Still Life with Murder

Nell Sweeney Mystery, Book 1

By: P.B. Ryan

Narrated by: Leigh Ryan

Length: 9 hrs and 37 mins

Publisher's summary

Boston, 1868: The dawn of the Gilded Age, an era of burgeoning commerce and invention, of unimaginable new fortunes and lavish excess—for some. Born into dismal poverty, young Nell Sweeney scratches by on her wits and little else until fortune blesses her with a position as nursery governess to the fabulously wealthy Hewitts. But she soon learns that ugly secrets lurk beneath the surface of their gold-plated world.

The Hewitts’ eldest son, William, a former Union Army battle surgeon and the black sheep of the family, was reported to have died three years before in a notorious Confederate prison camp. But one snowy February afternoon, his parents learn that he is, in fact, still alive—and in jail for having murdered a man while intoxicated on opium. Infuriated by his son’s deception and convinced of his guilt, August Hewitt forbids his wife from coming to Will’s aid, so she begs Nell to help exonerate him. Nell finds that she must delve into the kind of dark and treacherous underworld she thought she’d left far behind if she is to unearth the truth before the hangman’s noose tightens around William Hewitt’s throat.

©2003 Patricia Burford Ryan (P)2014 Patricia Burford Ryan

Critic reviews

"A beautiful combination of entertaining characters, minute historical research, and a powerful evocation of time and place. I'm very glad there will be more to come." ( New York Times best-selling author, Barbara Hambly)

"P.B. Ryan makes a stunning debut with Still Life With Murder...I can't wait for the next installment." (Best-selling author, Victoria Thompson)

"If you like fast-moving, accurately drawn, historical mysteries, you won't go wrong by trying Still Life With Murder." (Reviewing the Evidence)

Gilded Age in Boston--excellent mystery!

P B Ryan has written this mystery series set in the 1860's wealthy area of Boston. Ryan parallels Nell's own entrance into the book with her assistance to Dr. Greaves who is managing a particularly difficult delivery. Afterwards, it turns out that the maid who gave birth doesn't want to keep the baby, so it is wealthy Viola Hewitt, wheelchair-bound, grieving the loss of two sons in the Civil War, who decides to adopt the infant. She hires Nell to be governess, and so the connections between Nell Sweeney and the Boston Brahmin Hewitts begin.

Very quickly into the story, there is a murder, and reason to think that William Hewitt, one of the sons long thought dead, is the killer. Viola is desperate to find out if it is her lost son, so secretly sends Nell to the jail to find out. This will eventually lead the curious Irish immigrant girl back into places she thinks she has gotten away from, as she cannot resist investigating the murder on her own.

This is a book I read previously, and enjoyed comparing the written version with the narrated one. In the beginning, I was not too fond of Leigh Ryan's reading of some of it. But as the book moves along, I think her narration gets much better. I find her voice a bit soft and gentle for parts of it, but she did very well with the Irish accents, and Nell herself. This is an interesting book, which is why I wanted to re-read (hear) it. I like the author's skill with dialogue, with creating good characters, maintaining a good flow and fascinating details, and just the right amount of tension. I think this is an excellent beginning to the series. Recommend!

Outstanding mystery and narration!

If you could sum up Still Life with Murder in three words, what would they be?

Thrilling, compelling page-turner!

Did the plot keep you on the edge of your seat? How?

The combination of terrific writing, a well-crafted plot, and exquisite narration added up to a delightful listening/reading experience. I didn't want it to end.

Which character – as performed by Leigh Ryan – was your favorite?

My favorite was Nell Sweeney, the sleuth. I'd never experienced Leigh Ryan's narration before, but now I'm going to look for her name! Her voice quality is lovely and easy to listen to, she reads with feeling, she handles accents well, and she manages to differentiate between different speakers smoothly and clearly. Unlike some female narrators who rough up their voices to do male characters, Ms. Ryan was able to indicate a male voice in a much more listenable (and nondistracting!) way. Altogether, a great choice of narrator for this book.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

I wish I could! I listen in the car during my commute, but this book and narrator were so good, I continued to listen after I got home. I almost never do that.

