Death in the Spires

De: KJ Charles

Narrado por: Tom Lawrence

The newspapers called us the Seven Wonders. We were a group of friends, that’s all, and then Toby died. Was killed. Murdered.

1905. A decade after the grisly murder of Oxford student Toby Feynsham, the case remains hauntingly unsolved. For Jeremy Kite, the crime not only stole his best friend, it destroyed his whole life. When an anonymous letter lands on his desk, accusing him of having killed Toby, Jem becomes obsessed with finally uncovering the truth.

Jem begins to track down the people who were there the night Toby died – a close circle of friends once known as the ‘Seven Wonders’ for their charm and talent – only to find them as tormented and broken as himself. All of them knew and loved Toby at Oxford. Could one of them really be his killer?

As Jem grows closer to uncovering what happened that night, his pursuer grows bolder, making increasingly terrifying attempts to silence him for good. Will exposing Toby's killer put to rest the shadows that have darkened Jem’s life for so long? Or will the gruesome truth only put him in more danger?

Some secrets are better left buried…

From the bestselling, acclaimed author of The Magpie Lord and The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen comes a chilling historical mystery with a sting in the tail. You won’t be able to put this gripping story down!

©2024 KJ Charles (P)2024 Storm Publishing

the good parts of the relationships

I wish the person who was the killer wasn't the killer but it was now wasn't it

Loved it!!

I thought I knew the answer… I didn’t! I loved this tale of mystery, friendships gone wrong, secrets, and hope. There is a fine thread of romance, but it definitely isn’t the focus. Wonderfully diverse characters make this a great read.

worth reading

I wasn't sure I liked the narration at first, but in the end he was great. I thought I knew who the killer was and was getting bored it was taking so long, but then I was wrong (twice) and the story twisted again. It tied together well. Everything fit. Whenever I'm a little skeptical in KJ Charles' books, she ends up being right in the end. Have faith.
One poor review mentioned intimate scenes being "lacking." They are "fade to black" scenes, not detailed and not like her other romance novels but she was clear - this is a murder mystery, not a romance novel. Still, they added to the story. I can appreciate subtlety. I liked Jem leaving his stocking on in chapter 9, and taking it off in chaper 14.

Original Plot

An interesting story of Oxford students at the end of the 19th century with subtle class conscious features. At times a little slow but the ending was clever and excellent.

Excellent story

I have listened to several novels by this author but this is by far the best and most human. A story about golden years gone wrong, friendships betrayed and the secrets people keep. The love story felt incidental to the murder investigation, but I am comfortable with that and the pace of the book is excellent.

Narration was perfectly competent.

About 60% ok

An unexpected twist (for me at least) occurs about 60% into the story. Up till then I enjoyed the story, but still finished it. Read if you will and see if you agree.

A good mystery but lackluster performance

I’m a huge KJ Charles fan so I was excited for a new book from her in a different genre. The story itself was compelling and interesting, but it felt like it could have used a little more editing and tightening up at points. It was overall very good just not quite as polished as her previous work.

The narrator didn’t hit the mark with this one. His voice did not match the emotions of the characters at all, and he mixed up character voices in several places. At one point he used the wrong name for a character. I may be biased because I love the narrator who does all of Kj Charles earlier works (Cornell Collins - I could listen to him read the phone book), but I felt the narration was too distracting and didn’t add anything to the story.

Narrator is excellent

Jeremy can't be really bright and naive at the same time. Impossible to be so unworldly.

Better than expected

When I grabbed this, I didn't realize I'd read one from this author before. It left me with a not bad but not worth a further look into the other books.

This one surprised me when I realized it. I adored this book from beginning to end. It has the tone and intelligence of the 1900s stories with a modern pacing.

Oxford to the life!

A compelling story with high emotional stakes. I look forward to the author's next book.