Heirs and Graces

By: Rhys Bowen

Narrated by: Katherine Kellgren

Length: 8 hrs and 22 mins

Publisher's summary

Audie Award Finalist, Mystery, 2014

As 35th in line for the throne, Lady Georgiana Rannoch may not be the most sophisticated young woman, but she knows her table manners. It's forks on the left, knives on the right - not in His Majesty's back….

"Here I am thinking the education I received at my posh Swiss finishing school would never come in handy. And while it hasn't landed me a job, or a husband, it has convinced Her Majesty the Queen and the Dowager Duchess to enlist my help. I have been entrusted with grooming Jack Altringham - the Duke's newly discovered heir fresh from the Outback of Australia - for high society. The upside is I am to live in luxury at one of England's most gorgeous stately homes. But upon arrival at Kingsdowne Place, my dearest Darcy has been sent to fetch Jack, leaving me stuck in a manor full of miscreants…none of whom are too pleased with the discovery of my new ward. And no sooner has the lad been retrieved than the Duke announces he wants to choose his own heir. With the house in a hubbub over the news, Jack's hunting knife somehow finds its way into the Duke's back. Eyes fall, backs turn, and fingers point to the young heir. As if the rascal wasn't enough of a handful, now he's suspected of murder. Jack may be wild, but I'd bet the crown jewels it wasn't he who killed the Duke…."

©2013 Janet Quin-Harkin (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

A little disappointed

Heirs and Graces really was an enjoyable listen. As usual the mystery was cute, Georgie was Georgie, and Darcy was delectable. Georgie's grandfather only made a brief appearance, which fit with the story but made me a little sad since he is one of my favorite side characters. No Fig or Binky in this one, which was good. But the storyline with Georgie and Darcy didn't move forward. After his proposal at the end of the last book I expected to see more going on there and was disappointed when that didn't happen. I'm also dying to know who it is that Darcy works for. His "spy" nature has been alluded to and danced around for several books and I'm ready to know the truth. All that aside, Heirs and Graces was a great addition to the Royal Spyness Mystery series; it just wasn't my favorite.

Doesn't disappoint!

What made the experience of listening to Heirs and Graces the most enjoyable?

I love this series anyway, and Katherine Kellgren does a terrific job of narrating it.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Georgianna, always. She's just such a refreshing girl, and so headstrong for the time. Willing to do almost anything in order to stay independent. I like that in a person. The children, Kat and Nick, in this book, were hilarious. And the voice that the narrator does for Belinda is so funny that it makes me laugh just to hear her lines.

Which scene was your favorite?

When the twins were trying to get clues from the Inspector.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

No, but there are a lot of laugh-out-loud moments and I really thought this was one of the better in the series.

A fantastic performance

A solid follow up to 12 Clues of Christmas. The story is good, but not quite great; too slow to get started, and the last two chapters, with the resolution of the mystery, felt rushed, with far too much expositional dialogue . It is the suspect characters themselves, though, that make the story shine. They are a motley group whose eccentricities are played up to a good level of comedic effect without descending into pure farce. And they are brought to life by another absolutely fantastic performance by Katherine Kellgren. The voices she has chosen for each are just perfect. I appreciated the subtle ways she made those who are family members in this story sound similar, so that even audibly you can sense the family connection. And as always, her first person narration of the heroine's thoughts are spot on. Highly recommended.

A wonderful get-a-way

I have truly enjoyed this series! Getting a glimpse of the class system, while being romanced with quaint, lovable characters, is truly entertaining. I love being reminded of proper manners, and eloquent speech, without foul language. I can't wait for the next story.

Love the story except..... (small spoiler)

This story is great but I can really do without the seance’s. I’m not 12 and reading Harry Potter. There are too many in her books and they are just ridiculous.

Great series witpossibly the best female narrator

Ok, so originally my wife got these and loved them. I on the other hand usually listen to sci-fi and some hard core mystery. Over the past 18 years I have listened to a couple thousand books and average over 250 hours of audio book per month. While I rate everything I rarely review. I must say while a bit lighter than my normal books this series was very enjoyable. Characters are well developed and engaging. Overall I would definitely recommend them.

What prompted me to write this review though is the narrator. While there are many great narrators, in this book it really hit me how great this narrator is. She has truly unique voices for every character, her accents are excellent in all the books, covering many nationalities. She is one of the few female narrators who makes it really obvious which character is speaking from voice alone without need of context to figure it out. Overall I think Katherine Kellgren may be my new favourite female narrator.

Entertaining

I've listened to this entire series many times and found most of the stories entertaining and fun. This particular story kept me guessing until the very end, but then the story was rushed into a wrap up that showed the true culprit and what might happen to them and Darcy and Georgie going off hand in hand, all in about 7 minutes.
The narrator is very good at keeping all the characters voices separate and believable, she just has this habit of finishing sentences with a forced upward lilt that can become annoying, if you let it. She does this in all the books, but her ability to make several voices of different characters believable and consistent offsets the habit.
All in all, this is worth the listen more than once.

love this series

Love this series, but this is my least favorite so far. Not that it's a bad story, just not as interesting as the others. Love the narrator, very good.

Guilty Pleasure

I am thoroughly enjoying Georgie and her adventures in this series. Katherine Kellgren, and her cast of voice characters, are the icing on the cake to be sure! Miss her...

Love this Series!

What did you love best about Heirs and Graces?

All of the characters are fun and well represented by Katherine! The plot was great, and most entertaining.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Heirs and Graces?

When Jack arrives on the scene with his course Australian accent!!

Have you listened to any of Katherine Kellgren’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Brilliant. She's a genius!

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

This series always makes me laugh out loud. Especially Queenie!

Any additional comments?

Can't wait for the next one!