Death Comes to the Fair

Kurland St. Mary Mystery Series, Book 4

By: Catherine Lloyd

Narrated by: Cat Gould

Length: 8 hrs and 20 mins

Publisher's summary

It's harvest time in the village of Kurland St. Mary as Lucy and Robert prepare to wed - but a murderer has taken an unseasonable vow of vengeance....

As Miss Lucy Harrington, daughter of the village rector, and Major Sir Robert Kurland plan their nuptials, the major is beginning to wonder if he'll ever hear wedding bells. He's seen complex military campaigns that involved less strategy, and he's finding Lucy's meddling family maddening.

When the body of Ezekiel Thurrock, the church verger, is discovered crushed by a gargoyle that has fallen from the bell tower, the wedding is delayed. But the evidence suggests this was no accident, and Lucy wonders if bad blood at the village fair had anything to do with the man's mysterious demise, since there was much bitterness over Ezekiel's prizewinning vegetables. As Lucy and Robert uncover longstanding village feuds, the town's dark secrets begin to take their toll, and the couple soon finds they, too, are in grave danger....

©2016 Catherine Duggan (P)2018 Tantor

Is optional not really optional? Wonderful book.

LOVED IT, listen for yourselves - worth every minute. why must I write 15 words to submit a review?

Enjoyed

A very twisty mystery that had me guessing but really a lot of red herrings. Narration great

Intrigue at its best

When I first started this series I felt it was too slow and almost stopped listening. By the end I was hooked. I was unable to find volume 3 in audible or the public library as an audio so I took a day to read an almost 700 page book… “Death Comes to Kurland Hall” loving the intrigues that Sir Robert and Lucy continually get into. Highly recommend the series

A series that gets better and better!

Catherine Lloyd once more combines geopolitical and historical context with great character development and a fantastic plot. This series has kept me riveted.

Good story, but narration was a let down

I have enjoyed this series so far, and managed to read Book 3 ( which wasn’t available in audio) before this book 4. The plot kept me engaged, though it was more complicated.
I was disappointed with the new narrator though. I wouldn’t say I was much impressed by Susannah Tyrrell who did the first two books as I find her narration slow, and not much variation between the female characters, but after listening to new narrator Cat Gould, I really miss Ms Tyrrell! To be fair Ms Cat Gould had a beautiful reading voice, but her voice acting of the female characters sent shudders through me for more than half the book. She made Lucy sounded so weak and useless, and the high pitched whiny voice for Miss Chingford made me recoiled in horror. While Miss Chingford was a spoilt brat to begin with in book 1, this was still an exaggerated voice acting. I also dislike the way she portrayed Major Kurland. It lacked the strong complicated hero feel, and sounded more like one trying hard to be the sauve lord of the village when he wasn’t. I just hope Ms Gould would fine tune her narration as she got use to the characters, as the rest of the books in the series were narrated by her.

Started Off Ok But for the Reader

The story line peaked my interest but I couldn't get through it with the reader, Cat Gould. Most of her English accents were cloying, too affected, like caricatures. And most of her male voices are just her speaking in lower tones, like I would do, trying to mimic a guy.

I happened to be a fan of the previous reader, Susannah Tyrrell. Sadly for me, I won't be continuing with this series with Cat Gould.

It’s fine

It’s a good mystery, though Sir Robert is a condescending, unlikeable dolt in this one. I do wish his relationship with Lucy had been more interesting and layered rather than that of someone who constantly dismissed and disparaged her. Nice that he came around a bit toward the end. The narrator works well for a light and upbeat mystery like this. I much prefer her to some of the others out there.