The Art of Lying

Tea? Coffee? Murder! 1

By: Ellen Barksdale

Narrated by: Jessica Whittaker

Length: 3 hrs and 56 mins

Publisher's summary

There are only two possibilities: either lovely old Miss Beresford from Earlsraven is suffering from dementia or there's something fishy going on at her house! But what has Nathalie got to do with it? The young woman has just moved from Liverpool to tranquil Earlsraven to take up her aunt's legacy: the Black Feather pub. But when Miss Beresford discovers a dead body in her garden, Nathalie and her cook Louise begin to investigate.

About the series: There was nothing in the will about this... Cottages, English roses and rolling hills: that's Earlsraven. In the middle of it all: the "Black Feather". Not only does young Nathalie Ames unexpectedly inherit this cosy inn from her aunt, she also falls heir to her aunt's secret double life! She solved criminal cases together with her cook Louise, a former agent of the British Crown. And while Nathalie is still trying to warm up to the quirky villagers, she discovers that sleuthing runs in the family.

Ellen Barksdale was born in the English seaside resort of Brighton, where her parents ran a small boarding house. From childhood she was a bookworm, and from a young age was interested in crime novels. Her first experience of crime fiction was with the Maigret novels by Georges Simenon. After years of reading crime fiction, she recently decided to take up writing herself. Tea? Coffee? Murder! is her first mystery series. The author lives near Swansea with her partner Ian and their three mongrels Billy, Bobby and Libby.

©2023 Bastei Lübbe AG (P)2023 Lübbe Audio, Bastei Lübbe AG

Lovely, but very short

All the characters are great. But I hate how short they are. Good listen though.

Suspend disbelief, and enjoy the ride

I just finished all five of the stories currently offered. There is no way the crimes could be handled this casually in the real world. Sometimes, it just seems ridiculous. However, I gave it five stars for enjoyment. If you are in to critical thinking, you won't like this pleasant little series.

Very enjoyable start to a new series

Good story, good characters, and a good narrator - what’s not to love?

Even if one sort of knew where the plot was going it was still a lovely little listen. As much as I like the Cherringham series, the whimsical nature of this makes me like it even more - in fact, the only thing I found off-putting was the use of what I think of as “The Cherringham Music” at the beginning.

Fun Mystery

Great! Enjoyed the narration and the snappy mystery. Light, entertains and a good bedtime story.

Very Good

I am loving this book so far but I have to ask, why the description at the beginning of each chapter starting on chapter 4 ? So unnecessary and A bit off putting.

Boring

The characters aren’t engaging, writing is mediocre, and the narrator sounds patronizing. Things are over-explained as though the author thinks the audience is slow, or maybe she just needs a better editor. I could barely get through this.

Poor writing, poorer narration

Tried to return it, but can't as it was only $4.89 so I paid with credit card rather than audible credit. Turns out it's not even worth that. Book is only 4 hours long, and after a quarter of the way through, precisely zero interesting things had happened. The main character's thoughts are uninteresting and add nothing to the story, her relationship with her boyfriend is not believable...so far there is really nothing to recommend the writing. The narration is worse. Breathy, sing-songy, and a posh accent that sounds practiced. I even tried to look up the narrator to see if she was actually American. Whittaker sounds like she's reading a children's book while wafting about a room pretending she's a ballerina. I knew I wouldn't be able to listen to it for another three hours. Just not worth it, unfortunately, as the premise sounded promising.