A pleasing murder-mystery set in an antiquarian bookshop (what's not to love?!) Sally and her husband make an effective team, and the period setting (it's a genuine Golden Age piece) is fun.

I appreciate the publisher allowing me to read this book. This is a great mystery that keeps you interested I really enjoyed

A light-hearted and enjoyable series starter!

The Two Hundred Ghost is the first book in Henrietta Hamilton’s Sally and Johnny Heldar series. At this point, Sally and Johnny aren’t yet married, so it’s an origin story of sorts, and other familiar characters (Tim, Father William) make their initial appearances too. And it’s set in one of my favorite locations: an antiquarian bookstore. More specifically, it’s set in the Heldars’ Charing Cross bookstore, complete with rare editions, quirky staff, and even quirkier customers. Of course, per the title, the store also comes with its own ghost.

(I have very fond memories of sneaking a couple of hours to browse in the bookshops along Charing Cross Road years ago, whenever I had a business trip to the UK. And of bringing along an extra bag just for the books I bought to take home - although I wasn’t buying antiquarian books, just ordinary used books that were hard to find in the US. But I never encountered a ghost there. Sigh!)

As far as the story goes, The Two Hundred Ghost is simply a delightful Golden Age cozy. The victim is pretty much a jerk, and so there are lots of suspects – the women he hassled, the other employees he annoyed, and even some customers who seemed almost scared of him. Hamilton plays fair with readers, so clues abound, and there were three or four times I was convinced I knew whodunnit. But although it did turn out to be one of the people I suspected, I wasn’t at all sure. So, if I’m honest, I was still guessing at the end.

All-in-all, if there is a downside to The Two Hundred Ghost, it’s that there’s not a ton of depth to it. But it’s a cozy, and so that’s not really expected. And even though it’s a bit light, it is well written (both the plot and the writing itself), and you want to keep reading. So…pick this one up sometime when you don’t want to stretch your brain, but just want a good bit of fun, and you’ll be happy.

One final note: Sadly, after publishing some of Hamilton’s books both in e-book and print-on-demand, Agora Books/Crime Classics, who acquired the rights to the series from Hamilton’s nephews, have gone out of business. As a result, at least as of now, the books are not available in new editions in either format. So if you want to read The Two Hundred Ghost, you’ll have to buy a used paper version online. Or, perhaps more fittingly (!!!), keep an eye out for it at your favorite used bookstores. And hopefully the nephews can get the rights back and persuade someone else to (re)publish, since I still haven’t read some of the series. And last, but not least, my thanks to the now defunct Agora Books, and to NetGalley, for the review copy.

I want to thank Netgalley and the author for gifting me the ebook. Ha this book was great. It is absolutely perfect for Halloween Month 🎃!

Murder in a rare bookshop is always an excellent premise for a mystery, and Henrietta Hamilton’s Sally and Johnny mystery doesn’t disappoint. This is loads of fun, rife with cozy, mysterious bookshop atmosphere and built on an intricate network of clues that weave a winding but clever path to Sally and Johnny solving the mystery.

Hamilton’s Charing Cross bookshop is every bit as cozy and appealing as you’d hope it would be, built in organized chaos, stuffed full of old and rare books, and is even rumored to have a ghost! The shop holds a few other surprises as well, of the type that deeply appeal to golden age mystery readers.

Sally and Johnny are lovable of course, but the shown cast is well-constituted, and maybe most importantly, the mystery itself is a good one with a complex but logical solve.

This is a murder mystery set in the world of Antiquarian booksellers, which also features to really rather gently set up the relationship between Johnny and Sally which you see in the later books. So gently in fact that if you didn’t know it was coming (it is on the cover though) you might be a bit surprised when it actually happens towards the end. Anyway, the plot: Heldar’s shop at 200 Charing Cross Road is reputed to be haunted – and one morning after the “ghost” is spotted, the really rather nasty Mr Butcher is found dead in his office. There are plenty of suspects among the employees, so Sally – who works in the shop – starts to do her own investigation to try and make sure the police don’t arrest the wrong person. She’s helped by Johnny, one of the family who owns the story who also wants to see it all tied up as soon as possible. I loved the eccentric characters that this has – and the mystery is good too. Definitely worth a look.

