When Honey Driver, owner of the Green River Hotel and her partner, Steve Doherty ( on leave from the police dept.) are suddenly back home in Bath after their sailing boat hit a sunken storage container in the Mediterranean, and sank. On their return, they were unable to contact their agent nor the insurance company to file a claim. Then the body of their agent is found dead in his house at the Regency Gardens gated community, Steve is reinstated so he can investigate. As Honey and Steve question the people at Regency Gardens another resident is murdered. Honey feels that it is all connected to criminal insurance claims.
A new entertaining and enjoyable cozy mystery in the Honey Driver series. With the culprits being apprehended with the help of a cat named Tassel.
Thank you NetGalley and Joffe Books for the opportunity to read this e-galley of "A Claim to Murder".

Honey Driver and her partner Steve Doharty, a policeman, are on their sailing yacht Footloose out in the Mediterrean when they hear a sudden bang against the hull. Water begins dashing the decks, and they have to grag their emergency bag and get to the life raft. They are finally rescued, and try ringing their insurance broker, Norman Glendower, but there was no answer. They finally returned to Bath, to the Green River Hotel and check into the Honeymoon Suite. Then they begin looking for their insurance broker. He wasn't at his old site which was now the Pampered Pooches. Steve decides to go back to the police, and hears that Norman had been dead about a week in his house in the fancy Regency Gardens, but the police had only just heard that morning. Honey's Mom says her friend Gladys Fabersham lives there, and Steve knows the ex-policeman gate man Warren Hart, so they can get into Regency Gardens. They spend some time with Warren at the gate house and then go to the Fabersham house. Conveniently, Gladys lives next door to Norman and they can see police vehicles outside his house. Gladys is a little strange: she does exercises in a room with a great view of the surrounding houses and writes up stories about her neighbors with things they wouldn't want anyone else to know. It appears that Norman had a daughter who is "an influencer" and somewhat of a shut. She also has very expensive tastes'

There are a few very strange characters including Gladys and Honey's friend Mary Jane. However, in spite of not being very realistic, it was a fun read.

2* This missed the mark for me. I don't really think the author thought the plot out, just characters that she wanted to use, relevant or not, the best of which was the bengal, followed by Mary-Jane.

I really wanted to like this cosy mystery, but it wasn't well-thought-out enough. I'm new to the series, but it wasn't hard to get into the tale, though the start with the boat sinking was a bit wordy and convoluted. Yes, it gave an opening and an intro to the first deceased, but it felt unrealistic that a cop on a sabbatical that'd lasted around 2 years would be straight back in the fold and 'investigating' a murder (he wasn't at all professional and didn't seem in charge) even before being brought up to speed with changes, and with retraining and current events. It was also unrealistic that Honey would be accompanying him on official jaunts, but tbh, with Mary-Jane, she might have done OK by herself as part of an unorthodox investigating duo.

Why this didn't work for me:

The 2 or 3 cop characters mentioned went nowhere. Why big one up to hate Steve but do nothing with it?

The Turnip/Turpin thing went nowhere and I couldn't see what allegedly happened, happening. Especially with the reveal about CCTV.

The scenes at the cattery were OTT and bigged up nothing into nothing.

Having more than one character with a name starting with the same initial was confusing.

Tassel was the best thing in the tale.

The reason for the first murder wasn't explained, nor was the M.O. of the second.

Steve wasn't very intelligent - who makes payment on an insurance policy to a personal bank account of a broker, especially without a policy document? He's meant to be a cop but came across as not living in 2025.

There's an offensive term in this, just a few pages in, that's long deemed un-PC, and racially derogatory, that the editor should've pulled from this tale. I'm stunned to come across it.

ARC courtesy of NetGalley and Joffe Books for my reading pleasure.

Honey and Steve are on their yacht when they hit a container in the Mediterranean, and the ship sinks. Luckily they made it safely to the life raft, and sent a signal to be rescued. Heading back to England they find out the person who gave them an insurance policy, which is no good, is also dead. Steve is semi-retired from the police force, but is asked to step in, and Honey offers to help. I did enjoy this one, although it is my first in the series I've read, so a few characters had little meaning to me. Still though, can stand alone and would highly recommend it.

Nosedive..
The latest outing in the Honey Driver series of mysteries finds Honey’s fortunes taking a drastic nosedive when she is forced to return to Bath and away from the sparkling Mediterranean seas. Annoyed and irritated she immediately seeks out Norman - she could never have imagined what she will find. Another enjoyable and entertaining mystery with a likeable protagonist in Honey, a well formed cast and a pacy plot. A worthy addition to this long running and engaging series.

Discover a fiendishly twisty new whodunnit, starring Bath’s answer to Miss Marple — quirky, chaotic and utterly lovable hotelier Honey Driver.

Life couldn’t be sweeter for Honey Driver, floating around the Med on her own private yacht, with her dishy detective husband Steve.

But dark clouds are gathering on Honey’s perfect horizon. And the forecast looks like murder!

When Honey’s love boat sinks in a freak accident, she has no choice but to return to rain-drenched Bath. But now that Honey needs him, her insurance broker, silver-tongued Norman Glendower, is nowhere to be found.

He’s not at his luxury offices in town and he’s not answering his phone.

Honey could kill Norman for leaving her in this fix. But what if someone got there first?

Behind the gates of leafy Regency Gardens, the exclusive complex where Norman lives, something is terribly amiss. Norman’s mewling cat leads a curious neighbour straight to his dead body!

He’s been bludgeoned and left for dead on the pristine tiles of his designer kitchen. Which of his many enemies was the one to strike the fatal blow?

Honey’s on the case — with a killer watching her every move . . .

I love a good murder mystery and Jean G. Goodhind did not disappoint. I was hooked from the get go. Will recommend to others.