read. Then the book seemed finished to me, but it went on. It took me quite some time to get in the flow again.
But I did, until about two third of the book. Then the book became more and more an enumeration. A pity.
The book is still quite worth reading, because of the strange character and the not so normal characters of the population of Huffinfield.”
Eadie Burke gave it a three-star rating and wrote a Nov. 29, 2022 review:
“This book starts out like a quiet little book but the further you get into it, the further it proves to be a crazy book about drugs, police corruption etc. The people that Lady Carmella go to visit are a retired circus troupe posing as drug dealers and they drug her. There are other things going on in town as the book moves on but the drugs are the most important thing going on. The Town of Huffinfield is like any other town with crazy characters and you soon realize that as you read on. In the end a new police chief comes in and things settle down and it’s time for the next book in the series.”
Emily.ann rated 1/5 stars and wrote:
“This book had an interesting premise, but was so bloated with characters and jumpy transitions that it was nearly impossible to follow what was happening. If you read this, you might want to make a list or chart for the characters mentioned. It moved very swiftly, since there was no detail or atmosphere or backstory narrative, just the action happening at, or pertinent to, that moment. There was simply too much going on, which was ambitious, but difficult to read.”
Poolays rated it 1/5 stars on Library Thing and wrote:
“Well first off I must admit I didn’t finish the book. It is dark, gruesome, violent, and downright creepy. I couldn’t keep all the characters straight, and the story seemed disjointed. i liked the good guys, Carmella, her cousin Nancy, and the inspector, but i had trouble reading all the violence and abuse. It seemed like too many stories piled on top of each other. Just not my cup of tea.”
J.Alice wrote a Nov. 16, 2022 book review:
“Characters of Huffinfield by Tina Marie L. Lamb might appeal to people who focus on dark, evil, violent things but that didn’t appeal to me. There are way too many characters to keep track of and the book needs editing. Names are spelled differently in different places and words are used improperly.
In all fairness, I didn’t finish the book because it was too depressing and creepy to spend any more time on it.”
Caley G. wrote a 12/23/2022 book review:
“In Characters of Huffinfield by Tina Marie L. Lamb, new resident, Lady Carmella, reports an incident involving a group of individuals who are part of a circus troupe that resides in town. When she is informed that it appears that the incident is only part of their rehearsals for their act, she decides to visit them to make amends for her misunderstanding. When she does, she is served a cup of tea that has been drugged. Fortunately, she had sent a message to her cousin about where she was going incase anything happened to her.
The author of this book has created some rather unique characters for this story and while the plot is intriguing, I found myself getting lost in trying to follow all of its twists and turns. Although the author uses very innovative storytelling to bring a new dimension to this book, I found it to be a bit more macabre than what I generally read. Overall, I would say that this book would appeal to fans of Stephen King due to the various situations addressed within its pages.”
From the Wishing Shelf Book Awards Readers’ Comments:
“An enjoyable mystery novel with plenty of twists to keep readers turning the page. The writing style is okay, a bit choppy here and there, but the pacing was excellent – apart from the ending which was poor. I particularly liked how the author got into the plot from the first chapter, no dillydallying. Terrible title though.” Male reader, aged 53
“A very light novel, simply written and easy to follow. A little clumsy in parts. For example, assured the Inspector, better as – the inspector assured her. Things like that. Nothing big, but a good editor would sort it no problem. Here´s another – “Good morning,” greeted Carmella. Better to write – Carmella greeted her or said Carmella, greeting her with a smile.“ Female reader, aged 37
“Interesting plot but the author´s writing skills are not the strongest. Fast opening but slows down to a poor ending. Too much telling, uneven pacing, and a lack of interesting dialogue. Needs work.” Male reader, aged 70
“Sort of got my interest in the beginning with the circus folk and the old lady trying to work out what was going on with the girl. But it fizzled out, the plot suffering from uneven pacing and a sudden, poorly written ending.” Male reader, aged 42
“There´s a lot going on in this mystery novel, but it all felt so rushed. The characters – of which there are too many – were underdeveloped, and the dialogue is badly written. The author needs to work on her writing skills particularly character development, pacing, and speech.” Male reader, aged 61
To Sum It Up:
‘A well-plotted mystery with a strong opening.’ –The Wishing Shelf Book Awards