Peccadillo at the Palace

An Annie Oakley Mystery (Annie Oakley Mysteries)

By: Kari Bovee

Narrated by: Susanna Burney

The Wild West Show, Victorian England, and a royal case of murder. Will Annie hunt down the killer before the queen is the next victim?

In this second book in the Annie Oakley historical mystery series, award-winning author Kari Bovee brings back the lovable character, Annie Oakley, as an amateur detective.

It’s 1887, and Annie and Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show are invited to Queen Victoria’s Jubilee celebration in London, England. But their long journey across the ocean takes a turn for the worst when the queen’s royal servant ends up dead and Annie’s husband, Frank Butler, falls suspiciously ill. Annie soon discovers that the two events are connected - and may be precursors to an assassination attempt on the queen.

In London, it becomes clear that there is rampant unrest in the queen’s kingdom - the Irish Fenian Brotherhood, as well as embittered English subjects, are teeming in the streets. But amid the chaos, even while she prepares for the show, Annie is determined to find the truth.

With the help of a friend and reporter, Emma Wilson, the renowned poet Oscar Wilde, and the famous socialite Lily Langtry, Annie sets out to hunt down the queen’s enemies - and find out why they want to kill England’s most beloved monarch.

Grand Prize Winner of the 2019 Chanticleer International Goethe Historical Fiction Award.
2019 Best Book Award Finalist

©2020 Kari Bovee (P)2023 Kari Bovee

Annie Oakley solving a British mystery!

This is book 2 in the series and works OK as a stand alone, tho the previous books are a lot of fun.
A little more than half this story happens on the ocean as the Wild Buffalo Bill Show heads to London to entertain the royal family. Yes, they did indeed take some buffalo. Buck, Annie’s beloved horse, really doesn’t like sea travel. But he’s not the only one. Several people are feeling poorly. Is it just sea sickness or is there something more sinister going on?
The accidents and illnesses and deaths start happening pretty quick. The mystery is a-foot! Annie is on it though. After all, ship travel is rather boring. A mystery makes for a good distraction. Frank comes down ill and Annie has to admit to herself that she’s not feeling quite herself either. But there’s some differences in the symptoms. An on-board doctor recommends rest but Annie is restless.
Anyhoo, by they time they dock, there’s a dead person, a few sick, and a murderer in hand… or not? Annie has more questions and those questions lead to admitting that her first guess was wrong. But the show must go on and there is immediately lots of stuff to get set up. Once we’re off the ship, the second half of the book moves along at a quicker pace.
The show stars get introduced to some of the royal family and are shown their rooms at the palace. It’s a far cry from where and how Annie grew up on the small town farm in Ohio. Annie’s younger sister, Holda, is also very excited about this. In fact, Holda is a bubbly, adventurous person compared to the more restrained Annie. Holda and Annie bump heads for most of the book but eventually they work things out. I was surprised that Holda and Lily Smith get along so well as Lily has always given Annie a hard time and often does her best to one-up her during the performances.
My one little quibble is that the forensic analysis for the crimes happens super fast in this story. Like just how do you identify a clear liquid in a sealed glass container? More over, how do you ID it as snake venom from a very specific type of snake? While I liked Annie’s use of fingerprints, I also felt that she needed a bigger sample size to truly claim that these prints are for that person and therefore that person is the guilty one. But I think Annie learned this too, the hard way. Looking back on it, book 1 had this same little problem (that of unbelievably swift & accurate forensics), but I so enjoyed the story I overlooked it. Here tho, the ID of the venom seemed above and beyond what was possible for the time and location.
Anyways, back to the palace. There’s so many rules, so many ways to offend people, and yet more illness and death. Seems like Annie has her hands full with not just the performances but also with catching a killer. I really enjoyed the second half of the book. It was a lot of fun having the blunt and brash Americans inadvertently (or sometimes on purpose – squinting at you Lily!) insulting the very proper English. Plus there’s more info about the Irish Fenian Brotherhood. All around, it was another good addition to the series. 4.5/5 stars.
The Narration: Susanna Burney continues to do a great job at playing Annie. I liked how she managed the often-exasperated voice when Annie was dealing with her sister. Also Annie has some mood swings in this book and Burney was great at portraying those shifts. Burney’s male voices sound masculine and I liked her light accents for the Irish and the man from India. The proper British accents were nicely done too. There was this one minor character that sounded a bit like Harley Quinn and that sounded a little out of place…. but that could jut be me. The pacing was good and there were no tech issues with the recording. 4.5/5 stars.
I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. My opinions are 100% my own.

