Category: Historical Mystery

Deadly Wedding by Kate Parker

On By BarbaraIn Audiobook, Barb's Reviews, Historical Mystery, Interwar Period (Nov 1918 - Sep 1939), Part of a SeriesLeave a comment

Deadly Wedding (Deadly, #2)Barbara’s rating: 4 of 5 Stars
Series: Deadly #2
Publication Date: 4/25/17
Period: 1936 Inter-War London
Audiobook Narrator: Henrietta Meire for Tantor Audio

As a fan of this author’s Victorian Bookshop Mystery series, I wanted to try her Deadly series as well. I’m so glad I did as I enjoyed the time I spent with Olivia as well as her obnoxious wealthy cousins, her budding significant other – Adam, her employer at the newspaper, her photographer Jane, and, of course, her overbearing, disapproving father. My library didn’t have the first book in the series available, so I started with this one and it was no trouble at all to step right into the series and feel at home. I’ll definitely read the first book whenever my library has it available.

I ‘read’ the audiobook version and the narrator did an overall nice job. The pacing was nicely done, but, for me, the voice was too high-pitched and whiny when doing ‘posh’ aristocratic voices.

Widowed Olivia Dennis didn’t want to move back to her father’s house after her husband, Reggie, was murdered, so she got a job at The Daily Premier as a society reporter. Her father was incensed at the idea of his daughter actually working. Luckily, he doesn’t know she’s also done some more clandestine reporting for her boss. He does know, however, that she is the one who solved her husband’s murder, and that is a bone of contention between them as well.

Olivia has a love/hate relationship with her distant aristocratic cousins and she can’t believe she’s let Celia talk her into arriving early and helping Celia prepare for her wedding. With a rude, curmudgeonly patriarch, his equally rude adult children, and their adult children all living in the same household, there is little enjoyment in their company.

The old patriarch is found murdered on Celia’s wedding day, but the discovery is hushed up until the wedding is done. Since it is Celia and her groom’s third try for a wedding, her mother wanted to make sure it happened this time! When Celia announces she doesn’t trust the police to find the correct murderer and tasks Olivia with investigating the crime, things get pretty tense. Nobody wants Olivia sticking her nose in their business – but – none of them are convinced the police will get it right either.

At the same time, she is investigating the family murder, her boss assigns her a clandestine mission for him. That mission is truly dangerous since she must travel to an Austria that has just been annexed by Germany. Nazi’s have taken over and the drums of war can be heard in the distance. Can Olivia and Jane safely complete their mission and make it safely out of Austria? Oh! My!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and am looking forward to continuing with the series.

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Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear

On By BarbaraIn Audiobook, Barb's Reviews, Historical Mystery, World War I Era (1914-1920)5 Comments

Maisie Dobbs (Maisie Dobbs, #1)Barbara’s rating: 4 of 5 Stars
Series: Maisie Dobbs #1
Publication Date: 7/1/03 (Audio Version)
Period: WWI England
Narrator: Rita Barrington

I came into this series by reading book sixteen, The Consequences of Fear, and wanted to know more about how Maisie Dobbs became who she is. My solution to that was to read this first book in the series and then decide if I wanted to read all of the others. After reading this really sad, heartbreaking book, I read all of the book blurbs on the remainder of the books in the series and I came to the conclusion that Maisie Dobbs had the darkest, saddest life of anyone I’ve ever read. So, I’m going to skip all of those earlier books and perhaps try number eighteen when it comes out. Maybe that one will be less dark and sad.

I think, for me, this book might have suffered from having the writing be too good. Yes, I know – how can that be? I suppose it really can’t, but what I mean is – the research is so thorough and the writing so well done that you feel as if you are right there in the middle of the battlefield, or that you can actually see that terribly disfigured soldier as he tries to deal with his return to a society who really doesn’t want to see him. It just makes you feel it all – and the ending – it is one of the saddest things I’ve read.

The narrator, Rita Barrington, did a nice enough job, but it didn’t come out as a smooth steady flow of words as you’d picture a conversation. It sounded more like she was reading – which, of course, she was, but I didn’t want to hear it that way. As far as a distinct voice for each character goes – they all sounded like iterations of the narrator’s natural voice. If a character spoke without identifying themselves, I wouldn’t have been able to distinguish which character it was.

The mystery in this book has to do with deaths at a ‘farm’ where returning soldiers with terrible facial disfigurement go to live so they can avoid the stares among the public. However, the mystery doesn’t take up a large portion of the book. It is a good mystery, but still, the largest portion of the book is the set-up for the series. We are introduced to Maisie’s background, family, and friends as well as showing her war experiences.

This book broke my heart and made me very sad. I actually wish I had stopped reading well before the end – maybe just after the mystery was solved – because I honestly didn’t want to see the rest. Was it realistic? Probably. Was it something I wanted to read or know? Absolutely not.

So, I would never read this book a second time, but I am glad I now know Maisie’s background. If you don’t mind gut-wrenching, heartbreaking, grossly sad books, you’ll probably enjoy the read more than I did. Still, it is well written.

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