This is an atmospheric mystery. It started very slowly and was a slog to get through. It did improve. However, the ending was so rushed and muddled

The cover alone was enough to draw me in to wanting to read this. Again you can’t go wrong with a good Murder mystery tale

The Thirty-One Doors is a phenomenal thriller from start to finish perfect for puzzle lovers. Filled to the brim with twists and a captivating plot, this murder mystery is sure to keep readers hooked. The characters are well-developed. The story is incredibly fast-paced. This is one not to be missed! Highly recommended! Be sure to check out The Thirty-One Doors asap.

Scarpside House is famed for its beauty, its isolation, and its legendary parties.

Tonight, it hosts the Penny Club soiree. An annual gathering of lucky men and women from all walks of life, coming together to celebrate their survival against the odds.

But this year their luck is running thin.

Accidents do happen, after all . . .

And some are long overdue . . .

This book was sent to me electronically by Netgalley for review. Thanks to the publisher for the copy.

The Thirty-One Doors was a fantastic Christmas read for me. It had all the atmosphere, the snow, the isolation, the darkness - everything that I needed at the time!

It's a mystery that takes you back a few decades in time. The author knows how to make a mood and you're definitely where Kate wants you to be in your head. I found it brilliant, because I don't have it this way with every book I'm reading.

The number of dead bodies raises, there are more questions than answers and only a true detective can make sense of this puzzle.

Really enjoyable, light reading (despite of quite a lot of deaths), which I'd definitely recommend if you want to get transported to the icy 50s (not sure about the decades but that's how it felt to me).

This book started strong, but it kinda went downhill from there. I really struggled to plow through. It was very much AC reminiscent, but fell short of that. I could not warm up to the characters (seems to be a real issue recently for me) and the writing did not feel smooth. The plot was also a bit too confusing for my liking

An exclusive party is taking place at Scarpside House when things start to go wrong. Detective Sergeant Frank Glover is called out to investigate the dangerous goings-on.

I have gone back and forth on how to write a review that does this book justice because it is just so utterly brilliant. I can only describe it as one of those stories that really gets inside your head and won't let go.

The plot is very clever and woven together beautifully. The atmosphere was instantly spooky and had such a eerie feel throughout. It actually reminded me of The Woman in Black by Susan Hill because of how haunting it was. The remote country house setting was perfect. I loved the mix of characters and how they all had something different to add to the story.

I really recommend this for a book that you won't be able to put down until the very last page.

Thank you NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

3.5 upped to 4
The Thirty-One Doors is a mix of Golden Age tropes with some gothic novel tropes. It's a slow burning and gripping novel featuring complex characters and an intriguing setting.
There're secrets, murders, an isolated mansion with plenty of very modern features and a trouble investigators.
It's not an action packed or fast paced story, it's one that ask you to concentrate on the puzzle and follows the clues.
I found it a bit too slow at the beginning and some parts requires a bit of suspension of belief. Once I was involved in the story I enjoyed it and try to identify the clues and solve the puzzle.
There's plenty of potential and i would be curious to read the next mystery by this author.
Many thanks to the publisher for this arc, all opinions are mine

I really enjoyed this book and found it such an interesting and exciting thriller to read. The tone and pacing were done well and it had such an interesting way of presenting the characters. I liked the way the story was plotted and all the reveals and twists made sense in the long run of the novel. The tone created was atmospheric and eerie and this really helped me push through the novel at a quick pace as i needed to know what was going to happen. I would definitely read another by this author if it was like this one.

I guess I was mostly attracted to this one by the cover and the title - a mysterious big house hosting a party, a snow storm cutting it off for the night, and murder… this is a locked room mystery, or a locked ‘mansion’ mystery, if you like. There wasn’t much of a blurb so I didn’t really know what I was going to read when it began. The setting is 1924, and the mansion is eccentric for its time - connected to town only by a funicular and with innovative modern electricity and a duct heating system, it is way ahead of its time, courtesy of eccentric owners and one of the guests, a friend who is an inventor and engineer. Our protagonist, Frank, is a policeman who is called by a breathless voice requesting his help, but when he arrives he’s told by the maid that all of guests at the party have disappeared- the house is mysteriously silent. What is more, it soon transpires that he was called for help before any trouble began. Soon Frank and maid Dottie find the guests hiding because they had received a threatening note and some blood. Guests are disappearing one by one and winding up dead. It’s not clear who is a victim and who is a suspect. Frank and Dottie begin a mad dash around the house which in part seems like a staged set…

The beginning was underwhelming, and I never really became enamoured with any characters leaving me a bit a cold to what was happening. There are more than a few interesting ideas but I sometimes had some problems with the writing - feeling like I’d skipped over something accidentally - there often seemed to be strange leaps or cryptic sentences that I couldn’t make head nor tail of. The house is probably the most interesting character in this book - often portrayed as feeling almost like a sentient being, it is a sinister stage set with its quirky hidden pipes, engineering systems and telephones.

My thanks to #NetGalley and Hodder and Stoughton for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

This book truly did not grip me, unfortunately.
It was very slow burning & could not grip my attention at all.

Maybe just not the book for me!

Thank you for the ARC, NetGalley!

I chose to read and review a free eARC of The Thirty-One Doors but that has in no way influenced my review.