A Fun Sequel!

Peccadillo at the Palace is the sequel to Girl With a Gun. Annie Oakley is invited to perform for Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee. On her voyage to England, her escort is murdered. Annie learns of Frank Butler’s origins and believes that her husband may be the next victim. While she tries to uncover who may be behind the murder, she also learns that there is an assassination plot against the Queen. Will Annie be able to stop the assassination attempt and find the murderer?

Annie Oakley has grown more confident from Girl With the Gun. She is more daring and assertive. I adore her friendship with Emma, the female journalist. She is feisty and is Annie’s partner in solving the mysteries. I love how she played Watson to Annie Oakley’s Sherlock Holmes! They make a great pairing, and I hope that she will help Annie Oakley solve more crimes in the next novel! I also find Annie’s complicated relationship with her sister, Hulda, to be very interesting. The reader understands why Hulda rebels against Annie. She is often overshadowed and has to deal with having a famous sister. I also find Annie’s romance with Frank to be very endearing. Frank loves and wants to protect Annie. Therefore, I find how these characters have shaped Annie as a detective to be the best aspect of the audiobook!

Overall, this novel is about political intrigue, sisterhood, and friendship. I find the setting of Victorian England to be very fascinating. There were many famous cameos in the story like Oscar Wilde, Lillie Langtry, and Queen Victoria! I adore how Annie Oakley interacted with these famous people. The weakest link in the audiobook was that it was easy to know the murderer as soon as the character is mentioned. Still, this was a very enjoyable audiobook, and I look forward to listening to Folly at the Fair! I recommend this for fans of Lady Sherlock Holmes, A Curious Beginning, and Murder on Black Swan Lake!
(Note: I received an audiobook as part of a blog tour. All opinions expressed are my own.)

Interesting sequel!

Peccadillo at the Palace is the second book in Kari Bovee’s Annie Oakley Mysteries, and the myriad complicated issues that arise as the Wild West Show travels to England are anything but minor, trivial sins! Narrated by the talented Susanna Burney, the large cast is brought to life, each with their individual voice and inflection.

Annie has her hands full in this book! There is the mysterious death of their Royal escort that coincides with her husband Frank’s becoming ill with an intestinal ailment that stubbornly lingers despite medical care, Annie’s own occasional illness that may or may not be a precursor to pregnancy, threats to the Queen, and the stress of negotiating her relationship with her younger sister. Joined by the intrepid reporter Emma, Annie plays detective interviewing her fellow ship companions and using found materials to dust for fingerprints . As Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee approaches, Annie’s stresses reach a boiling point.

As an older sister to a fractious younger sister, I found the constant push/pull of Annie and Hulda’s relationship to be a slight distraction from the plot and the change in Annie’s character from the previous book to be jarring. However! I know all to well that a younger sibling can bring out the absolute worst in oneself, and applaud the author for their realism in portraying the relationship.

I will admit that since the time period covered by this book isn’t one I’ve studied, the revelation of the killer was an absolute surprise!

Loved it!

I knew anything about her other than she was a sharp shooter. Thoroughly enjoyed this!

This is a fascinating series based on facts

Peccadillo at the Palace is the third book in the Annie Oakley Mystery series. In this book, The Wild West Show is invited to England to perform for the queen. It covers the boat trip to England as well as events leading up to and past the “Big Performance “.
This is a very exciting new series based on the life of Annie Oakley. Since very little is known about this amazing young woman in history, the author used what facts she could find as the basis of this series.
The author did an outstanding job in keeping the element of mystery and suspense high until the very end of the story.
Since It is a very bittersweet tale you may want to keep a box of tissues close by.
I feel that the only way the author could make this story better, is to include which parts of the book is factual. It would be nice to have this information.
The Narrator, Susanna Burney, did an excellent job in placing the correct emphasis in all the right places and in the consistent use of the various “voices “.