A Fire at the Exhibition

A Lady Hardcastle Mystery, Book 10

De: T E Kinsey

Narrado por: Elizabeth Knowelden

May 1912. After the previous year’s deadly heatwave, it’s been an uneventful spring in Littleton Cotterell. Though for Lady Hardcastle and her fiercely loyal lady’s maid Flo, at least there are the provincial delights of the village’s inaugural art exhibition—and bicycle race—to look forward to.

But at the exhibition opening, there’s a panicked shout of ‘Fire!’ In the confusion, the main attraction—an extremely expensive book—is stolen from under everyone’s nose, as is a valuable painting lent by Sir Hector Farley-Stroud. Then the race, which starts as a charming day out, ends in a shocking death. And to top it all off, the Farley-Strouds reveal they’re in debt and might lose their house.

The sleuthing duo soon find themselves torn between a murder investigation, an art theft mystery, and trying to help their pals. All with a suspicious figure from Flo’s past, a supercilious insurance investigator, and a pair of rather bizarre treasure hunters on the loose…

©2023 T E Kinsey. (P)2023 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Fun!

I'm yet to be disappointed by a Lady Hardcastle mystery! T.E. Kinsey has a gift for period writing, never straying into the pitfalls modern vocabulary or syntax, while also managing not to be so bound to the era that the dialogue becomes stilted. Instead, the writing is witty, charming, and often laugh-out-loud funny. His plots are almost always ridiculous in the best possible way, combining the sensibility and humor of Jane Austen with the adventure of Rider Haggard.

This time Lady Hardcastle and Flo find themselves solving both an art theft and a murder, learning about the new craze for bicycle racing, and searching for buried treasure. We meet an old circus pal.of Flo's, and old schoolmate of Lady Emily's, and a half dozen other quirky characters along the way. It all adds up to the usual smorgasbord of red herrings, cheesy jokes, and pretzel-like plot twists that we've come to love in this series.

I cannot finish without giving due credit to the amazing narration provided by Elizabeth Knowelden. Too many audio versions of good books are ruined by sub-standard narration but Ms. Knowelden is the perfect reader for this series. Her excellent character voices of both genders bring each one to life and she maintains exactly the right tone throughout which is especially important since these are written in the first person. She is the quintessential Flo.

Looking forward to next book….

Excellent addition to this series. Congratulations to the author and narrator! Looking forward to many more!

Excellent Lady Hardcastle book

Author keeps it fresh and entertaining even with the same general format. I look forward to the next one. Well done!

Shakespeare’s Work

Lady Hardcastle and her maid and companion Flo are on the case when a fire at an art exhibition leads to the theft of a valuable book and painting. A murder during the bicycle race has them working on two cases and a search for treasure. Great addition to the series.

Wonderful as always!

I recommend this series to anyone who could possibly, remotely be interested and ALWAYS recommend the audiobook! Elizabeth Knowelden is hands down my favorite narrator—especially with this series.

I’ve listened to each book multiple times. They’re my comfort reads!

Another smashing story, wot?

This may be my fav so far, although all are excellent! Elizabeth Knowles is a spectacular performer!

Poor me. I have to wait for the next book in the series...

I've been fortunate to find Flo and Emily when there were already ten books on Audible! I have sped through them all and now must wait patiently to see what adventures they get up to next! I love everything about the series, including the delicious use of words I've never heard or hear so rarely that I look up the definitions. Other "word people" will know what I mean, whereas to the rest of the world I just sound like a nerdy, over the top person. Lol
The wit, the mysteries, and the friendships, all set in early 1900's England make for a truly enjoyable series!

Fire

Loved the book. This is one of the best, to listen to or read. The characters are great. They have enough humor and sincerity to give them depth and a certain. Can’t wait for the next book.

Amazing narrator

These books are wonderful, but the if the narrator ever changes I’ll never listen to another one 😂. She’s too good.

A lot in this book!

Always mystery drama and fin in every chapter. Love this series and own all the audible books. Love the Lady Hardcastle series!