Loch Down Abbey

By: Beth Cowan-Erskine

Narrated by: Eilidh Beaton

Length: 10 hrs and 31 mins

Publisher's summary

Who killed Lord Inverkillen? Lockdown meets Downton Abbey in this playful, humorous mystery set in 1930s Scotland.

No one in. No one out.

Family can be murder.... 

It's the 1930s, and a mysterious illness is spreading over Scotland. But the noble and ancient family of Inverkillen, residents of Loch Down Abbey, are much more concerned with dwindling toilet roll supplies and who will look after the children now that Nanny has regretfully (and most inconveniently) departed this life.

Then Lord Inverkillen, earl and head of the family, is found dead in mysterious circumstances. The inspector declares it an accident but Mrs MacBain, the head housekeeper, isn't so convinced. As no one is allowed in or out because of the illness, the residents of the house - both upstairs and downstairs - are the only suspects. With the earl's own family too busy doing what can only be described as nothing, she decides to do some digging - in between chores, of course - and in doing so uncovers a whole host of long-hidden secrets, lies and betrayals that will alter the dynamics of the household for ever.

Perfect for fans of Downton Abbey, Agatha Christie and Richard Osman's The Thursday Murder Club, Loch Down Abbey is a playful, humorous mystery that will keep you guessing!

©2021 Beth Cowan-Erskine (P)2021 Hodder & Stoughton Limited

Exceptionally good story and narration

This is a very interesting book. From the synopsis given on Audible, I thought it to be more like a detective story of finding the killer, but it wasn't. It told of a very interesting story of the family that resided in the Abbey, their strained quarrelsome relationships (but funny) and their ups and downs. The characters were very funny and likable, even those nasty ones. Lots of twists and unexpected happenings, especially the end.

The narrator is wonderful. I have heard Eilidh Beaton in other books, but this book really showcased her talent. She did a remarkable job in bringing all the characters to life, giving each a distinct voice and portraying their feelings and thoughts so well. You could feel their pride, anger, shallowness, frustrations as she voiced them. It is the best narration I have heard.

Overall, this is a very good enjoyable book for me.

Not what you expect

A witty take on the pandemic. To say it’s a murder mystery would be going too far, but there is a death, an old family with a big estate which may or may not have secrets to tell. Downstairs life is a mystery to the life going on upstairs.

The performance is one of the best I’ve heard.

When the book finished playing, I had a smile on my face. That’s really all one can ask for especially with a free book.

Need a chart

Way too many characters to keep track of who’s who. Probably better to read it so you can flip back to remember the character. Many books with this many characters have charts!!

Fun but a couple of caveats

This book was fun and certainly on point for our times! I enjoyed it--but with a couple of caveats. (1) There are a million characters. OK, admittedly that's a rough estimate, not an accurate count. But what I would have appreciated was access to a character list. I struggled to remember who was who and how that person was related to other characters. I understand that the print book has a character list; but I searched the internet in vain. (2) I guess this is a recording issue: frequently through the book there was not the smallest breath between scenes. Usually when a book is changing location or characters, there is some pause to indicate that this scene is done and now we're doing something else. I found that disconcerting. Other than those two things, this is a pretty good book.

Lots of fun

Very fun and full of twists. The abbey itself is as important as any human character.

Humorous But Uneven

This book isn't certain what it wants to be. It's partly mystery, partly parody of the Upstairs Downstairs/Downton Abbey/Gosford Park genre, partly morality play about the British class system, and partly a statement about COVID-19 responses. It makes good contributions to each of those genres but slips often into heavy-handed caricature that IMO drains some of its humorous punch and cautionary impact.

Within those complaints, I did get engaged in the story, thought much of it was quite funny, and found the ending mostly satisfactory, though partly spoiled by over-the-top implausibility. As another review notes, there are so many characters that the reader/listener would be well advised to mark the text or jot notes about them as they're introduced in the first chapters. Having not done that, I eventually kept them mostly straight but never did fully grasp all the relationships.

I think the book will have its greatest appeal while at least the memory of COVID pandemic lockdowns and precautions linger, but it can still be enjoyable later. The narrator is quite good. I thought a couple of words might not be correct British pronunciations, but she may know better than I as an American Anglophile.

Devotees of the Downton Abbey genre will particularly appreciate numerous sly references to characters and events in the programs I mentioned above (and possibly others I'm not familiar with). Cozy mystery fans probably will enjoy the mystery in the plot, though it's less prominent than the other elements. Overall, if you would enjoy a humorous read and aren't too demanding about subtlety, go for it.

So many unpleasant characters

Too many characters to keep track of, and not many I could care about. Story was ok and satisfactory, but overshadowed by the amount of unpleasant people who spent most of the 10 hours bickering. There are certainly large families in every society who don't get along, but not really what I want to listen to on an audiobook. It took me three separate listens and backtracking several times to get the family straight, and by then I wouldn't have cared if they'd all fallen into a sinkhole.

Good narrator, but I'll be returning this one. Not for me.

Candy

Love, Love, Love this book! Wish there was a second book but haven’t seen one yet! I listened to it twice within 4 days so I could really understand The Who was who as there are quite a few characters! It has such a brilliant sense of humor throughout which I just loved! Excellent narrator in my opinion!!!

All around enjoyable

This is one of those stories that checks all the boxes.
And to have such a perfect narration for it… well, once you press play, you’ll find it hard to press pause.
Unique story, where even the characters you want to shake, you wind up hoping things turn out alright for them in the end. But I’m not going to promise that it does!
Clever, interesting, and great narration.

Bits of dark humor with heaps of absurd fun

There’s so much absurdity and outrageousness in the characters of this story that I quite forgot I had opted for it in the expectation of listening to a mystery. I am not a fan of the ilk of Downton Abbey, and though this is a story primarily about the mores of the British aristocracy, the matter is dealt with in such a manner - dark humor to portray the more seamier side of an outwardly sparkling stratosphere of society - that the result is both interesting and side-splitting hilarious. There is so much in this vein that the only danger I could perceive was of a vague sense that perhaps the story too wasn’t taking itself seriously at all. Either way this is an entertainer.

Didn’t want it to end!

Really enjoyed this story and I can’t wait for the authors next book. Please continue with these wonderful characters.

Hope the author writes more

Fell across this as I love the narrators style so was looking for more of her work. Brilliant first novel by the author- really hope she writes more. If you love a period drama and a mystery you will love it

Dreary

This was a mixed up load of nonsense. It was so drawn out and dreary. It may have been more bearable if the narrator wasn't so awful.

Enjoyable

A little different from the usual formula and a very enjoyable yarn. Narration was excellent also

Totally ridiculous and badly narrated

Do not waste your money on this ridiculous story and the narration is awful. She can’t even pronounce marquis says he is a marquee!