Smoke and Lies

A Lady Arianna Regency Mystery, Book 4

By: Andrea Penrose

Narrated by: Mary Sarah

Length: 9 hrs and 26 mins

Publisher's summary

Now that peace reigns in Europe and Napoleon has been exiled to the island of Elba, Lady Arianna and her husband, the earl of Saybrook, are determined to put government sleuthing aside. But the head of British security has other ideas....

Rumors are rife that Napoleon may be plotting to take back the French throne and plunge the continent into another war. So when Saybrook learns that his Spanish cousin has gone missing on the island under mysterious circumstances, he and Arianna feel they have no choice but to undertake a secret mission to Elba for the government and unravel the serpentine tangle of truth and lies.

Friend or foe? From the start, they find themselves up against treachery and deceptions. And for Arianna, things become even more difficult when she encounters ghosts from her past, forcing her to make fundamental choices about love, loyalty, family, and friendship. Once on Elba, she and Saybrook - along with some unexpected allies - must match wits with a deadly enemy and the great Napoleon himself. And with the clock ticking, all the last-minute machinations come down to a question of luck....

©2018 Andrea DaRif (P)2019 Tantor

loved it!

it was another great installation of the intrepid Lady S and Lord Saybrook series. I really enjoyed it.

Narrator hasn't improved....story is mid

Narrator needs a lesson in English accents, and how to take a deep breath. Her narration ruins the story. It's so detrimental, in fact, that it makes the story's value less.

The narrator is absolutely darling!

There was nothing to dislike in all of these series! Easy listening and delightful characters!!

Interesting but not a page turner.

The story was interesting, but not riveting. I could take it or leave it. I didn't care for the narrator's manner.

Good story, just can’t get used to the reader.

The story was interesting. I always enjoy the historical information in Andrea Penrose’s books. I just can’t do one more book by this reader. Her breathy, affected voice is distracting and annoying. I found it was more tolerable if I increased the speed to 1.1 instead of 1.0.

The family reunion

I was very happy to see that everyone survived and was returned to their family. I have jumped ahead and I beg the author to write one book and give Arianna and the Earl a baby. Please, if everyone else can have a happy ending why not the she-ro? And I want Sophia and the minister to get together. Please write another story with these endings.

Enjoyed it

I like this series. Good characters, interesting story and courageous heroines. The story of Elba tells a tale of how it might have been.

The battle fought before Waterloo

Treachery abounds as Lord & Lady Saybrook struggle to keep Napoleon from escaping his toy kingdom of Elba.
Ms Penrose again manages to weave a great story with compelling characterization. The central love story is believable and touching. One complaint : the narrator does a great job drawing us into her tale but her use of regional accents is a disaster

I’m hooked

Chocolate is one thing, mystery is another. Put the two together, pour a glass of wine and enjoy the ride. Andrea Penrose keeps you captivated. Bravo.

Spare me the "snap-crackle-pop" narration!

It took every ounce of patience I possess to finish this book. The narrator has a style that I found so grating, I actually said out loud "Stop it, already!" Who exaggerates the last letter of the last word in a sentence? If that word ends in a "p", she pops that " p". If it's a "t", she snaps it. And the whispering! Eh? Speak up, girl! Sadly, it greatly distracted from the story....which had it's own issues. Such as way too many superfluous characters. With this series, I had to make an org chart to keep them straight.