Lights Down

A Ghastly Presence..
The sixth in the Enora Andressen series finds Enora amidst a situation which may bring about deadly consequences. Director Remy is keeping strange company and Rosa is apparently seduced by a dubious novel. With all of that, sickness is also maintaining a ghastly presence at Flixcombe Manor. Will Enora get any reprieve? Possibly so, but it may turn to an unexpected sourness sooner than she thinks. With a complex plot, a solid and intriguing mystery at heart and a cast of beautifully crafted characters this is an immersive addition to this series.

the sixth title in the Enora Andresson series, did not disappoint. Graham Hurley has created a fantastic character, which rivals his other creations such as Faraday and Winter. I couldn't put it down, such a plot that kept me hanging on. I would recommend this highly.

French actress Enora Andressen is meeting one of her favourite film directors Remy Despret on his yacht berthed at St. Katherine's dock in London. He has a tv series he wants her to star in. Enora doesn't think much to his ideas but she is also very worried about H. H is Hayden Prentice a one time Portsmouth drug baron. He owns Flixcombe Manor in Dorset amid many acres of land. He was hit by covid and Enora and their son Malo looked after him. He now has long covid.
H is Malo's father from a brief fling in Antibes some years ago. When Enora returns to Flixcombe a friend Evelyn who has been looking after H, tells Enora she thinks that H has dementia!
The only people nearby Enora can rely on are Andy and Jess who live in a cottage on the estate. She turns to an old friend Dessie Wren who is still with the police and he has always been an admirer.
Remy has not given up persuading Enora and now suggests that the manor should be under it's correct name - Vlixcombe, which was a second world war french recording and transmitting station! He wants to film several episodes there. The problem is that H is in no fit state to sign any agreement, so Enora seeks advice from his solicitor Tony Morse.
Rosa who is Enora's agent then sends her a manuscript "My place or yours" saying it is by an anonymous woman about her affair with a Tory minister!
What with Malo's girlfriend Clemmie being pregnant, Enora has more than enough to contend with. But then there is a murder!
This is the sixth book to feature Enora. Always good value from one of my favourite authors. A very good series which gets better and better, with surprises at every turn. Excellent.

This is the first book I’ve read in the Enora Andressen series, I loved the Joe Faraday books and wasn’t sure about this book initially but soon got into it and after the first couple of chapters, I loved it. Actress Enora Andressen is the central character and has a lot going on with her friend French director, Remy Despret, acting out of character and is keeping dangerous company and draws Enora into his latest project. Her agent, Rosa, shares a novel with her, which is based on an alleged affair with a politician and H, the father of Enora’s son, is showing signs of having dementia as well as long covid.
Great characterisation, the characters are interesting and most are likeable and the book is very descriptive. I really liked the ending with a mixture of sad and happy parts.

This is the 6th in this series and is best enjoyed from book one and in order. At the very least you really should read book 5 as there are consequences to that book found within this.
So... if the last book didn't put Enora through enough, this one certainly did! She starts with a strange meeting with old friend and director Remy which intrigues her with a story centred around Flixcombe, home to H, the father of her son. Meanwhile, another meeting springs up another mystery, that of a kiss and tell novel detailing the liaisons between a young actress and a politician... (I know, a bit on topic...) And if that wasn't enough H is still suffering the aftermath of the Covid he suffered when they were down in Portsmouth...
Living in Portsmouth, I am no stranger to this author and was devastated when his own personal move meant that he completed the wonderful Faraday and Winter series in favour of Jimmy Suttle. Especially as I always looked forward to spotting places I knew... And then came this series which although not set in Portsmouth, has its roots firmly set there. My fix was restored.
Enora is a wonderful character. So rich and full of a past that just keeps on giving. Of friends who keep popping up and delivering the most interesting and intriguing storylines. Especially here where they are more than topical - political scandal and sleaze anyone!
Other characters, both series and episode, complement Enora very well and all play their parts perfectly. Unlike many authors, he has also not shied away from all things Covid but instead has made it work perfectly with everything else going on.
All in all, another winner and a cracking addition to an already impressive series. My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

It's been quite a long time since last I read an Enora's mystery and was glad to catch up with this interesting and likeable characters.
I had a lot of fun in reading this story, the solid mystery kept me guesssing, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Well, well, well this definitely wasn’t what I was expecting! Having read and loved the Faraday and Suttie series’ I was expecting something similar with this one. How wrong could I be! It was very different in a very good and entertaining way.

This is the 6th book in the Enora Andressen series and the first one I had read. It can be read as a standalone novel but I would think the series is probably best read in order to get the full impact of what has gone before.

Enora is an actress and her favourite director Remy wants to direct her in a WW2 drama set at Flixcombe, the manor house she shares with her ex partner H. H is suffering with long Covid and potentially dementia too.

Part thriller, part domestic drama, part madcap comedy and maybe a partly autobiographical glimpse of how the author perceived life in the Covid era! Well worth a read and I will definitely go back and read the previous 5 Enora novels.

