Saint Valentine's Day Murder

A Cotswolds Country House Murder Mystery (Heathcliff Lennox Investigates, Book 13)

De: Karen Baugh Menuhin

Narrado por: NICHOLAS BOULTON

A duel at dawn. One man dead, the other gravely injured. What drove them to fight on a bitterly cold morning remains a mystery.

For years, Lady Bancroft’s Valentine’s Ball at Bancroft Hall had been a glittering gathering of high society’s most eligible men and women. Countless happy couples owe their love stories to her matchmaking, their gratitude keeping Lady Bancroft in the genteel comfort of her grand Cotswolds estate.

But this year tragedy strikes. A murder threatens to ruin everything.

Desperate, Lady Bancroft turns to her neighbour, the dashing Major Heathcliff Lennox. A decorated war hero and now a consultant to Scotland Yard, Lennox would much rather be fishing. But duty—and the insistent ex-detective Inspector Swift—calls.

What seems like a straightforward case takes a darker turn when another body is discovered. With secrets unraveling and suspects mounting, Lennox and Swift must race to uncover the truth before the killer strikes again.

Meanwhile, Lennox's wife, Persi, an archeologist, is handed a mystery of her own. The Valentine's Murder is not the only mystery at Bancroft Hall, there was the centuries old mystery of the lost Lady of Lisle.

In 1415 Sir Edward Parcival Bancroft joined King Henry the fifth's retinue to wage war in France. Edward distinguished himself at Agincourt and was ennobled for his bravery and valour.

King Henry returned in triumph to London. Lord Edward Bancroft rode south, exploring a country he'd become enchanted with. He reached Lisle, and fell in love with the daughter of the local Seignour, Lady Madeleine de Lisle. They married and he escorted her home to Bancroft Hall. For six months they appeared happy and content. Then one fine summer's day, Lady Madeleine walked out of the house and vanished, never to be seen or heard of again.

Unless Persi, and Swift's wife, Florence can find her, or at least, uncover what happened to her...

©2024 Karen Baugh MENUHIN (P)2025 KAREN BAUGH MENUHIN

Ditto - Please bring back Sam Dewhurst-Phillips!

Lennox sounds like a stuffy old man now - not true to the character at all. I agree, the change in narrator has taken all the joy from these stories.

Heathcliff never fails to deliver

This one was a little bit more complicated to follow so I had to relisten a couple times when he was doing his synopsis - and I still miss our original narrator, though the replacement is quite good. Although production team : foggy should speak again.!! woof! anyway, as usual, I can’t wait for the next one

Nicholas Boulton's reading is awesome

I have listened to every book in this series, and up until the narration by Nicholas Boulton, while enjoyable, made Lennox seem a little silly. I especially did not like the "wolf wolf" sound. Lennox now has dignity! The last two books have seemed less like a Cozy and more like the classic mysteries I have always enjoyed.

I love it when I cannot figure out who the killer is until Lennox does the big reveal.

Loved it all. Very good story, and I learn something historical with each book. It is very good.

Great new book

I loved this story, as I have enjoyed all the books in the series. Fantastic narration as well. Definitely worth a read or listen.

Good read for light mystery

Kept us guessing till the end. One had to remember the numerous characters, there were many!

Narrator not as bad as reviewed

I was prepared to dislike the new narrator and he does tend to use very old sounding voices for older people. However he does a good job in telling the stories. The stories are really why I buy books by this author and hope there is a new old soon for my next trip on the road.

Always a good story!

I really do like the series although not in love with the narrator of the last two, sadly. Besides that, they are entertaining and enjoyable!

Improvement in narration

NARRATION:
I was hoping that Sam Dewhurst would be back, but nope. However I was eager to continue the story, so I gave it a listen. I have to say there was much improvement in the narration. Greggs and Tommy sounded much better than the last book. Lennox had a more cheerful carefree tone which was more like his character. While he and Swift still sounded alike, I was able to differentiate them way better than the last book. Lennox had a lower rougher voice, while Swift had a smoother rounded voice which was a smidge higher. Once I got the difference between their voices, it was a lot easier to follow their conversations . I do believe both the new narrator and author had listened to reviews and worked together to improve book 13.

PLOT:
Plot wise, I have to say this was quite confusing, as like book 12. Getting used to new narrator might have impeded the ability to follow the plot. However, I felt a big part had to do with the speed of introducing the characters.
Both book 12 and 13 had many ‘suspects’, and there were all introduced in quick succession, which made it difficult to remember who was who. This current book 13 had so many females who were alike, and such tangled relationships with the victims that I couldn’t make head or tail for a long time.
The earlier books in the series had many suspects too, eg A wreath of Red Roses (so many siblings). The characters were, however, introduced slowly in the earlier books. Readers were given a short but good introduction to them. I felt the pace was better then.

Conclusion:
I still love this series, and with the epilogue giving a glimpse into the exciting future, I can’t wait for more releases

Bring back Sam

the new narrator is good but Sam IS Heathcliff. The new Heathcliff doesn't have humor or it comes off as sparky. I think it's more inflection than the writing.