Pride, Prejudice, and Poison

A Jane Austen Society Mystery, Book 1

By: Elizabeth Blake

Narrated by: Justine Eyre

Length: 8 hrs and 23 mins

Publisher's summary

Perfect for fans of Laura Levine and Stephanie Barron, Elizabeth Blake's Jane Austen Society mystery debut is a mirthfully morbid merger of manners and murder.

In this Austen-tatious debut, antiquarian bookstore proprietor Erin Coleridge uses her sense and sensibility to deduce who killed the president of the local Jane Austen Society.

Erin Coleridge's used bookstore in Kirkbymoorside, North Yorkshire, England, is a meeting place for the villagers and, in particular, for the local Jane Austen Society. At the Society's monthly meeting, matters come to a head between the old guard and its young turks. After the meeting breaks for tea, persuasion gives way to murder with extreme prejudice when president Sylvia Pemberthy falls dead to the floor. Poisoned? Presumably, but by whom? And was Sylvia the only target?

Handsome but shy Detective Inspector Peter Hemming and charismatic Sergeant Rashid Jarral arrive at the scene. The long suspect list includes Sylvia's lover Kurt Becker and his tightly wound wife Suzanne. Or, perhaps, the killer was Sylviaâ's own cuckolded husband, Jerome. Among the many Society members who may have had her in their sights is dashing Jonathan Alder, who was heard having a royal battle of words with the late president the night before.

Then, when Jonathan Alder narrowly avoids becoming the next victim, Farnsworth (the town's cat lady) persuades a seriously time-crunched Erin to help DI Hemming. But the killer is more devious than anyone imagines.

©2019 Carole Buggé (P)2019 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Jaunty Read

Good story line. Plenty of believable characters. Great Austin quotes. Superbly read. I very much enjoyed it.

okay book

This book was pretty similar to the Murder Mystery I listened to just a few days ago.Not a bad story but got tired of hearing how beautiful some of the girls were and how the detective set her heart a flutter.......I skipped several chapters to find out who the killer was...which was a surprise to me so that part was really good.

'great cozy mystery

easy to listen to , narration very good, will search for more in this series for audiobooks.

Great narration- excellent for cozy mystery fans!

Loved the cozy descriptions and superb narrating! Perfect for cozy mystery fans who enjoy literary themes!

lovely atmosphere

This was a quiet enjoyable mystery. The characters were interesting and believable. The setting made me want to travel. An Austin-hook is always appealing.

Pseudo English

I kept wondering throughout this book if there had been a poor editor trying to translate English words into American. I have now discovered that the author is an American trying to write an English novel. Those of us brought up in England have to grit our teeth at the very obvious errors. I think the worst blunder is probably the idea of an English policeman eating a jelly (English would be jam) doughnut. First, where would he buy one in England, and second why would he waste his calories in a doughnut when he could have obtained delicious pastries or cakes from a bakery? The reader makes a reasonable effort but has a cadence which is totally unEnglish and every time she pronounced 'lorry' as lawry I winced. Why do American authors not stick to what they know and leave stories set in England to authors born there.

good entertainment

a lot of mystery and a little hit of romance. enjoyed this book - will read more.

Fun and Well Read

I really enjoyed this book and the reader. Highly recommend for Austen fans and fans of detective fiction.

Moments of narration robotic

I loved the story and the narrator was great... when she was voicing one of the characters. But when she was just narrating scenes there was a lot of monotone making it seem a bit robotic.

Where was the editor??

This is not a terrible story or a real waste of time, but there are some annoying things. The text is so repetitive- characters repeat verbatim dialogue from the previous chapter; phrases are used nonironically to describe different people.
But the main problem I had was the lack of reaction by anyone in the cast of characters to the murder. It happened, it was mentioned, then tea and cakes were served. The victim *SLIGHT SPOILER* was one of their group- their club- and there would not unnaturally be endless gossip and speculation re the occurrence. Here, there was much more talk about the victim Before than after their murder.
Finally, I realize this is a P&P or Jane Austen club, but the number of ready (often lengthy) JA quotations by club members is, well, unlikely. It sounds as if the author googled for them any time a significant word or phrase struck a chord with them.
Not terrible, no, but nothing quite rings true, with cast nor storyline