The Seventh Sinner

A Jacqueline Kirby Mystery, Book 1

By: Elizabeth Peters

Narrated by: Grace Conlin

Length: 5 hrs and 50 mins

Publisher's summary

For vibrant, lovely Jean Suttman, the fellowship to study in Rome was the culmination of all her dreams, until she undertook an innocent expedition to the ancient subterranean Temple of Mithra.

From the moment she stepped into the pagan darkness and discovered the corpse of the repulsive Albert, one of her fellow students, she was afraid. Not even the comforting presence of the perceptive and practical Jacqueline Kirby could erase the fear that was nourished by one small accident after another. "Accidents" that came dreadfully close to killing her.

Someone was stalking Jean, someone ruthless and determined. Before long she could see no chance of rescue from the ever-present terror...no hope of escape...nothing but death...

©1972 Elizabeth Peters (P)1997 Blackstone Audiobooks

Not quite as good as Amelie and Emerson’s sleuthing but still good.

I enjoyed the story, the devil is in the details. I loved her Egyptian mysteries so very much and Barbara Rosenblat was superb as the reader. I recommend trying that series.

Narrator took away from the story

Wow, was the narrator, Grace Conlin, bad. Dana was English, the accent varied. Jacqueline and Jean were one voice. The chapters numbers repeated for some odd reason. Pass on anything from this narrator.

I really struggled with the story due to the poor narration. Took me a month for a 6 hour book. Normally I'm buying extra credits but not this month.

I'm a HUGE Elizabeth Peters fan. I typically have a unequivocal requirement that her stories be read by Barbara Rosenblat. I broke my rule and suffered. Sadly there are close to a dozen Audibles by Elizabeth Peters narrated by Grace Conlin meaning I won't hear a one. In fact I'm returning book 2 and possibly this one.

Jocose

When I heard Barbara Mertz died on August 8, 2013, I looked her books up to see if there was any I had missed reading. Mertz wrote under the name Elizabeth Peter and Barbara Michaels. Under Peter’s she is well known the Abigail Peabody series and under Michaels the Vicky Bliss series. Mertz was an archeologist who wrote mystery novels with an archeology background. I had never heard of the Jacqueline Kirby books until now. I had read all the other books so decided to give the Kirby book a try. Mertz provided a great deal of Roman history in a sort of sightseeing trip about Rome with Kirby and the group of graduate students. Kirby had a dry since of humor and the student’s were quick with the witty replies made for a few good laughs while reading. The mystery seemed to be secondary to the history of Rome and the interaction of the group of students. I was about 2/3 the way through the story before I thought I had figured who did it but the reason why was a surprise. I had thought there was not much of a plot to the story but obviously I was wrong. Thought it was great the hero was a librarian. Grace Conlin did a good job narrating the story.

Great book, not such a great narrator

I first read this book and fell in love with the main characters quick wit and sharp tongue. I still love the story, but I could have hoped for a better narrator. Grace Conlin's voice has a flat, expressionless tone. I recommend the audio book for the simple reason that it's a great little mystery. Just breath deeply and get lost in the story, NOT the narrator voice.

Love this Author

After introduction to Elizabeth Peters I was constantly searching for more. Her stories are different , traveling to many places. Intriguing, always with a twist. I love the laughter, suspense, and a good mystery!

This was pretty good!

This is the first of the series and I like this the best of the Jacqueline Kirby mysteries I've read. (In fact, I think I read this before and didn't remember much and it vastly improved in the interval!)
Re others in series:
- I didn't care for "The Murders of Richard III"
- Liked "Die for Love" (Jacqueline at a romance writer's convention when she decides to write her own)....
- "Naked Once More" didn't stick with me...

In this book Jacqueline meets a cast of characters who are art students and there's predictably a possible murder. She takes one of the students under her wing because she's afraid the girl may be the next target. Lots of good dialogue and interesting tidbits of information... Enjoyable.

Grace Conklin's performance didn't aggravate me the way anybody but Barbara Rosenblat's reading Elizabeth Peters tends to do...

Good Mystery/Adventure

This is the first book featuring Jacqueline Kirby, a forty-something American librarian. She is visiting Rome, and while there she makes friends with a clique of seven international students. The book focuses on Jean, one of the group, who discovers a fellow scholar -- disliked by all -- dying from a slit throat, and finds her life in danger as a result.

While Jaqueline isn't as fully likable as other Peters' heroines, she's an interesting and well-written character. The Seventh Sinner is typical of Peter's entertaining style, with an intelligent, twisty, and attention-holding plot.

This is not Ms. Conlin's best performance. Her British female accent goes all over the nation and several times it was hard to distinguish who was speaking from the voice.

Great story, bad narrator

Grace Conlin ruined this for me. I tried to find this book (and several others) narrated by anyone other than Conlin. Elizabeth peters is one of my favorite authors and this narrator didn’t even come close to doing her work justice.

No, no, no

The plot wasn’t good, the characters lacked dept, and the narrator was bland. I am a fan of the Amelia and Emerson series, but this novel didn’t appear to be written by the same author. The setting had promise but it just wasn’t enough to make this worth the read.

First draft?

It seems sad not to give a higher rating to an Elizabeth Peters mystery because I loved the Amelia Peabody series and the Vicki Bliss series. There are a few traces of Elizabeth Peters' clever wit here (the purse!), but overall, the story and characters seem undeveloped, as if the author was sketching out the puzzle in a first draft and would later add context and richness. The narration was fine, though it was sometimes difficult to distinguish the voices of individual characters.