The Right Sort of Man

By: Allison Montclair

Narrated by: Sarah Nichols

First comes love, then comes murder.

In a London slowly recovering from the ravages of World War II, two very different women join forces to launch a business venture in the heart of Mayfair - The Right Sort Marriage Bureau. Miss Iris Sparks, avuncular and unmarried, and Mrs. Gwendolyn Bainbridge, practical and widowed with a young son, are determined to achieve some independence and do some good in a rapidly changing world.

But the promising start to their marriage bureau is threatened when their newest client, Tillie La Salle, is found murdered and the man arrested for the crime is one Dickie Trower, the prospective husband they matched her with. While the police are convinced they have their man, Miss Sparks and Mrs. Bainbridge are not. To clear Trower's name - and to rescue their fledgling operation's reputation - Sparks and Bainbridge decide to investigate on their own, using the skills and contacts they've each acquired through life and their individual adventures during the recent war.

In this charming, compelling mystery, Allison Montclair blends meticulous research with two brilliantly imagined main characters into the first in a wonderful new series.

©2019 Allison Montclair (P)2019 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Loved this Mystery / Comedy

This was a very enjoyable story of female camaraderie. Using their wits and humor, Gwen and Iris try to solve the case. While looking at the sadness that can also come up. Loved it!

Quite Enjoyable.

I’m not much of a murder mystery fan, but I did enjoy this story. Allison Montclair gave the characters considerable depth and threw in a little humor here and there. The ending surprised me with a unique twist, that I never would have guessed. Sarah Nichols’ narration brought the story to life. I highly recommend this book. I look forward to listening to another Sparks and Bainbridge mystery.

Fabulous characters, great mystery, wonderful 1940s atmosphere!

Love finding a new author who knows how to craft a mystery so you don’t see it till the characters do, but it makes sense with the clues available. Add in interesting multi-dimensional characters, witty dialogue and terrific period details and you’ve got an author to keep reading. The narrator is fabulous, distinguishing several subtlety different British accents and even makes a six year old sound realistic and lovable. If you enjoy Agatha Christie, Rhys Bowen, Carola Dunn, or Kerry Greenwood you’ll love this one!

Delightful story, sparkling wit

The two principal characters play off each other very well. These two intelligent and ambitious women in their late twenties are from different backgrounds but their shared WWII experiences bring them together in a bold business venture. They get a good deal more adventure than either expected. Sarcasm abounds as well a refreshing joie de vivre. Entertaining and engaging. I am on the second in the series and enjoying it as much as the first. I hope more will follow. Fans of the Lady Hardcastle Mystery series by T.E. Kinsey should take note. These are just as good!

Darling

Light and airy
Delightful characters well voice by the narrator
Cries out for a sequel

A great beginning to an excellent series

When it comes to mysteries, I can be hard to please. I like some of the aspects that make them cozy— knowing we’ll get a clear resolution at the end, a charming setting, lovable characters I want to spend time with again— but I still want the real tension of a mystery. I do not want a book with muffin recipes in it. Then, on the flip side, I need the mystery to be a little grounded, and I like the characters to be decent people (by and large), and I want them to be grappling with issues that are to scale. I do not want, for example, Louise Penny’s situation where the majority of the characters are in some degree of psychic anguish and eventually her average detective is going to be taking on a nationwide terrorist conspiracy.

I’ve now listened to five of these books and they’ve threaded my needle perfectly each time. I love the setting and the characters, they have enough psychological complexity to feel truly real while also being very decent, even when royalty is involved, things feel to scale, and I’m so invested in their continuing story. And, not for nothing, the mystery plotting is pretty darn crackerjack. If you like muffin mysteries OR Louise Penny, I think you’ll really like this. If you liked the early Maisie Dobbs books, you’ll love it. But, better yet, if you almost but not quite loved those and want something somewhere in between all of them, this series may be exactly what you need.

So glad I finally gave it a listen!

Having left this one in my Wish List, cooling its heels for some time, I finally decided to give it a go. Glad I did because I loved it!! It reminds me of the Lady Hardcastle series by TE Kinsey. Can't wait to delve into book 2!

Fun story

I liked the characters, although listening, it was difficult to tell who was who, in the beginning. The narrator was not to my liking, very high-pitched for son, voices, and the two main characters didn’t seem to fit their personalities at all.

Hope the second book is better

Had high hopes for a new series but was disappointed.
It seemed like a jumble of events, miscellaneous characters, too many fake names for the main characters, etc.
It does have a bit of a surprise ending which was weak.
Will give Book 2 a shot since the ratings are much higher.

Mixed feelings….

On the surface, this is very much the kind of book I like - strong female characters, a decent mystery, interesting secondary characters - and I did listen to the whole thing rather than return it because of that. But I found Ms. Nichol’s narration truly off-putting, especially in the beginning. She gets quite shrill, especially for characters who are petite (I noticed she did the same in the Rosalind Thorne mysteries, but it was worse here). Her pacing was also odd - as if she was trying to put a madcap 1920’s spin on a book taking place in the 1950 - a bit fast and off the cuff, which didn’t always fit the book.

The vocal issues calmed down some by halfway through, but still on the fence about whether or not to get the next book.