When Detective Sergeant Frank Glover receives a strange call for help from Scarpside House just as he's clocking off for the night, he feels it's his duty to check it out. Bidding a goodnight to his colleague, he grabs his bike and starts a slow trek to the secluded manor house on the edge of a cliff. As the snowstorm worsens, Frank begins to doubt how sensible his decision was. Even more so when he realises the house cannot be reached without the use of a funicular, delaying his journey even more. On arrival Frank is greeted by Dottie, the Lady's Maid, who informs him a party was in full swing but all of the guests, along with the butler, have vanished. Searching the house for answers, Frank and Dottie make some unnerving discoveries, including what looks like a large puddle of blood. Something is amiss at Scarpside House and it's down to Frank to discover what...

The Thirty-One Doors is an interesting historical murder mystery novel with well-drawn gothic aspects and a beautifully written sense of claustrophobia which pulls the reader into the story. As the snowstorm worsens and all methods of communication, along with any chance of escape from the house are removed, Frank and Dottie begin to realise that they're trapped with a killer. Someone who seems intent on picking off the members of the Penny Club one by one. There is a large cast of characters in the novel. Many are unlikeable, oozing privilege and power. Disrespecting one another and making the reader question exactly who could be behind the dastardly dealings at Scarpside House. Well, let's face it, any of them could be the killer! They're all pretty loathsome people, all hiding secrets they'd do anything to keep. But to counteract the nastiness of the family and the guests, the author has created two great characters in the form of DS Glover and Dottie. I found myself cheering them on. I wanted them to succeed in their quest. They both really made the story for me. However, I did feel that there were unanswered questions about Frank's past which were referred to often but not really explained. Perhaps DS Frank Glover is set to make a return in the future and the gaps will be plugged then.

Would I recommend this book? If you're looking for a slow burn mystery and you're a fan of the golden age of crime fiction then yes, I feel you will enjoy The Thirty-One Doors. The characters are interesting and the setting is vividly drawn. I found the plot a little too predictable at points and was able to spot one aspect from very early on. But I try to not let things like that pull me out of the story, so I was pleased when my suspicions were confirmed. I also found the plot a little too slow at times and I would have liked those gaps I mentioned above covered in a little more detail but otherwise, I did enjoy The Thirty-One Doors and will be on the lookout for more from this author in the future. Recommended.

I chose to read and review a free eARC of The Thirty-One Doors. The above review is my own unbiased opinion.

A slow burning gothic infused murder mystery that was full of a dark atmosphere and mystery. I would have prefered a faster pace but that is just a personalpreference and I still really enjoyed it.

After reading the description of The Thirty-One Doors I thought it would be my kind of book but unfortunately it did not live up to my expectations. I found it to be quite slow and it did drag in places. It just wasn't for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my ARC.

The Thirty One Doors is a gothic murder mystery set in a large house, cut off from the world by a snowstorm. There’s a large cast of unpleasant rich folk who seem to have abandoned their dinner party in favour of murdering, being murdered or hiding from a murderer. Policeman Frank has arrived in response to a mysterious phone call asking for help and is trying to find out what’s going on.

I found the story quite chillingly atmospheric, but slow to get going. I also found the various characters difficult to keep straight and wasn’t really convinced by their actions and motivations. A well written book, but slightly unsatisfying for me. I’d definitely read another book by this author in case it was a book/reader mismatch on this occasion.

If you like a good whodunnit read then this is the book for you.
When nearing the end of his shift and looking forward to joining his colleagues in the pub Sergeant Frank Glover receives a call asking for urgent assistance to an isolated house on the cliff top.
It takes him over an hour to reach the house and by the look of it, it seems completely deserted.
But the guests in the house are not what they seem.

If you love Agatha Christie then The Thirty-One Doors is definitely for you.

When Sergeant Frank Glover receives a call from the big house on the cliff begging for his help towards the end of his shift, he responds. His colleagues are already ensconced in the pub so he attends by himself.. When he gets to the house nearly an hour later he finds a house that appears deserted.
So follows a Christie like mystery which weaves a very tangled web indeed. The occupants of the house are not what they appear and have interwoven fates. But who is the puppetmaster?
This is a book that builds, it has a slow start, but this ups the tension. Everyone is a suspect.
I enjoyed this immensely

The Thirty-One Doors by Kate Hulme.
Scarpside House is famed for its beauty, its isolation, and its legendary parties. Tonight, it hosts the Penny Club soiree. An annual gathering of lucky men and women from all walks of life, coming together to celebrate their survival against the odds. But this year their luck is running thin. Accidents do happen, after all . . .
And some are long overdue . . .
A good read with good characters. I did like the story. 4*.

Set 6 years after World War One, this whodunnit takes place in an isolated country house. A village policeman receives a call requesting assistance, he makes his way through a snowstorm to then find himself not just looking into a disappearance but murder. I must admit this felt slightly plodding at times, the characters didn't quite leap off the page.

I rounded up my rating to a 3 star because I feel the first quarter of the book was a waste and very nearly had me giving up. It started slow, too slow and I found it hard to follow. It just seemed to be filler.

Fortunately, the story and the characters improve and it becomes a tale of whodunnit and takes on the premise of a live action game of cluedo.

There were entertaining chapters but sometimes the drama felt flat. It almost seemed as if the author was trying to create an air of mystery coupled with glamour of the characters and the time period but didn’t quite meet it. It was dialogue heavy, which at times, interrupted the flow of the story.

Overall I enjoyed it, I just feel it could have been a little more polished.