The Highgate Cemetery Murder

A Tate and Bell Mystery, Book 1

By: Irina Shapiro

Narrated by: Imogen Church

Length: 12 hrs and 42 mins

Publisher's summary

His heart pounding, the man scribbles the words in his notebook as fast as he can: “Woman dead in Highgate. Man in caped coat. Milky way and red streaks. I’m being followed.”

Hours later, the man’s cold body lies in the city mortuary, alongside the woman he couldn’t save. And his sister, unconventional nurse Gemma Tate, tracks down troubled police inspector Sebastian Bell to unravel the truth.

Sebastian has enough pressure to solve the murder of an aristocratic heiress without Gemma meddling in his case. But the cryptic sentences she brings him from her brother’s notebook could be a crucial lead. If only they knew what “milky way” meant. But as the trail of clues takes them away from the gilded drawing rooms of the nobility and into the dangerous slums of London, how far will their partnership be tested on the quest for justice, and will they both emerge unscathed?

©2024 Irina Shapiro (P)2024 Storm Publishing

Great start to a new series!

I love everything Irina Shapiro has written! She comes up with amazingly twisted stories! I’m happy for a new series but hope to see more of Redmond and Haze and Nicole Rayburn.

Excellent story!

Another great story with excellent character development, and I really enjoyed the reference to Constable Ransom from the Haze and Redmond mystery series.

Good story

At times the narrator's voice drops so low you can hear. Frustrating when trying to follow a conversation.

WOW! This is a great start to a wonderful series.

It starts a bit slow but boy does it pick up speed. The narration is superb and makes the story flow even better. I can’t wait for the next one. THANKS IRINA SHAPIRO!

Great Story!

Loved the mystery and the characters. Imogen Church is by far my favorite narrator. Can’t wait for the next installment!

Not for the squeamish

Magnificent storytelling! This is a real page-turner. I could hardly step away from it and couldn’t wait to get back to it. Every time I thought I guessed where it was going, it took another turn. Be warned, though, that it’s gruesome. The descriptions of horrible death are graphic.

I like this narrator, but she tends to be very overly dramatic. Too many conversations are depicted as extremely angry, which is a little wearing.

A tale of bullying and jealousy

Irina Shapiro is one of my favorite authors. Her stories are intense and do not hold back difficult details. This story may have seemed too gory and graphic to some however I have no doubt that the events in this story certainly occurred during the time period of the 1800s. I do hope she writes a sequel as Gemma is a strong female character. Imogene Church is a fantastic narrator.

Good Enough Period Mystery, Narrator Not Quite Right

I started this once a couple months ago but the narrator was too breathy and overly dramatic so I went on to another series. Turned to it again, changed the speed to 1.2 and gritted my teeth through the first several chapters but stuck with it and it got interesting enough to stick with it…the jury is still out about moving forward with the next one in the series.

Intrigue!

Well done Irina (again). Great start to this new series. Now, on to book 2…Traitor’s Gate!

Interesting Story, Would Prefer Other Narrator

I found the story and characters to be quite engrossing but unfortunately, the narrator was not to my liking. I found her cadence and intonation to be quite similar for the two main characters and I found her tone to often be quite sharp which was irritating. This is entirely a personal preference though and other people might like the narration but for me, I sadly will be skipping the next book in the series.