Wadie

A fun romp from Ms Peters with the usual dollop of history. I enjoyed it very much. I also enjoyed Grace Colin's narration. She does a fine Jacqueline Kirby. A nice little mystery with an ending I didn't guess as well.

There is some time missing in the first part. It didn't seem to matter for the story to make sense though.....

Sam is coming around to be a little more normal, sort of, for him. The setting is still the Hamptons but not the showy part. The author really make the area come alive. This story is no less complicated than the first Sam mystery but in a totally different direction. Some of the story touches on the art world and I came away from the story with a new perspective on "modern" art. As always the engineering details are fascinating.

I like Sam, the "hero". He is repressed, drinks too much, and smokes, but I like him.
He has issues with his mother, father, sister, ex-wife (his "revenge" was pretty funny), daughter, career, car, house, and neighbor. Sam has some questions about an "accidental" death and the book takes off from there. The plot is a little convoluted, then again expensive real estate deals can be pretty convoluted. The setting is the Hamptons, you don't think about "regular" people living there. The book is filled with people, not just characters. The mystery kept me guessing to the end. There was one pretty violent scene but not too awful. Bad guys getting beat up don't qualify as violence!

Awful. The narration is muddy. The story and characters are absurd. Elizabeth I must be whirling in her grave at the way she is portrayed. Sometimes it is a matter of taste. I've bought a couple of historical mysteries from Audible and had to force myself to listen to the whole thing. Maybe I didn't like the narrator or the story had a few holes (like Swiss cheese!) but I did get to the end. I could only make it through the first hour and a half of this book. That should be long enough to flesh out at least a little of the story but not this time.

I love the era just before WWI and between WWI and WWII. I had read most of the Albert Campion Books years ago but this was a new one for me. The narration was interesting....I'm still not sure about the "voice" used for Albert but it might have grown on me! The mix of characters was delightful. I did figure out who the baddie was early but it didn't take away my enjoyment of the book at all. The mindset is of the characters is old fashioned but not wrong. There was a big surprise at the end and I was delighted by it. I hope to see more Albert Campion books available.

I like the "hero" of this series, Ian Rutledge. He has been damaged by the "Great War" but hasn't lost the ability to see the good in people around him. The plot seemed to be easy to figure out but Todd was a little sneaky and threw in a twist or two. On the whole the story was very satisfying. The narration was quite good, that helped get past the story being a little longer than it needed to be. I'll be getting more books in this series.

It might have been because they had a sense of humor! This series is set at the end of the roman republic. Julius Cesar is just starting on his road to becoming a god. The plot is intriguing and some of the parallels to modern politics can't be a mere coincidence! I confess to a crush on Decuis. He is clever, ethical, dry humored, and a soft touch. What more can one ask for? Some of the dialog is laugh out loud funny. All in all an excellent listen and I am already on the next book! Decuis in Alexandria, I can't wait!

Robert Goldsborough is not. That is the only explanation I can think of. The Nero Wolfe stories written by Mr. Stout are quick and sharply written with neat plots and clever dialog. Every meal created by Felix is described with loving detail in these books. This Nero Wolfe book written by Mr. Goldsborough is mean spirited and trite. Felix and his meals are an afterthought rather than inspiring enough to have a cook book created for them. Archie isn't a smart alek in the book, he is downright disrespectful of Wolfe. At first I blamed the narrator and he really isn't suitable for Archie but as the book went on I realized the problem was really what was being said rather than the tone of voice. The actual mystery isn't bad. It was agony getting to the end though.

I was thankful this audio book was finally coming to a climax but then I noticed there were
still 40 minutes to go. Sadly it wasn't ending, not when there was one more totally idiot plot twist that could happen. Why did I listen this far? Simon Vance and his fabulous voice and characterizations. The characters and basic premise of the story have promise but the author can't decide if she wants to write a bodice ripper or a mystery. If Lydia is described as fragile one more time in these last 40 minutes, someone could get hurt!

As much as I love Simon Vance I won't be getting any more of this series.

I don't like to writer negative reviews. Unless there is a serious problem I just won't write anything. Ellery Queen is a writer (yes, that is a pen name for a duo:) I really enjoy. Their style of writing is a bit dry but always clever. I didn't bother to listen to the sample. This is a mistake I won't make again. I was only able to listen to the first 20 or so minutes of this recording. The narration is awful. If a NYC detective spoke as slowly as Richard Queen does in the first 20 minutes of this book, his own people would shoot him. So if you are an Ellery Queen fan by all means check out the sample. But DO NOT purchase this recording until you do!!

I love it when the most versatile word in the English language is used in so many ways:)
While I enjoy Jackson's voice immensely, my sense of irony was aching for a classical British accent.
Ralph Richardson, Burton, and Olivier are no longer with us.....what about Jeremy Irons?