Nobody's Sweetheart Now

By: Maggie Robinson

Narrated by: Gemma Dawson

Length: 7 hrs and 45 mins

Publisher's summary

England, 1924. Lady Adelaide Compton has recently (and satisfactorily) interred her husband, Major Rupert Charles Cressleigh Compton, hero of the Somme, in the family vault in the village churchyard.

Rupert died by smashing his Hispano-Suiza on a Cotswold country road while carrying a French mademoiselle in the passenger seat. With the house now Addie's, needed improvements in hand, and a weekend house party underway, how inconvenient of Rupert to turn up - not in the flesh, but as a spirit! Rupert has to perform a few good deeds before becoming welcomed to heaven - or, more likely, Addie thinks, to hell.

Before Addie can convince herself she hasn’t completely lost her mind, a murder disrupts her careful seating arrangement. Which of her 12 houseguests is a killer? Her mother, the formidable Dowager Marchioness of Broughton? Her sister, Cecilia, the born-again vegetarian? Her childhood friend and potential lover, Lord Lucas Waring? One of the others? Rupert has a solid alibi as a ghost and now an urge to investigate.

Enter Inspector Devenand Hunter from the Yard, an Anglo-Indian who is not going to let some barmy society beauty, witnessed talking to herself, derail his investigation. Something very peculiar is afoot at Compton Court, and he's going to get to the bottom of it - or go as mad as its mistress trying.

©2020 Dreamscape Media, LLC (P)2020 Dreamscape Media, LLC

very good

Well-written and a good mystery. The narration is excellent. Ready to start on the second in the series.

unsatisfying ending

I consider myself easy to please when it comes to fiction in this genre. but the main character was whining and kind of flat. the ending was unsatisfying.

The first cozy mystery in a long time that was a page turner!

I’d recommend this book to people who love cozy mysteries, especially mysteries set in the early 1920’s. The witty conversation, the addition of an ex-husband ghost who is working his way to a “better place”, and a few love interests keep the plot moving forward. The narrator was excellent! She has a wide variety of voices and does males very well.

Enjoyable

Just what I wanted to hear. There are a lot of books in this genre and it can be hit or miss, this is a hit.

Too much fun!

infidelity, cozy-mystery, British-detective, amateur-sleuth, murder-investigation, ghosts, situational-humor, verbal-humor, Cotswolds, house-party, closed-circle-mystery*****
Read 2 times. Last read September 6, 2022.

Even better than Cosmo Topper! It's 1924 and Addie is a widow of six months and of a titled and wealthy family. Said husband was brave in the Great War, but it became obvious that he was a real bounder even before that. Now he returns as a ghost just as two very separate people have been murdered on the estate while Addie is having a quiet weekend gathering to keep away the boredom. What a mess! When the local constabulary raises hackles, the Yard sends nice guy DI Hunter and he is endlessly becoming aware of her habit of talking to herself. Or something.
The characters are all a bit wacky and not just from the hot weather, the sleuthing gets infinitely complicated, and there is even a man who identifies as a psychic! Outstanding fun read!
I requested and received a free ebook copy from Poisoned Pen Press via NetGalley in October 2018.
Well, it's 4 YEARS later and I found the audio on sale and reread it as narrated by Gemma Dawson. Worth every penny!

very enjoyable

I greatly enjoyed this book. it was easy to listen to. entertaining. a nice afternoon listen.

Fresh New Voice For Me..Very Good

This was a new writer for my burgeoning audible library ,.. at having
nearly 800 books to date , I feel I’m fairly qualified to say it was very good ,.. AND had me laughing out loud. Great combo.

Ok but a bit slow

I enjoyed the first half of the book and there were a few things it had me chuckling to myself. I agree with the reviews that the narrator didn’t do much to distinguish between the characters. They all sounded the same to me. However, the plot started to drag so I skipped to the end half way through. I figured whodunit so wasn’t surprised. I’ll give the next book a shot and see if it gets better.

Not what I expected

I bought this expecting a sort of Blithe Spirit romp, but the ghost is barely in it. When he does he appear he' is dull. The rest consists of the typical country house party murder but none of the characters is interesting. I returned it.

Tedious and Trite

All characters think and speak in cliches. Individuals, as such, are pale versions of stock parodies. Boring.