The Russian Hill Murders

A Sarah Woolson Mystery

By: Shirley Tallman

Narrated by: Anna Fields

Length: 8 hrs and 4 mins

Publisher's summary

Defying convention, spirited nineteenth-century lawyer Sarah Woolson sets out to prove herself in her first criminal trial.

Though her own law firm barely tolerates her and her mother begs her to settle down, plucky young attorney Sarah Woolson flouts notions of proper feminine behavior in this nineteenth-century answer to Legally Blonde. When a woman whose husband has died in a sweatshop fire asks for Sarah's help in finding the culprit, she insists on taking the case against her boss's wishes. Even more scandalously, when several people affiliated with a charity hospital die within a few days of each other, Sarah puts herself in the middle of the puzzle, racing against time to find the killer and defend a Chinese man accused of murder. Imagine, a woman lawyer in court!

Solve another case with Sarah Woolson.

©2005 Shirley Tallman (P)2005 Blackstone Audiobooks

Critic reviews

"Woolson's role as a protofeminist in the nineteenth century is a sympathetic one, and readers will empathize strongly with the obstacles she faces and the triumphs she achieves." (Booklist)
"Tallman has a nice way of setting the stage and moving her plot forward." (Seattle Times)

Welcome Back Sarah

I take exception to the Legally Blonde reference; yes, Sarah overextends her experience, but I take her much more seriously than Reese Witherspoon's character. This time out, we get some courtroom drama as Sarah defends a Chinese immigrant accused of murder. All the supporting characters from the first book are here, most notably the ever fun Robert Campbell and Li Ying, with a couple new ones thrown in for future fun. There's even a little romantic interest. This is every bit as enjoyable as Murder on Nob Hill and I'm looking forward to the third installment in the series.

"Courage of 10 Dragons"

What made the experience of listening to The Russian Hill Murders the most enjoyable?

Ms Anna makes our heroine come to life as the author intended. Our pirate, Pierce, is yummy and the author did a nice job of weaving him into this story. Make no mistake, this is a period story and the dialogue flowed very well.

What did you like best about this story?

If you like period dialogue and mystery then this will not disappoint. It had a bit of romance, a bit of woman's rights along with a whodunit story.

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

I purchased this book as the late great Ms Anna read it. I will buy The Nob Hill Murder. She had such a rich voice. If you like romance, try Susan E. Phillips series Anna reads.

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

yes as I could not pick out the clue to who did it until very late in the story. The family's joint quest to find the truth, could make this a nice series as this is a big family.

A thoroughly enjoyable listen

I'd read the first book in this series and really enjoyed it, but was a bit hesitant to get the audio book for the second in the series. It not only measured up to the first book, but the reader was excellent. I really like Sarah's character, she's far from perfect (and it shows), and the side characters certainly were engrossing. I'm looking forward to the next book in this series. This book is really well suited to audio, which many books aren't.