Any additional comments?

Only that I'm eager to listen to the rest of the series!

REALLY enjoyed this book and EXCELLENT narration!

What did you love best about Still Life with Murder?

The charming 19th century feel and the path the mystery takes as it unfolds. If you like to hear about the seedy underbelly of the cobblestone streets of Boston, you will dig this book!

Did the plot keep you on the edge of your seat? How?

The last 2 hours of the book are most enjoyable and yes I couldn't stop listening. (Trying to not give anything away)

What about Leigh Ryan’s performance did you like?

Her style of narration with numerous dialects and voices to cover through out the book. Not sure what the other lower starred reviews were thinking... but I'd say this is already one of my favorite audio books to date!

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

I have to admit that I am a sucker for a good murder mystery, but if you feel that same definitely check this book! With any review (especially a mystery) it's hard to write a review without giving away the best parts. If I were to pick out a specific part, it would be as Nell works to finally unravel the mystery and any of the sections at Fin's!

Any additional comments?

MORE PLEASE! Oh wait... there is on to "Murder in a Mill Town".

Love, Art, and the Underbelly of Boston 1868

Nell Sweeney, after assisting Dr. Greaves with a very difficult birth, meets Viola Hewitt . . . her servant, Annie has just given birth to a beautiful baby girl, and rejected the baby . . . Viola Hewitt is determined to adopt the baby . . . and hire Nell as the child's governess . . . thus begins a life that Nell had never dreamed possible . . . raising little Grace . . . living with the Hewitts . . . adapting seamlessly into a new way of life . . . both Viola and Nell are artists . . . Nell sketching from memory people and places . . . and Viola a painter, only displaying her work in the inner sanctums of her home . . . and both women, brave, not easily shocked, yet harboring a past full of secrets . . . four years pass in relative peace and tranquility . . . until a man is arrested for murder . . . a man, thought long dead . . . Viola and August Hewitt's oldest son, William, a Union army surgeon . . . August rejects their son, casting him off to die for the murder . . . while Viola secretly enlists Nell to try and discover the truth and save him . . . setting into motion the unraveling of decades of deceit . . . in her search to discover what really happened to the man found with his throat cut with Will's surgical instrument outside the opium den, Nell found herself reliving her own past, treading dangerously close to the kind of places and people she'd thought long to have forgotten . . . while I found the descriptions of opium use and all other means of killing pain following the Civil War to be stomach turning, I also learned a lot about these men who came back maimed and changed for life . . . and the "industry" that preyed on them when they came back home . . . doctors returned addicted, these "medications" were not regulated . . . and the rich (although they hid behind their big homes, their fancy clothes, whist bailing out their spoiled rotten kids) fueled the drug trade . . . and many do the same today . . . the story was captivating, with twists and turns . . . and I was quite satisfied with the outcome . . . looking forward to the next in the series . . .

excellent

I usually do not like period stories,but this was well written and held my interest to the end. Thank you for sharing your talent.

won't continue with the series

sorry to say was disappointed in the treatment. Could have used a more professional sounding narrator...really got in the way of the story, and makes it hard to evaluate the content

Interesting

Intriguing characters, good plot, some interesting historical details. Too bad the narrator isn’t better; she’s more reading words on a page then telling a story, her voice distractingly high/twee, her Irish accent a bit barking.

poor narration

was not thrilled with narrator, rather monotone and non expressive, story was good and liked the protagonist Nell

couldn't finish it

I just couldn't get into it. I tried , but just couldn't finish it. I listened to the audio book, so maybe the narrator made it worse. She's not that great. Mayne in a while, I'll try to just read it.

Not for me

I was really expecting to like this series as I enjoy historical fiction, particularly mysteries. I believe that I would have hung in a bit longer, hoping the story would improve but the narration just didn't work for me. There were no glaring errors in pronunciation, and the clarity was good,
I just found it boring and hard to follow. Perhaps in the future I may try reading this book but I returned the audiobook.