Kim Fountain

My favorite in the series!

Reviewed: 04-21-24

Deanna Raybourn is brilliant. Admittedly, I preferred her Lady Julia Grey mysteries, but this newest Veronica Speedwell mystery is my favorite of the books in both series. It was funny and the story moved along at a good pace. The dialogue between Veronica and Stoker is nicely balanced and Veronica seems more mature and sure of herself. I thoroughly enjoyed all the characters and their adventures.
My primary reason for writing a review, however, is my utter delight at the appearance of Portia and Puggy! It is so very rare to have characters like Portia written by such talented authors like Raybourn show up in an historical cozy mystery and I looked forward to the Lady Julia mysteries in large part because of Portia. To have her make an appearance in this book was fabulous.

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Characters are simply difficult

Reviewed: 03-25-24

If you edited out the ways that the main character was simply mean spirited, it would be an enjoyable book. There is nothing witty about how the protagonist approaches their frustrations; it is just endless anger expressed through snide thoughts. The main character simply sounds defeated and petulant and this makes for a difficult engagement with the story. The supporting characters are either made to seem like idiots or smarmy knuckleheads whose existence is simply to provoke the protagonist.

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1 person found this helpful

Kept my attention

Reviewed: 12-26-23

In case it helps at all, I've listened to over 500 books found through a Mysteries/historical search on Audible. This search parameter usually results in a nice list of cozy mysteries. I tend toward female protagonists and narrators. The Jem Flockhart books also fall into the 'horror' category on Audible, but for me, they just read as sometimes gruesome descriptions fitting the story settings rather than as a 'horror story'. I am enjoying these grittier than usual stories as I tend toward airy, fun stories (think: the Royal Spyness series or Lady Hardcastle series) and even more serious minded series (Bess Crawford series, Lady Julia Grey). but when authors are too over the top descriptive of murder scenes and such, I tend to shy away from them. These books are well written and entertaining and the gore feels like it is just part of the period of the story and profession of the main character. I particularly like that the main character is complex and that her relationships with the other main characters is full. I am not big on too much sex in a cozy mystery (fast forward is a blessing) mostly because it often feels awkwardly dropped into some stories. Some is fine if it doesn't detract and in this story, the sex is part of the story arc. Overall, I highly recommend this series.

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Heavy on familial tensions

Reviewed: 08-15-23

I've listened to all the Lady Darby mysteries and have enjoyed each tremendously. This one was too heavy on family tensions than I would care to listen through, mostly because it's the 'disapproving and angry father' story line. It shows up consistently in the other books, but in this one, takes center stage. For me, it gets tedious because he is not a particularly likable character. I look forward to more Lady Darby books where the mystery regains center stage.
I enjoy Heather Wilds as a narrator for this series. For me, she is very much the voice of the characters and I would be highly disappointed if anyone else narrated. I feel similarly for other narrators that reviewers tend to have strong feelings toward- Justine Eyre, Rosalind Landor, etc. They have such distinctive voices and styles that I become rather attached to.

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Contains mature themes???

Reviewed: 04-11-22

This was a well written and sweet book. It did a nice job of detailing the impact of the San Fransisco earthquake and what people did to survive it. The character development was enjoyable. It was a rather light book, given the backdrop of devastation. I do have one particular complaint, which is with the labeling of the book. I've listened to about 400 books on Audible, mostly mysteries. Many had gruesome murders, explicit heterosexual sexual content (in and out of marriage), sexual violence, and explicit language, which this book does not. This was a story about two women navigating the San Fransisco earthquake and figuring out along the way that they are attracted to one another and falling in love. How, for the love of good sense, does this require a 'contains mature themes' note while brutal murders and much more explicit heterosexual sex do not? Given that several of the reviews published noted the distinct lack of sex in this book, I am at a loss as to why this book received this content warning, possibly leading some people to not purchase it.

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4 people found this helpful

Wonderful story & characters that kept me company

Reviewed: 10-24-21

I truly enjoyed Rader-Day's weaving this story into true events that took place at Agatha Christie's summer home in WWII. The characters were well developed - not overly sentimental as these types of characters are often written - while still compelling me to feel compassion for them and to have hope for them. In other words, their choices and their reasons for making them felt realistic and so kept me invested in their lives. I enjoyed it so much, I wanted the story to go on and turn into a series with Bridey realizing her temperament and skills would make her a great detective as she entered deeper into Gigi's world. And, I truly appreciated how Rader-Day developed Gigi's character. I'll just say it was a very welcomed surprise. I'm a cultural anthropologist by training and will also note that a bit of a nod to one of my favorite cultural anthropologists, Ruth Benedict, was fun to read.

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3 people found this helpful

Fantastic Book

Reviewed: 10-16-20

I have listened to well over 300 cozy/historical mysteries. What I truly enjoyed about this one is that the characters were so likable. In a couple scenes, Royal has some of the female characters laughing with one another and enjoying each other's company-you'd be amazed how rarely authors in this genre write about women being at such ease with one another. The story arc was well developed. The historical setting was explained nicely and the details of the surroundings were neither heavy handed nor too thin. It pained me a bit that Royal had to contextualize what people today understand as LGBTQ lives but from some of the other reviews, it is clear the explanation was needed, even if not fully understood. I will download other books by Royal, particularly any read by Wanda McCaddon, who did such a fine job of bringing the story to life.

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9 people found this helpful

Truly Enjoyable

Reviewed: 05-25-20

I've been looking for a light-hearted book for a bit. The narrator helped a great deal, keeping a rhythm that matched the story well. The story itself was fine and not all that complicated, but it did introduce a set of characters that I am hoping will continue on in many more books to come.

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Excellent novel by a skilled author

Reviewed: 11-18-19

An unapologetic, survivor-centered book that names and calls out sexual violence? I was all in. Set in 1810, Regency London, where upper and middle class women are property of men and where poor girls are seen as expendable, this book doesn't use the euphemisms or glosses so often employed to explain away the abuses women and girls faced in order to move a mystery along. Nor does the author excuse the cultural systems in place that allowed predatory men to inflict harm and label it their right. Hamilton tells a story that centers strong women and as the story moves along, the ways that her thoughts become more complex opens her world to a group of other women, whose lives are intricately connected to her own. To be clear, Hamilton lays blame where it is deserved and does not tend toward sweeping statements unless the main character is struggling with how to make sense of just how many women's lives, across classes, included sexual violence and how even a single man can have had such a profoundly significant reach. I have worked in the field of SV for many years and listening to the women in this novel speak about such memories, some for the first time, was far too familiar.

I truly enjoyed this book and of the nearly 250 similar books I've listed to, count it among my favorites precisely because there are so many moments of women bonding to hold perpetrators accountable, even in naming the violence, that I wished showed up in other novels. If it helps, other authors I enjoy include Sherry Thomas, Deanna Raybourn, Rosemary Simpson, Charles Todd, and Theodora Goss, I also actually enjoyed that there was no romance. They can be fun when done well but in this case, would have been distracting.

Heather Wilds is one of my favorite narrators. I don't need all sorts of different character voices and truly enjoy how Wilds reads women's voices.

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3 people found this helpful

Not a Whole Lot of Mystery in this One

Reviewed: 07-21-18

This was a fine story. I am listening to all the books in a row so it was nice to listen and I like all the characters. However, in terms of there being a mystery, there wasn't much here.

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