Murder in the Manor

A Lacey Doyle Cozy Mystery, Book 1

By: Fiona Grace

Narrated by: Mary Sarah

Murder in the Manor is the debut novel in a charming new cozy mystery series by Fiona Grace.

Lacey Doyle, 39 years old and freshly divorced, needs a drastic change. She needs to quit her job, leave her horrendous boss and New York City, and walk away from the fast life. Making good on her childhood promise to herself, she decides to walk away from it all and relive a beloved childhood vacation in the quaint English seaside town of Wilfordshire.

Wilfordshire is exactly as Lacey remembers it, with its ageless architecture, cobblestone streets, and with nature at its doorstep. Lacey doesn’t want to go back home, and spontaneously, she decides to stay and to give her childhood dream a try: She will open her own antique shop.

Lacey finally feels that her life is taking a step in the right direction...until her new star customer turns up dead. As the newcomer in town, all eyes are on Lacey, and it’s up to her to clear her own name. With a business to run, a next-door neighbor-turned-nemesis, a flirty baker across the street, and a crime to solve, is this new life all that Lacey thought it would be?

©2019 Fiona Grace (P)2019 Fiona Grace

A very good read.

Was well written. Left me with many questions. Will need to follow up with the series.

Easy Read

I love stories with "England" involved. The story isn't about the country but takes place there. Nice little mystery but you need to read it thru. If you start to figure it out your guess is probably wrong. Enjoyed it all the way through.

a fun mystery

if you like mysterious stories with a few twists and turns then this book is for you! will definitely be reading more of this author!

good story

Thought this was overall a good story. The main character was very trusting for a person from the states. She shared way too much info with people she just met. I did like that she reinvented herself after divorce and inspite not getting support from family.

Good cozy

One thing that's mentioned in other reviews is the tone of the narrators voice. It is interesting and very breathy especially in the first several chapters as most of the dialogue is her thinking her story. I enjoyed the mystery, the possibility of romance and of course the old English Sheepdog that came to stay. Just be sure to listen to a sample prior to purchase.

enjoyable story, takes time to warm up to heroine

I will look forward to the next book in the series, but would prefer a different narrator. From the moment she first spoke the first word, I was thinking to myself, "My, she speaks in a very odd accent!" she seems to have invented her own hybrid American-UK accent. She speaks very clearly and at a calm, measured pace, but I found her strange accent and almost singsong, lilting cadence distracting.

Kept Me Guessing

Would have been 5 stars. The issue I have is with the recording itself not the performance or the story. Both of those were great. In a couple places I noticed I was hearing parts of previously heard chapters. It kind of threw me at first and made me think I'd accidentally pressed the timeline bar and jumped back to an earlier part of the story (or somehow developed precognative abilities and had mentally "known" a part of the story I'd not yet heard). I think it only happened at the end of two or three chapters.

A delightful premise and promise

The story was interesting all along the way, from backstory and astonishing decisions to several surprising

Can’t wait to read the next one

Full of twists and turns and narrated well. The ending sparked my interest for the next book in the series.

Good

The chapter begining is a little too dramatic for my tastes, but the narrator did a good job. Story was good, with a twist. Not who I thought the killer was.