Death on the Sapphire

A Lady Frances Ffolkes Mystery, Book 1

By: R. J. Koreto

Narrated by: Justine Eyre

Length: 8 hrs and 49 mins

Publisher's Summary

An extraordinary woman living in extraordinary times, Lady Frances Ffolkes is an Edwardian era suffragette who has an uncanny ability to attract danger and romance.

When Major Colcombe, a family friend and war veteran, dies under mysterious circumstances, the good lady discovers that he was working on a manuscript, about South Africa's bloody Boer War, that reportedly revealed a scandalous mistake that cost many innocent lives. Now it's up to Frances and her loyal lady's maid, June Mallow, to track down the missing manuscript and bring the killer to justice. Despite kerfuffles with Scotland Yard and the British secret service, Frances never backs down and finds herself in several very unfortunate positions - and one very fortunate love triangle.

Death on the Sapphire is R. J. Koreto's witty and winsome debut of a series that is sure to be a fan favorite for years to come.

©2016 R. J. Koreto (P)2016 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Delicious Mystery

This is one of my favorite books, and I was thrilled to find it on audible. The reading is crisp, flows nicely, and the voices are very well done. I enjoyed it very much and look forward to listening to Mr. Koreto's next installment, Death Among Rubies.

Good story, great performance

At last, a reading was pleasant to listen to and not overdone with falsetto voices and arch tone . Ms. Eyre is a delight to listen to.

I enjoyed it!

I really enjoyed listening to this story. I admit to me there were times I wished they would get on with the mystery but the actual story outside of the mystery was charming. There was something about the narrator’s way of ending her sentences that bothered me for a bit but after the story got going I barely noticed it anymore. I’m going to start listening to the next book as soon as I finish this review.

Ruined by the narrator

Am returning this. I can’t deal with this narrator’s nasally, shaky, whispery, somewhat fake accent. Too bad, as I see her on so many in this genre. It limits my choices trying to avoid certain narrators.

The narration. Shoot me now

I would've never downloaded this book had I'd realized who was narrating. Nothing personal but her Vocal fry is awful. The last word of just about every sentence is like nails down a chalkboard. Doesn't matter how much I want to listen, if it's Justine Eyre....no way.

Decent story, eh narrator

The story here is not going down in history but it's enjoyabl cozy mystery, and that is probably what most people looking at the title are in search of. The main character is mostly charming, occasionally a little too "Lady Bountiful" for me but over all likeable. I found Mallow ( the "Watson" character) also likable but somewhat flat, somehow. Rather like a high-school theater actor. The idea of her (a grounded, sensible foil to her high maintenance mistress with a streak of fierce loyalty) is enjoyable but you're fully aware that she is a character acting out the part, delivering her lines but doing so a little patly and with contrived emotion

Still, the mystery passed the time and I enjoyed the historical and romance elements. I'm not sure about historical accuracy, honestly, the Edwardian period not being a time I tend to read much on but nothing described jarred or seemed obviously out of place (with the possible exception of Franny living on her own and seeing men without a chaperone-- I have no idea if this in fact could have happened as easily as described or not)

The narrator almost made me stop listening. She does okay with most things (tempo, volume, tone, characterization) but she has this dreadful habit of ending sentences with this little "uh" sound on the last syllable of the last word more often than not. Sometimes I would lose track of what the text was because I kept listening for that odd little stress on the words. I can't imagine deliberately choosing to listen to her again.

The Lady and a Mystery

This was such a fun mystery with many twist and turns. With an exciting journey for A Lady and her maid to find themselves in the middle of murder and crime that needed solved. The characters were described and brought to life by this author. So much so it felt as if it all played out right in front of me.
Enjoy

Wonderfully developed story line

I seldom write reviews but this was a delight. Just enough mystery and mayhem. Just enough romance. However the readers voice was high and raspy. I will not look forward to hearing her again am looking for other books by this author

A really enjoyable listen

I enjoyed this heroine/main character and her relationship with her maid. Overall this is a very entertaining story and I’m looking forward to the next one in the series

A hidden gem

I came across this book while browsing for something else, in more contemporary setting. But I gave it a try and I'm glaf I did. The protagonist is highly likeable, someone I'd like to be friends with. Other characters also sound true, and apart from the mistery there are social issues of the time tackled in this book. Moreover, the narrator did a great job. I'm looking forward to the next part of this series.

Really good story and very enjoyable

Enjoyed this book.. it’s like Downton Abbey meets Bramwell.. just downloaded the next book… only a couple of niggles… it’s MATHS not MATH… and a couple of Americanism which you cannot help picking up on as it’s supposed to be set in England… recommend it though if you like a cozy period drama mystery.

Excruciating accent

A pretty good story was almost totally ruined by the excruciating accent of the reader

Well thought out storyline

Although the name, sapphire river, is improbable for the Boer war the story was well constructed and the clues were made available, but not so obviously that the reader could figure it all out too soon.
The narration was somewhat American, which was a shame for a story set firmly in England around 1900

Another wonderful Koreto story

I ate the story with intrigue and pleasure. The way the main lead is characterized and build is brilliant! And the love story that is wined in is perfectly narrated. Also, loved the narraters voice. Definitely a great pick!

Distracting narration

Precious and affected reading, perhaps the story would have been improved with a better reader, but the whole thing was a cliche ‘, like most of the ‘freebies’ a waste of time, sadly.

Couldn’t engage

Pleasant story line, nicely read, although the forced upper class accent began to grate a bit towards the end.
Plot was simple but I just couldn’t bring myself to get ‘into’ it.
Maybe if it had been written from the view point of the maid?
Also, is the Author American? There were a few turns of phrase that didn’t ring true. For example, no Edwardian Lady would use the word math. They would be more likely to say mathematics or arithmetic

Thoroughly enjoyable

A charming and clever mystery. The characters are extremely well drawn and the pace doesn't slacken for an instant.

Interesting but a little drawn out

Too many characters so found listening a little confusing. Probably easier to read than listen as you could flick back to check who someone was

Enjoyable

I really enjoyed listening to this book and can highly recommend listening to the story.

Not for me…

I seriously couldn’t get into this story… it really didn’t seem to flow coherently for me and it seemed so slow to get to a point.

I’m not a historical fan so I try to approach such novels with an open mind and largely I enjoy the journey. However, not this one, but that’s just me.