The Secret of the Lost Pearls

Useful Woman Mystery Series, Book 1

De: Darcie Wilde

Narrado por: Kitty Kelly

In Darcie Wilde's captivating mystery series inspired by the novels of Jane Austen, no one is better equipped to help ladies who find themselves wronged than "useful woman" Rosalind Thorne . . .

Rosalind Thorne may not have a grand fortune of her own, but she possesses virtues almost as prized by the haut ton: discretion, and a web of connections that enable her to discover just about anything about anyone. Known as a "most useful woman," Rosalind helps society ladies in need--for a modest fee, of course--and her client roster is steadily increasing.

Mrs. Gerald Douglas, nee Bethany Hodgeson, presents Rosalind with a particularly delicate predicament. A valuable pearl necklace has gone missing, and Bethany's husband believes the thief is Nora, Bethany's disgraced sister. Nora made a scandalous elopement at age sixteen and returned three years later, telling the family that her husband was dead.

But as Rosalind begins her investigations, under cover of helping the daughters of the house prepare for their first London season, she realizes that the family harbors even more secrets than scandals. The intrigue swirling around the Douglases includes fraud, forgery, blackmail, and soon, murder. And it will fall to Rosalind, aided by charming Bow Street officer Adam Harkness, to untangle the shocking truth and discover who is a thief-and who is a killer.

©2023 Sarah Zettel (P)2022 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books

Another in the Same Vein...

I have enjoyed all of the books in this series, much to my surprise. I admit that when I saw the first book, I thought "Darcie Wilde" had to be a pseudonym for a romance writer. Oh, and it's Regency England: definitely a pseudonym (and if I am wrong, I apologize, both for the assumption and for the unfortunate name). The cover art also screamed "ROMANCE NOVEL!" And I am really not a fan of that genre. The description of Miss Rosalind Thorne (really? You just had to name her that?" as a "useful woman" intrigued me just enough to take a chance. And I am glad I did. Ms Wilde crafts cleverly convoluted plots, but, more importantly, she explores all the knotty tangles of relationships that are binding (for all sorts of reasons) but also deeply flawed. I dearly wish the romance between Rosalind and Adam Harkness had that same depth of complexity and flaws that all the other relationships in these books have. This installment, #6 in the series, is much the same as all the others. You'll have to wait over half the book for the corpse to appear, but the murder mystery is the least important part of the book. I was a bit disappointed that Ms. Wilde seems to have recycled one of the characters from a previous novel: the outre, I-don't-give-a-damn young girl who takes up with a scoundrel. She's compelling in one novel, not so much in a second. I hope she doesn't turn up again, but I will listen to the next novel to find out. What this series really needs is a captivating, ongoing narrator. There have been 4 narrators in a series of 6 books so far, and I rather hope book #7 has yet another one, as I didn't care for Kitty Kelly. Such a shame Davina Porter has retired.

Good continuation of series :)

I enjoyed this 6th novel in the series. I didn’t know the series would be continued, so was thrilled to see it and couldn’t wait to listen. Darcie Wilde did an excellent job picking up where the main characters left off, and with the introduction of new characters involved in this storyline. It was a well thought out plot, with many twists and turns, that had me guessing who was guilty of what along the way. I like to learn more about the past as I listen to stories from different historical periods. Ms. Wilde does an excellent job explaining the roles of males and females, as well as the customs during this time period. I love the strong and sensible Rosalind Thorne and look forward to her next mystery. The narrator did a good job with so many voices to perform. Would highly recommend.

Lovely twists.

Story: Just as you think you have figured everything thing out the author adds a few twists at the end. Thank you!

Not the best story in this series

Rosalind and Adam are typical of previous stories but this one was rather complex in an artificial. The old English ambience was excellent

Prefer Previous Narrarator

Hard to reconcile these characters interpretation with the well established personas from previous books. I am sure she is good at other novels, struggled with this one.

Did not like the narrator

I like the Rosalyn books. I was sad they changed the narrator. She made it hard to follow. Please bring back the original narrator.

Latest in the series

Ok, I have read all of the Thorne mysteries and have overall been pleasantly surprised. I was worried if was going to be an overdone romance with the gloss of a mystery. But the stories have been engaging and interesting, and have kept me guessing in many cases. The first 5 books had a couple of different narrators, but all were quite good. The narrator for book 6 is unfortunately not a good fit. She reads half the characters like they are Daisy from downton abbey. She forgets that she's using different tones and the conversation right at the beginning between Rosalind and Adam is confusing as she reads most of it in Adam's "voice" and then seems to realize that there are two characters.
It is a huge negative for me, as it's so distracting I'm having trouble focusing on the story. I don't think I will finish the audio version for this one, and will try to pick up the print version. I really hope there is a different narrator for the next book.

Totally worth it.

There seem to be a of negative reviews of the narrator. First let me say that at this point in a series one would expect the author could have found a narrator to stick with: there have been different narrators for all but two of the books. And honestly, there are SO MANY characters in these books (this one seems more than most) that it must be difficult for any narrator to come up with so many different voices.

I am really really picky about narrators - having been an actress early in my life I can be exceptionally critical. That being said, while I wouldn’t count Ms. Kelly to be one of my favorite readers, she actually did a fine job.

I enjoyed the book, found the plot decent and the twists nicely done.

Another Great Listen

I find this author’s grasp of plot, story and characters interesting and developed. These books are truly mysteries, not just romances with a dab of mystery thrown in. There is a bit of romance, but it is actually just a bit. I also like that there is none of that tired and tiresome “will they, won’t they” or boring “too noble, must sacrifice happiness because they are not good enough”. It’s a mystery, that is a mystery.

For this book the narrator was not well chosen, but it was not enough to distract me or make me not want to finish. She was not great, but she was ok. After all, it’s about the book, not the performance.

Excellent Story

Excellent Story. Different reader from other books, but once adjusted to the voice, it was great.