Death & Sensibility

A Jane Austen Society Mystery, Book 2

By: Elizabeth Blake

Narrated by: Justine Eyre

Length: 8 hrs and 27 mins

Publisher's summary

When the quaint English town of York hosts a Jane Austen Society conference, bookseller Erin Coleridge is glad to get out of Kirkbymoorside for a while—until featured speaker Barry Wolf suddenly perishes from what appears to be a heart attack.

Erin is suspicious, since Barry had no history of heart disease. But who did him in? Was it the decedent's assistant, Stephen, who was observed chatting to Barry's young wife Luca earlier that night? Might it have been Barry's ex-wife Judith, who was seen arguing with her erstwhile betrothed at the bar? Meanwhile, conference co-chairs Hetty and Prudence have been at one another's throat since the conference. Is one of them the culprit?

Matters of the heart are putting Erin off her guard. Both Detective Inspector Peter Hemming and schoolteacher Jonathan Alder have made gestures of romantic interest, but Erin isn't sure who is her Willoughby and who is her Colonel Brandon. DI Hemming tries to persuade Erin that her entanglement in the murder investigation is far from sensible, but his entreaties come to naught. Dauntlessly, Erin joins forces with Kirkbymoorside's cat lady, Farnsworth, to ferret out the guilty party.

©2021 Carole Bugge (P)2022 Tantor

Kept me interested

I have really enjoyed this series. The characters are great. You can truly visualize them.

Good story line

I did spot several discrepancies in the story. Author mixed up when a character was a moderator of on a panel. Forgot which floor Jonathan’s room was on ….

Slightly disappointed

I remember quite enjoying the first book, but this 2nd book was a bit disappointing. The story was quite long winded, and the main character Erin became quite unlikeable. The way she questioned her suspects openly and directly was really stupid . Why did she just ignore the warnings of the inspector and approached everyone like she was the police? And she just blabbered off the details to friends and suspects….unbelievable. I was just waiting for the book to end quickly.

Amazing

I love this series so much!!!! Each book is fun and it’s a perfect mix of Jane Austin and cozy murder mystery.

Love the characters and personal retrospective.

I often got lost in the storyline and had to replay because the men all sounded much the same to my ear.

Another excellent novel

Ok I will keep it simple, if you liked the first book you will also enjoy this one. It is a good read with excellent character development.

A decent listen

The narrator did well with the many voices - sometimes a challenge as to which male person was speaking. But a good character read all together.
When she was reading the narrative, it became gritty and droll. Then a character would start to speak and life returned to her voice.
Still, a good reading.

Story was interesting and the ‘who dunnit’ would shift as more info was established, keeping things interesting.

I felt a more enjoyable book than the first - but we need both stories to learn the characters and settings and personalities.

I’m looking forward to book 3! 🥰

Great story. Excellent narration.

Great story. The ending could have been a little less abrupt. Looking forward to the next book in the series.

Annoying

I was very excited with book one of this series. The main character has become annoying to me as I continue to listen to book 2. She gets to involve in the investigation and put herself in danger without any consideration for people feelings. She omit vital information from the police and justify her action. Maybe if she had shared her info with the police 2 other people would’ve not been killed. I don’t know if I will be reading anymore books in this series.

Great story at a nice pace!

I love all the characters and the British accent from the narrator! The plot is great, entertaining and flows well with the characters.