This is book 1 in a new historic cozy series, Sally and Johnny Helgar Mystery series. Set in an old book store, the staff is sure the ghost of 200 Charing Cross Road is back to haunt them. With one of the managers murdered it seems possible. Sally runs the shop and Johnny is one of the family owners who searches for the books people want to purchase. Together they set out to prove there is no ghost and there is more to this murder than no one liked the victim. Scotland Yard doesn't seem to worried and wants to arrest anyone that looks guilty. I received a copy of this ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Henrietta Hamilton is the pseudonym for Hester Denne Shepherd. She was born in Dundee in 1920ies and then after the war and service in the WRENs, she worked in an antiquarian bookshop in London.

I guess it’s hardly surprising that her crime-solving duo then also has a background in bookselling. There are 4 or 5 books in The Sally and Johnny Heldar Mysteries depending on which site you go on the internet, but there are currently 4 books reprinted by Agora books. This is the first in the series.

The setting is an antiquarian bookshop on the Charing Cross Road in London. If you are not familiar with London and its bookshops you will not know that this road has once been famous for its bookshops. There are still a few left, but there used to be a time when there was a bookshop next to a bookshop aka known as paradise (but that may just be me).

Sally is a sales clerk at the Two Hundred bookshop situated in one of the oldest buildings on Charing Cross Road and Johnny is part of the family who runs this business. Antiquarian bookselling is very different to normal bookselling and book collectors are an entire breed of their own as we soon learn in this mystery. It’s been a bit sad to read about a business like this that could in the 1950ies employ and sustain nearly a dozen people, these days most antiquarian businesses are mostly solitary affairs.

The thing that I felt most about the book was “charming”. It’s charming in its setting, the main characters are charming, the whole book stuff is charming. If you need loads of character development in your mysteries, then this is not it. It’s all about the puzzle and for that, it was a good one. It was maybe not an entirely fair puzzle, but it was still good. It is also true to the genre that the person who gets killed is utterly unlikeable and some of the suspects are very likeable.

It’s a continuation of the typical golden age mystery, which by then had fallen a bit out of fashion. People in the 1950s on the whole wanted grittier things in their crime novels, and naturally, spy thrillers were also en vogue. So this feels a bit nostalgic to a time that had gone even it at time.

So this is not grand detective literature, but it is a cosy, breezy read that is ideal for whiling away an afternoon by the fire or sitting in the garden. I shall definitely pick up the rest of the books in the series for those moments when I just want a puzzle set in a very bookish world.

Thank you to Agora Books and Net Galley for this ARC. I am so grateful to publishers like Agora who are introducing me to some magnificent mystery writers who have been forgotten. This is the first in a great series. I read the last book first and so am really glad the first in the series has been released - hope the others in between are too. This story is a real page turner and will keep you guessing till the end!

A fantastic story from Henrietta, which I thoroughly enjoyed, Highly recommended. Now to read the next Crime Classic book.

Overall not a bad story, but started good then got bogged down in the middle. Originally written in 1956, and reviews kept comparing it to Agatha Christie. Didn’t see that. Would recommend as it does keep you guessing, but expected more.

Made myself keep reading and got to 80% before I said "No more".

On the plus side, despite the book having been written in the 50's, I believe, it could easily take place currently with very slight tweaks. It was also nice to have the police actively play a role on page. So often I read mysteries (cozies) where the police don't do anything on page, it's all the main character. Sally, does have a big role too. There was no shortage of possible killers, even Sally, because Butcher was totally unlikable. The story takes place shortly after WWII and the author definitely showed how the war negatively impacted people emotionally. I liked this realism, but it surprised me. Though it's been years since I read older English mysteries I don't recall other writers making any attempt to incorporate this issue. Kudos to Hamilton.

