The Cat of the Baskervilles

De: Vicki Delany

Narrado por: Kim Hicks

Legendary stage and movie star Sir Nigel Bellingham arrives on Cape Cod to star in a stage production of The Hound of the Baskervilles put on by the West London Theater Festival. When Sir Nigel, some of the cast, and the director visit the Sherlock Holmes Bookshop at 222 Baker Street, Gemma Doyle realizes that Sir Nigel is not at all suited to the role. He's long past his prime and an old drunk to boot. The cast is not happy, but the show must go on.

Before the play opens, Jayne's mother arranges a fundraising afternoon tea to be catered by Mrs. Hudson's Tea Room. The tea is a huge success, but, when it's time to leave, Sir Nigel has gone missing - only to be found at the bottom of the rocky cliff, dead. When the police focus their attention on Jayne's mother despite numerous other suspects, the game is once again afoot, and it's up to Gemma and Jayne to clear Jayne's mother's name.

©2018 Vicki Delany (P)2018 Dreamscape Media, LLC

Best thing about the book was its title

I was so disappointed. Not much of a mystery. Too bad: characters and setting are charming. Unless I am hopelessly gaga and missed something huge, the cat in the title had nothing to do with solving the mystery and nothing to do with the saga of the Baskervilles. Is that a plot spoiler? Anyhow...I expected something both spooky and clever based on the title.The story was neither. Kim Hicks, one of my favorite British narrators, seemed lost with New England and California accents, which also surprised me. I might try another book in the series, because I did like the setting and characters, however, it won't be soon.

Why did they change narrators?

This series is an easy listen. The previous narrator was 1000% better than this one. The main character is British but the book is set in USA. This narrator is British and cannot do a good American accent. The male characters sound like nasally, constipated mop character and I don’t even know how to describe the American female characters. I enjoyed the first 2 books and purchased the rest of the series during Audibles holiday sale on all titles. I wish I realized they changed narrators. I would not have purchased, I could barely make it through this one. She totally misses the lighthearted, jovial nature of the previous narrator. And I typically like my British narrators. I’m British procedural fan, so I do not have an aversion to the accent!

Disappointed in the narrator

I couldn't get into the story after being used to a younger, less snobby sounding narrator. I'm sure she's fine, but I was used to a different point of view. I won't continue the series. I really liked the series too.

performance is lacking in versatility and age appropriateness for main character

this narrator sounds like a 50 to 60 year old women. her voices for other characters sounds like cartoon characters.
The previous narrator was believeable for the main character. narrator is not appropriate for the age of the main character.

Enjoyable cozy mystery for Sherlock Holmes fans

Another enjoyable book in the Holmes Bookshop mystery series. Gemma, along with her “Irregulars”, are embroiled in another murder with Jane’s mother as a prime suspect. Secrets are exposed. Loyalties are tested. “Presume nothing”.

Narrator not goid

It’s just that this narrator changed the character of the previous books in this series. I think her voice is too deep and too harsh for young woman. Much prefer the previous narrator.

Please change narrator

For some reason, they have a new narrator for the series and it honestly kind of ruins the whole experience. She is a good narrator objectively, but she’s completely the wrong voice for this series. She’s aged the main character by forty years stylistically, and the voices for the other characters are dreadful. It is very hard to get through because I’m completely taken out of the story by how incompatible the narration fits with a series I was really starting to love. I see they are staying with the new narrator for the next five books, and I am so disappointed. I don’t know if I can keep on listening. I started book four, and it’s kind of painful.

Worst narrative

Why did they change the narrator. Ruined the book. Can’t read as my more with that narrator. What a shame

Yet Another Strong Holmes Pastiche

Gemma Doyle, proprietor and co-owner of the Sherlock Holmes Bookshop and Emporium returns in Vicki Delany's The Cat of the Baskervilles, set in West London, Massachusetts, where the West London Theater Festival is putting on a stage production of The Hound of the Baskervilles. They have hired Sir Nigel Bellingham, whose claim to fame was having starred as the general 40 years earlier in the movie trilogy Roman Wars. But when Sir Nigel comes to West London and the Sherlock Holmes Bookshop and Emporium, Gemma and the Sir Nigel enthuasts discover that the man is drunk and not the most affable.

But then Jayne Wilson, Gemma's best friend and partner in Mrs. Hudson's Tea Room, gets thrilled to be invited to cater an afternoon tea at the home of Rebecca Stanton, president of the theater festival, to raise money for the costs of putting on this play. With 130 people to cater for, Jayne, Gemma, and their staff stay busy wining and dining the guests, who each paid $200 to attend and meet the great Sir Nigel, who arrives intoxicated and gets drunker throughout the course of the afternoon. When tea is finished, they ask Sir Nigel to give a recitation from The Hound of the Baskervilles, but he proves unable to do so, whether because of his drunken state or his poor knowledge of the play. Fortunately, Eddie, his understudy, steps in and impresses everyone.

As the program has ended, Gemma begins to wonder what has happened to Sir Nigel and goes out searching, along with her friend Grant, a rare book collector. As they near the cliff, they spot a red cravat on a bush near the edge and, bending over, see the body of Sir Nigel on the rocks at the bottom of the cliff. As Grant goes to summon the police, Gemma ckimbs down to the body, just in case he is still alive. But not only does she find him dead, she finds a small piece of one of the aprons used by the serving staff, making this potential murder personal to Gemma. And then as the police zero in on Leslie Wilson, Jayne's mother, Gemma determines to get to the truth before her best friend's mother may get arrested.

The Cat of the Baskervilles is another delightful addition to Elementary, She Read and The Body at Baker's Street. I love this particular pastiche of the Sherlock Holmes books and am impressed by the way Gemma plays Holmes without seeing herself as a Holmes character. Her relationship with Jayne develops throughout the course of the book, and it is nice to see the two as real people. Further, we see the way Detective Louise Estrada shows her ever- growing hatred and resentment of Gemma, while Gemma's ex-boyfriend, Detective Ryan Ashburton, tries to find a legitimate balance between the two.

The plot contains many interesting angles, which kept me drawn to the book and unable to put it down. I was intrigued by all the deductions and especially loved the ending. This book was a little less riveting than the previous books, but perhaps that was a result of my already having read the previous two books and not being as surprised by Gemma's gifts.

Kim Hicks performs the audio version of this book. I confess to preferring the work of Kelly Clare, who narrated the first two books, but Hicks does a good job. The role requires someone able to handle both a British and an American accent.

I really had fun with The Cat of the Baskervilles. This book created plenty of delight as I listened to it. The characters and the plot joined together to make the book a great listening experience. I give it five stars.

I need to at least like the main character

This woman, Ms Doyle-who calls herself ‘observant’ and claims some sort of Sherlockian ability to assimilate observations into crime solutions- is actually an insufferable know it all! I could not see it through to the end, but I am sure she solved the murder, and of course taught the police a lesson or 3 about crime solving.
Also, the narrator here often exchanges Alabama for Cape Cod, when attempting accent