A Lark's Tale

By: Lynn Messina

Narrated by: Jill Smith

Verity Lark knows everything.

As the London Daily Gazette’s popular gossip columnist, she is extremely adept at sneaking into houses, assuming disguises and overseeing a vast network of spies to ensure she stays abreast of the beau monde’s comings and goings. If it sometimes seems as though she was hiding behind the settee during a particularly fierce quarrel between a husband and his wife, it’s most likely because she was hiding behind the settee during their fierce quarrel.

But nobody knows her.

Writing under a pen name, Verity safeguards her anonymity via an elaborately constructed alter ego. Seemingly everywhere, Mr. Twaddle-Thum is in fact nowhere. He has never met with an informant or skulked in a dark alley. He simply does not exist. That is why she is so startled to discover he has recently been spotted at a variety of locations. A Twaddle-Sham is knocking about London and in such a ham-handed manner he is inciting people to murder.

At least that’s what Verity thinks is happening when she stumbles across a plot to kill him.

Or her.

Who is the real target?

Well, see, that’s just the problem because Verity can’t actually say.

For the first time in years, she isn’t sure of anything.

©2022 Lynn Messina (P)2022 Lynn Messina

Pretty good

‘A Lark’s Tale’ revolves around Kesgrave’s half sister, Verity. The first half of the story was slow-a lot of background setup and Verity’s introspection. It became more interesting the last half and I may buy book 2.

Fun Read

Love Lynn Massina's cozy regency mysteries. this one was particularly fun to listen to. good reader performance. Slight cliff hanger ending. Can't wait for more in this Lark series. Will have me registering to her related Beatrice Hyde-Clare series to scout out all the gems picked up in this one.

Really disliked the main character

Although the story is good, I couldn’t stand the main character. She really thinks highly of herself and doesn’t really think about the rest of the people around her. Her condescending attitude towards her friends and her incapacity of seeing her errors was very unappealing.
I really like the author books about the investigating Duchess but, I believe I’ll pass on the rest of this series.

A bit convoluted

I’ve really enjoyed her other series, so I was interested in a new series that intertwined with that one. However, this one just doesn’t quite live up to her first series. It’s a good story, and the characters are likable, but I find Beatrice as a lead more appealing than Verity. Also, the plot was a LOT more convoluted. It was hard to keep track of everyone, and if you haven’t listened to the other series—good luck! A new series should not start out that way, relying so heavily on the one it is spinning off from. I had skipped the story where Flora took the lead in the Beatrice mysteries because of reviews, but I had to go back and listen to it so that I could follow this one. But overall I liked it enough that I’m going to give book 2 a try.

Love this series!

The characters are so witty and well developed. Love the series and hope it has many many many books. ❤️

Misleading & disappointed

The story starts out with an interesting premise, and while I love the other books by this author and appreciate the references to the Kesgraves, the connection is unnecessary. There are too many characters to get ahold of and too many random disguises to keep track of who is serving what purpose. The tale gets long and the conclusion is underwhelming for how long the story was built up. Feels like a smattering of traits were tossed at the protagonist and while she’s smart, she doesn’t give any reason for you to actually like her. If another book comes up for this series I’d really love to see the plot line and character development significantly more tightened up.

Part of the Beatrice Clare-Hyde Universe

I just finished listening to this one and was fairly entertained by the antics of the characters. It still has that Austenian flavor to it, though seen through the eyes of a working-class character. The sarcastic dry wit is still prevalent, though Verity Lark's wit has a bit of a sharper edge to it and less of the self-deprecating ironic humor of Beatrice Clare-Hyde. Not surprising since she grew up in a very different environment. And while she does have a sharper edge to her, she isn't cruel or deliberately callous. She does have a smidge of empathy to her. Ms. Lark is a smart cookie who knows how to be resourceful and observant enough that little gets by her.

Ms. Smith is also the narrator for this spin-off series and, as usual, does a fantastic job of it. Her vocal portrayal of each character is outstanding and unique, with a resilient wide vocal range. She's like a vocal virtuoso and pure genius.

Overall, I'm far from disappointed and look forward to listening to the rest of the series.

Brilliantly written and performed!

I absolutely loved every second of this story! What a wonderful way to tell the story of the great gossip columnist!
Well Done!!!!

Maybe It's Just Me

I found the story a little difficult to follow, and I had trouble keeping up with all the characters. The characters were not distinguishable enough from one another, in other words, I didn't find them to be very well developed. There was no character worth rooting for, either. By a little over half way through, I gave up trying to find anything to like about the lead character, and instead, began hoping she'd be caught and... dispatched with. Sorry, I really wanted to like this.

Love the intermingling of characters!

I started this series after finishing the Beatrice Hyde Claire series, and I love that the author has combined each story, plot and storyline in such an order that this book gives you insight to what was going on behind the scenes of the other series… Very well done!