A Swirl of Shadows

A Lady Arianna Regency Mystery, Book 7

By: Andrea Penrose

Narrated by: Mary Sarah

A traumatic personal crisis has left Lady Arianna bedeviled by guilt and questioning whether she has lost her nerve. Her circle of friends can't seem to help rekindle her fire. Even a challenge from Lord Grentham, Britain's shadowy head spymaster, to undertake a vital mission to Russia in aid of her old friend, Tsar Alexander, fails to spark any interest . . . Until Grentham mentions that Arianna's half-brother has gone in her place and may be in mortal danger. Resentful of the minister's attempt to manipulate her emotions, she still refuses to be drawn back into the fray.

But when the murder of a mysterious Russian baroness in London entangles her friend Sophia in the byzantine intrigue surrounding a stolen Imperial medallion and a legendary curse that may topple the Tsar from his throne if it's not recovered, Arianna finds she can't turn her back on family and friends.

And so Arianna and Saybrook—along with Sophia—head off to St. Petersburg, where dangerous deceptions and duplicity swirl beneath the sumptuous splendor of the Imperial Court. An American adventuress, an old nemesis, a possible traitor within their own allies . . . Suspects abound—treachery is everywhere, and when her brother goes missing, Arianna know that for her to have any hope catching the cunning conspirators, she'll have to learn to trust herself again.

©2022 Andrea DaRif (P)2023 Tantor

difficult to listen to

As with all books by this reader, it is difficult to listen to. She has these breathy pauses that are very annoying and she pops her "p" very badly which is almost painful.

Great Story, Terrible Narration

I love these stories, but I'm frequently annoyed and distracted by the narrator's enunciation. She has a breathy quality and some words sound odd. The way she finishes words that end in 'd', 't', or 'p' are noticeably strange - 'good' sounds like 'goot' or 'heard' is 'heardt' for example. It often takes me out of the story. Such a shame.

J Hayes

I enjoyed this book as usual so many twisted and turns. This is one of my favorite series. I do hope another book comes out.

Awesome historical suspense novel

This is an awesome story, I've loved the whole series,but this one was exceptional. It is full of intrigue, romance and mystery. Ariana and friends travel to Russia to solve this conundrum.

Fabulous stories

I love this series. I also love the narrator. These are period pieces and the narrator adds to the dramatic effect. So much fun to be swept into the story!!

Lady Arianna Hadley Mystery Series

Ok, I didn't realize it at the time I started it, but this is a re-listens (what can I say, I really love this series- one of many of my favorites). I like the series, and while I'm sure Ms Sarah is an excellent narrator at any given time, her narration of this is just a bit strange when she announces the chapter. Amusing to be sure but still a bit strange. Other than that, she does an excellent job of it. It doesn't really detract for me, hence all full stars. But that's just my personal opinion and what does or does not irritate me when listening. She does a great job of varying voices of the character and pacing the story. I appreciate her hard work and effort.

The story itself, as a historical mystery (or is that an historical mystery, though it's part of a series) in the series is one of my favorites so I'm biased. Well, ok I love both of Ms. Penrose's Historical Mystery series — Wrexford & Sloane and The Lady Arianna Hadley Mysteries — and have never been disappointed. Sometimes I can sort of guess who is the culprit; well, ok, I try to put the clues together but a few times out of most may have only guessed it partially and the ending is always a surprise. It's one of the book series that has broken me of trying to peek at the ending to see if I'll enjoy the book beforehand. Or perhaps that's age, I used to do it far more in my teens and early twenties. That habit lessened over time to the point where I hardly did it by the age of 40 or so. Back on point, Ms. Penrose, I feel is always worth a read and even re-reading. I also appreciate Ms. Penrose's hard work on her writings.

Mary Sarah

Thank you for not firing Mary. It seems to be true everyone thinks they're gifted at criticizing, try enjoying instead of thinking your so smart. Thank you for your talent and sharing it with us. God Bless.

Distracting narrative quirks

I like these characters and the story was satisfying but the addition of th to every word ending in t or d in addition to some other irritating verbal quirks was almost too distracting to finish the book

Rotten narration

Absolutely terrible horrible narration Andrea should be embarrassed that such a good story is narrated so horribly I couldn’t finish it and went Amazon to read the rest I couldn’t take it anymore. Audible why are you not listening to the many reviews that say that have the same complaint and you don’t do anything about it what’s the point of writing reviews

Distracting Narration

While the narrator spoke well when using an accent, the rest of the time she added a "th" to the end of just about every word and turned every "a" into an "ahhh", as well as using other vowel distortions. It was so distracting I couldn't enjoy the otherwise fun story. Georgia