Hannah Dennison's Deadly Desires in the English Counryside

RHYS: I am so delighted to welcome fellow Brit Hannah Dennison today as I am currently living the life she writes about in her wonderful Honeychurch Hall mystery novels. The beauties and quirks of the English countryside, and to be more specific, the West Country.  Hannah has a new Honeychurch Hall mystery out and will be giving away two copies, so read on:

 

HANNAH DENNISON: “O To Be in England.  Now that April’s here.” Well … it’s actually May, but I think Robert Browning’s “Home Thoughts From Abroad” sums up my feelings perfectly.

After twenty-two years as an ex-pat, I find I’ve become more English rather than less. Perhaps that’s because both my mystery series—The Vicky Hill Mysteries and The Honeychurch Hall Mysteries—are set in Devon. So you could say that physically, although I pen my novels in Oregon where I now live, mentally, I’m always in England.

I’ve never lived in London. In fact, the first taste I had of life in the big city was when I moved Los Angeles way back in 1993. It was a culture shock of such magnitude—rather like my first earthquake—that it needs a post all of it’s own. In a way, writing about England helps cure my acute homesickness especially as I discovered wonderful Anglophiles eager to hear about the charming—and often strange—customs and quirky oddities that we like to think make Britain great and that I often take for granted.

It’s not just the cream teas we Brits are famous for, but also the village flower shows, amateur dramatic performances in freezing cold parish halls, church fetes or the odd Morris dancing festival or two. These things you just won’t find in London. So I thought I’d share a few photos from last summer’s Diptford Garden Show in Devon. Competition was fierce, feelings ran high, lamas ran rampant and feathers were definitely ruffled.

 

 

The charming thing about village life is that in some places milk is still delivered to the front door. My mother lives on a country estate where “Malcolm the Meat” comes on Mondays and “Fred the Fish” on Fridays. Walk through any village and you’ll come across empty jam jars full of freshly cut flowers or punnets of raspberries or tomatoes alongside a little honesty box. That would never happen in Los Angeles!

RHYS: I should add that when it was suggested that Hannah's mother's house was maybe too much for her and she should look for another, simpler place to live, instead she went and bought a wing of a stately home!

 

HANNAH:

I feel lucky to be able to write about a place I love so much. In fact, we’re giving away two copies of “Deadly Desires at Honeychurch Hall” in a free raffle so you can read about it too.

 

 

 RHYS:All you need to do is to visit Hannah's website, www.hannahdennison.com, and find out in which English county Honeychurch Hall is set, then leave a comment guessing the correct location Your location options are: Shropshire, Kent, Devon, Cumbria or Surrey. Hannah will select two winners at the end of the day. And if you want a vicarious trip to England, then just read her books!

 HANNAH: Rhys, thanks so much again for hosting me on Jungle Red, one of my absolute favorite blogs.