Thank you to Netgalley for access to the arc ebook

For those new to this wonderful series, here's the back story. Enora Andressen is an actress  in her early forties. She has won fame, if not fortune, by starring in what used to be known as 'art films' - often European produced and of a literary nature. She has a twenty-something son, Malo, the product of a one-night-fling with a former drug boss, Harold 'H' Prentice. 'H' and Enora have become reunited, after a fashion, but it is not a sexual relationship. In the previous novel, 'H' is stricken with Covid, and barely survives. That story is told in  Intermission.

Taking an extended break from her nursing of 'H' down at Flixcombe, his manor house in the south of England, Enora returns to her London flat. She is contacted by Rémy Despret,  a film director with whom she has worked many times. He is a charming as ever, but seems to have lost his touch regarding viable screenplays. He pitches his latest - Exocet - to Enora, but she thinks it is rubbish, and turns him down. She also suspects he is using his yacht to smuggle drugs, and may be in serious trouble with some very dangerous people. She also meets her agent, Rosa, who tells her she is representing  a woman who has written a potentially explosive - because real identities are thinly concealed -  novel about the extra marital affairs of a senior politician.

Enora receives a chilling 'phone call from the woman who is in charge of things at Flixcombe. Not only is 'H' suffering physically from Long Covid, it seems he has developed dementia. When Enora drives down to see for herself, she is staggered to find that 'H' has no idea who she is. In the previous books, 'H' has been a force of nature. Physically imposing and nobody's fool, the former football hooligan, has to borrow from Shakespeare, been a criminal Caesar:

"Why, man, he doth bestride the narrow world
Like a Colossus, and we petty men.
Walk under his huge legs and peep about
To find ourselves dishonorable graves."

Now, sadly, he is much reduced physically and mentally and is given to such bizarre behaviour as appearing naked at windows. Also, his money is running out. Huge sums of it went on private nursing care during his battle with Covid, as he absolutely refused to go into an NHS hospital. Incidentally, readers will always conjure up their own mental images of the characters in books they read, but I occasionally play the game of casting books ready for imaginary film or TV adaptations. My four penn'orth has a young Anne Bancroft as Enora, and Bob Hoskins as 'H'.

With the help of long time friend and former copper Dessie Wren Enora discovers that the 'bonking politician' novel has more sinister undertones than being simply a kiss-and-tell story. Graham Hurley makes it convincingly up to date with the inclusion of the Russian state-backed mafia and PM Boris Johnson, although with the latter, the story has been overtaken by events.

Undaunted by Enora's rejection of Exocet, Rémy Despret has come up with an idea which she finds much more interesting. Evidently Flixcombe was used during WW2 as base for Free French intelligence agents and propagandists and the  'Vlixcombe' movie has already attracted  backers with the big money. If the project comes off, there will be a starring role for Enora, and enough money to keep at bay the predators circling the ailing 'H' Prentice. But then there is a murder, things begin to unravel, and Graham Hurley writes the most astonishing ending I have read in many a day.

I make no apology for my enthusiasm for  Graham Hurley's writing. Not only was his Joe Faraday series one of the most intelligent and emotionally literate run of police procedurals I have ever read, but the sequels featuring Faraday's former sergeant Jimmy Suttle were just as good. Hurley is also a brilliant military historian, and has written several novels centred around particular conflicts in WW2. His book Kyiv seems particularly relevant just now, and if you read it, it will give you a huge insight into the subtext of the Ukraine-Russia relationship which is barely mentioned in current news coverage.

Lights Down is published by Severn House and is available now.

Mystery story

This was my first Enora Andressen novel, but as there are about four preceding, it was probably not a good idea to start here. As I expected from the author this is a well written, imaginative novel with a number of unusual twists. The characterisation is excellent, especially of Enora herself, and the semi-post-Covid setting is convincingly done. Here is a novel which is not afraid to deal with real life: Long Covid, brain tumours and dementia. There is a lot going on: drug dealers, suspicious deaths, eastern European gangsters – but the real mystery here is whether Enora’s former lover, H, is actually suffering from Dementia or is something darker going on?

I would not be surprised if this is the last in the series. The title may well suggest as much.

This is the sixth book in the series and my first by the author. I think I’ve just found a new favourite author to binge read because the writing and the way everything flows.

A well-known actress who is taking care of her “friend”, an ex hooligan that shows how much being rich won't mean anything for health issues, both physically and mentally. Because no matter how rich “H” was and how feared he might still be, the author has portrayed this character amazingly real and while he is hilarious, actually it made me sad.

Enora is such an interesting female character. In her forties, still a looked up actress and a woman with a great sense of justice and hearth.

The story is mostly set in a beautiful mansion in the south of England. A perfect location for filming movies set in WW2.

The story flows easily, the mix of characters are adding so much deep to it and when a murder makes its way into the context, the suspense is even higher.

I really enjoyed this book and I’ll recommend it to anyone seeking a great story.

🆓📖Very grateful to the publisher for my review copy