On the negative, if Butcher was so unlikable, why was he still working at the bookstore? I think the biggest negative though, and why I finally stopped reading, is that I didn't care about Sally or any of the other characters. They were all pretty much two-dimensional.

I received my copy from Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

Murder With Just a Touch of Romance
This is the first installment in the Johnny and Sally Heldar mysteries by Henrietta Hamilton. In this installment, there is a ghost in the Heldar's Antiquarian Bookstore. Who or what could it be? Johnny and Sally fall in love while solving the mystery of the ghost and the murder of a character you will love to hate. Mr. Butcher is murdered in his office, and narrowing down the suspects is going to be a tough job. I enjoyed reading this crime classic and I recommend it to anyone who enjoys cozy mysteries, particularly those written in the classic era for crime mysteries.

I would definitely read more books by this author! I was drawn in very quickly and warmed to both Sally and Johnny as key characters. The mystery was very intriguing and there were plenty of interesting characters who maintained my character my interest. The relationship that was developing between Sally and Johnny was a good additional element without detracting from the mystery itself. The author steered us through a well written and suspenseful story. As well as being a hit for Henrietta Hamilton it was also another hit from crime classics who have introduced me to so many wrongfully overlooked writers. Long may this continue!

Written by Hamilton in 1956 and set in post war London this has an a wonderful sense of time and place and a sense of the loneliness of many of the characters living alone in tiny flats their families and loved ones lost in the war,the two hundred is the address in Charing Cross Road where an Antiquarian Bookshop owned by the Heldar family provides the setting for the murder,
There have been a number of 'sightings' of the ghost that supposedly haunts the premises and whilst most of the lady members of staff are sure it's someones idea of a joke they still all leave the premises en masse ,The exception is Sally Merton who is quite happy to stay late to complete her work.Unfortunately this evening she is approached by the deeply unpleasant and much disliked Mr Butcher who is keen to have 'some fun' and Sally is alone.Despite her protests she is finding it difficult to extricate herself when Fred a shell shocked war veteran who works in the despatch department comes to her aid making an enemy of Butcher.
The next morning Butcher is found dead with a knife in his back!
The police arrive and it seems no one will miss Butcher at all on the staff and more than one have strong motives for having seen off the victim.The only people concerned about him are a number of customers and dealers very anxious to see him.
The story zips along and at less than 180 pages there's no padding.The aforementioned Sally and Johnny Heldar an ex commando and a member of the Family that own the shop involve themselves in the investigation and there are of course a number of red herrings ; I w as convinced I had solved both the murder and the ghostly apparitions but was way out on the first but along the right lines for the second.
The tale is very well written as with all the golden age crime queens, with a close knit cast of characters and a story that doesn't take liberties with the reader.I really enjoyed it and will be looking out for the other 3 books in the series of Sally and Johnny Heldar books.Well done to Agora books for unearthing another forgotten queen of Crime.

I rather enjoyed this. It was easy to read, you can tell this was written back in the 1950s due to the style and the way relationships are discussed. This is a little known author, I understand she didn’t write many books but I’d certainly be interested in reading more about Sally and Johnny, I do hope that Agora Books publish the remaining titles.

Thank you to Agora Books and Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my review.

This was my 2nd Johnny and Sally Heldar book to read from Henrietta Hamilton. This is the very first book she wrote with Johnny and Sally in it but here they are not married yet.
Heldars are a firm of booksellers with exclusive clientele and a big staff from secretaries, book binders, the parcelling folk in the mail room and Sally who works on the shop floor. Johnny and his cousin Tim (who is there in the holidays from college) are the younger generation of Heldars with the senior Father William in charge. The odious Butcher as well as being the corpse is also a senior bookseller for the firm.
A few of the girls from the office have seen a ghost that is said to haunt the building. There is also a book about this ghost which may be playing on their imagination. There is a corpse discovered the next day and it was done by a knife Tim had in his office. The police are in and out of the shop throwing suspicion on everyone but in the end it is Johnny and Sally that solve the mystery.
There are some clients that come in and out of pages acting suspiciously, book thefts ongoing around London and the aforementioned ghost. It all makes for an interesting story which zips along.
I really enjoyed the book and other than a few instances that dated the book I think it can be as relevant today with the central theme of greed. It was easy to read and I have found a new female mystery writer to add to my collection. For about half the book I thought Father William was a priest until his wife was mentioned and then I realised the moniker was a mark of respect for an elder. Maybe it was common in the 50's but it may confuse a more modern audience. The house next door was bombed in the blitz and a few characters in the war or come from Europe and are treated a little with disdain. These are the things that age the book but if you can overlook that it is still a good story and easy to read. I would thoroughly recommend reading some of these old classics. The other one I have read from this author is Answer In The Negative - a little harder to get into but still a good story

