A Murder in Time

Kendra Donovan Mysteries Series, Book 1

By: Julie McElwain

Narrated by: Lucy Rayner

Length: 18 hrs and 39 mins

Publisher's summary

Beautiful and brilliant, Kendra Donovan is a rising star at the FBI. Yet her path to professional success hits a speed bump during a disastrous raid where half her team is murdered, a mole in the FBI is uncovered, and she herself is severely wounded. As soon as she recovers, she goes rogue and travels to England to assassinate the man responsible for the deaths of her teammates.

While fleeing from an unexpected assassin herself, Kendra escapes into a stairwell that promises sanctuary but when she stumbles out again, she is in the same place - Aldrich Castle - but in a different time: 1815, to be exact.

Mistaken for a lady's maid hired to help with weekend guests, Kendra is forced to quickly adapt to the time period until she can figure out how she got there; and, more importantly, how to get back home. However, after the body of a young girl is found on the extensive grounds of the county estate, she starts to feel there's some purpose to her bizarre circumstances. Stripped of her 21st century tools, Kendra must use her wits alone in order to unmask a cunning madman.

©2016 Julie McElwain (P)2017 Tantor

Good story, annoying narration

I enjoyed the story started reading it first then transferred over to audio to finish it. Almost couldn't finish it due to the narrator's horrible interpretation of the mens voices. She did fine on the female reading but the male readings is bad enough to almost ruin the entire book. I won't be able to listen to the next one if she's reading it, I'll just have to put it on hold until I have time to do finish the book version.

Just plain fun

Cleverly plotted with a whodonit that keeps you guessing. Just enough history added to please fans of "light" historical fiction.

Everything I Love In A Book…

From a young age books became my world. My parents never cared what I read. I read everything from The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux to Sweet Valley High/University by Frances Pascal to Les Miserable by Victor Hugo to The Ugly Duckling by Iris Johansson to To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee to Remember Me by Mary Higgins Clark to the Fear Street Series by R.L. Stine. As an adult, especially when I became a librarian, my literary word expanded far past anything I could imagine. The first time I read Outlander by Diana Gabaldon, my world turned upside down, as avid readers will know, with the thrill of a book series you wish you could forget just to turn around and read it for the first time again. This book combines the excitement of time travel with the murder mystery of novels set in current time and does it beautifully. Julie McElwain presents a captivating 19th century English countryside mystery that keeps you holding on until the last second. I read this book when it first came out. I found it on Audible a couple of days ago and decided to experience it in this format especially when I learned that the series continued past book three. I’m looking forward to listening to the entire series this week! Lucy Rayner, your narration is fantastic. You bring McElwain’s world to life!

Too Much Cussing

The storyline of this move quickly and was very entertaining. The reader did a great job with several different voices, and I have already downloaded the second book. However, the first few chapters had far too much cussing. In my opinion, anybody as intelligent as Kendra Donovan would not have used the F word so frequently.

It’s ok to have additional actors

Sometimes one person narration was rough- sometimes it is worth the investment in having other voices improves the story.

Fantastic Book

Very well written, extremely entertaining and well worth waiting for the next book. Julie McElwain has the magic of writing engaging and exciting books. More PLEASE!

Competent heroine, decent story, lousy narration

Female FBI agent runs into trouble, makes a questionable decision, ends up in 1815 England, where she has to put her profiling and investigating skills to work without technology or backup. The plot is not too shabby. It was easy to figure out who the killer was NOT, but not so easy to identify who it was - or why. Nice blend of fantasy and reality - our Kendra is just lucky she fell in with such a hotbed of women's rights advocates. Also, be warned, this is not for the squeamish.

Nice plot but much too long. The modern day lead-in could have been cut by at least fifty percent, and the rest could have used some judicious editing. I did enjoy Kendra's confusion and education into how the household staff was organized.

Lucy Rayner is not an awful narrator but she was just not up to the demands of this book. The first part is set in America and the accents were so bad I almost quit listening. Once they got to England, the male voices were not very good either. The two male leads both sounded like they were auditioning for a title role in Beauty and the Beast. Rayner needs to stick to British historical romances.

I didn't hate it, and I did finish it, though I stopped halfway through and listened to something else before going back to it. Not something I would listen to a second time, but I'll probably get the sequel if there is one.

Thrilling Read

I loved this book not just for the time travel aspect which is one of my favorites but for the Sci-Fi details added to the story. I love details that get the mind thinking and not boring additives often found in murder mysteries. Can’t wait to read the next book by J.McElwain..
Also miss Rayner did a great job with narration and character voices. Bravo

Time travel at it's best

Excellent read. This book is full twists and turns. It will keep you reading until all hours of the night to find out what happens next.

Narrator is terrible

Story is pretty mediocre. Narrator is terrible- overly dramatic and some of the male voices were cringeworthy.