The Two Hundred Ghost by Henrietta Hamilton is an easy read and very engaging. It is set in mid 20th century London when men were men and women were girls. The cast of characters work in an antiquarian bookshop which is rumored to also be home to a ghost. The mean-spirited Mr. Butcher gets stabbed in the back and many of his co-workers draw the attention of Scotland Yard. Our young heroes, Sally Merton and Johnny Heldar, manage to fall in love, track down the murderer, explain the ghost, expose a gang of thieves and generally show themselves to be a very modern young couple. (He cooks! She bravely explores!)

The denouement is heavy handed, relying on Johnny and Sally overhearing the bad guy explaining at length to a conspirator about every little detail. However, the bookshop characters are so endearing, that even this stub of the literary toe can be tolerated.

Thanks to Agora Book for a review copy.
The Two Hundred Ghost is the first of four books in the Johnny and Sally Heldar series. (Agora Books published book four in the series earlier in the year as part of their ‘Uncrowned Queens of Crime’ season.)
This novel is more of an introduction to the characters of Johnny and Sally than a fully fledged mystery but it is none the worse for that. The author breaks a number of Ronald Knox’s Ten Commandments for Detective Fiction and this could certainly not be considered a ‘fair play’ story but it is a delightful tale of mayhem and murder and a burgeoning romance in an upmarket antiquarian book store in London, owned by the Heldar family.
The shop is alleged to be haunted by a ghost dating from the days when a pub occupied the site. Several members of staff claim to have seen the spirit and then one of their number is brutally murdered. Although the police undertake a thorough and competent investigation Johnny and Sally do some sleuthing of their own, getting to know each other better on the way.
It is always nice to see the police portrayed as sensible (and sensitive) characters in detective novels featuring amateur sleuths and this is no exception. The inspector assigned to the case may not be the most imaginative but he is careful and tolerates the whims of Johnny and Sally with relative good humour.
The solution, although satisfactory, does feel a little rushed but I think that the author did not really consider it to be the main focus of the novel as she wanted to shine a spotlight firmly on her two lead characters who were to return in future stories. In this she has succeeded admirably and by the end of the book we feel we know Johnny and Sally and will enjoy their company again when another dastardly deed need to be investigated.
As a light read I found this thoroughly enjoyable and look forward very much to books two and three being re-released in the not too distant future.

I enjoyed this rather light hearted, cozy mystery.

The Heldar family’s antiquarian book store is located at 200 Charing Cross Road, hence the title. Many years before, a ghost was said to roam the premises. A previous tenant had the ghost exorcised and it hasn’t been seen for many years. However, recently the ghost has appeared again. Sally Merton, our heroine, wonders if this ghost wasn’t a practical joke by one of the employees. Still, she has other things to worry about, namely the unpleasant attentions of an obnoxious co-worker, Mr. Butcher. He was pretty much universally disliked, so when he is found murdered in his office, suspects abound, Does the ghost have anything to do with this murder on the premises? Sally is drawn into doing a little bit of investigating with Johnny Heldar, who is an ex commando.

There isn’t a lot of investigating going on in this relatively short novel, but it had a nice flow, was easy to read, and it kept my attention. This is the first of four books written about Sally and Johnny by this author, and the second that I have read. Hopefully we will see the other two books republished someday as well..

Thanks to Net Galley and Agora books for the opportunity to read and review.