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The year is 1920: Flying in the face of convention, legendary American adventuress Beryl Helliwell never fails to surprise and shock. The last thing her adoring public would expect is that she craves some peace and quiet. The humdrum hamlet of Walmsley Parva in the English countryside seems just the ticket. And, honestly, until America comes to its senses and repeals Prohibition, Beryl has no intention of returning stateside and subjecting herself to bathtub gin.
When magistrate Patrick Colquhoun orders a habitual thief and ne'er-do-well transported to Botany Bay, he doesn't realize a 14-year-old boy has been left behind to follow in his father's footsteps - not until young John Pickett is hauled into Bow Street for stealing an apple from the produce market at Covent Garden. Feeling to some extent responsible for the boy, Mr. Colquhoun prevails upon Elias Granger, a prosperous coal merchant, to take him on as an apprentice.
When mystery novelist Hazel Martin receives a secretive letter from an old friend who suspects her relatives have murderous intentions, she packs her bags and heads to the country. Tampered medications, symptoms of poisoning, and suspicious accidents all add up to attempted murder, and it's up to Hazel and her Siamese cat, Dickens, to sniff out the clues. But with a house full of relatives who all have a motive, will Hazel be able to unmask the culprit before things turn deadly?
When Sir William and Lady Withers invite friends and family to a weekend house party at their country home, Ashgrove House, they are faced with the arrival of both invited and uninvited guests, the consequence of which is murder. Set in 1930, Murder at Ashgrove House is full of intrigue, clues, and red herrings, with nearly everyone having a motive for wishing the victim dead. This is a classic country house murder mystery set during the golden age of crime and will appeal to fans of Agatha Christie and Downton Abbey.
England, 1919. Verity Kent's grief over the loss of her husband pierces anew when she receives a cryptic letter suggesting her beloved Sidney may have committed treason before his untimely death. Determined to dull her pain with revelry, Verity's first impulse is to dismiss the derogatory claim. But the mystery sender knows too much - including the fact that during the war Verity worked for the Secret Service, something not even Sidney knew.
At the end of her first unsuccessful season out in society, Lady Georgiana has all but given up on attracting a suitable man - until she receives an invitation to a masked Halloween ball at Broxley Manor. Georgie is uncertain why she was invited, until she learns that the royal family intends to marry her off to a foreign prince, one reputed to be mad.
The year is 1920: Flying in the face of convention, legendary American adventuress Beryl Helliwell never fails to surprise and shock. The last thing her adoring public would expect is that she craves some peace and quiet. The humdrum hamlet of Walmsley Parva in the English countryside seems just the ticket. And, honestly, until America comes to its senses and repeals Prohibition, Beryl has no intention of returning stateside and subjecting herself to bathtub gin.
When magistrate Patrick Colquhoun orders a habitual thief and ne'er-do-well transported to Botany Bay, he doesn't realize a 14-year-old boy has been left behind to follow in his father's footsteps - not until young John Pickett is hauled into Bow Street for stealing an apple from the produce market at Covent Garden. Feeling to some extent responsible for the boy, Mr. Colquhoun prevails upon Elias Granger, a prosperous coal merchant, to take him on as an apprentice.
When mystery novelist Hazel Martin receives a secretive letter from an old friend who suspects her relatives have murderous intentions, she packs her bags and heads to the country. Tampered medications, symptoms of poisoning, and suspicious accidents all add up to attempted murder, and it's up to Hazel and her Siamese cat, Dickens, to sniff out the clues. But with a house full of relatives who all have a motive, will Hazel be able to unmask the culprit before things turn deadly?
When Sir William and Lady Withers invite friends and family to a weekend house party at their country home, Ashgrove House, they are faced with the arrival of both invited and uninvited guests, the consequence of which is murder. Set in 1930, Murder at Ashgrove House is full of intrigue, clues, and red herrings, with nearly everyone having a motive for wishing the victim dead. This is a classic country house murder mystery set during the golden age of crime and will appeal to fans of Agatha Christie and Downton Abbey.
England, 1919. Verity Kent's grief over the loss of her husband pierces anew when she receives a cryptic letter suggesting her beloved Sidney may have committed treason before his untimely death. Determined to dull her pain with revelry, Verity's first impulse is to dismiss the derogatory claim. But the mystery sender knows too much - including the fact that during the war Verity worked for the Secret Service, something not even Sidney knew.
At the end of her first unsuccessful season out in society, Lady Georgiana has all but given up on attracting a suitable man - until she receives an invitation to a masked Halloween ball at Broxley Manor. Georgie is uncertain why she was invited, until she learns that the royal family intends to marry her off to a foreign prince, one reputed to be mad.
London, 1850: A young Charles Lenox struggles to make a name for himself as a detective...without a single case. Scotland Yard refuses to take him seriously and his friends deride him for attempting a profession at all. But when an anonymous writer sends a letter to the paper claiming to have committed the perfect crime - and promising to kill again - Lenox is convinced that this is his chance to prove himself. The writer's first victim is a young woman whose body is found in a naval trunk, caught up in the rushes of a small islets in the middle of the Thames.
Selchester Castle in 1953 sits quiet and near-empty, its corridors echoing with glories of the past. Or so it seems to intelligence officer Hugo Hawksworth, wounded on a secret mission and now reluctantly assuming an altogether less perilous role at Selchester.
This first installment of a cozy mystery series transports listeners back to the bygone era of 1923 Britain, where unflappable flapper and fledgling journalist Daisy Dalrymple daringly embarks on her first writing assignment, and promptly stumbles across a corpse.
When Miss Seeton walks out after a performance of Carmen and witnesses a real-life stabbing, all she can recall is a shadowy figure. But how could she have guessed that her latest artistic endeavor is a picture-perfect portrait of the killer? Her sketch puts her in a perilous position, for back at her recently inherited cottage in Plummergen village, she's fated to be a sitting duck...for murder most foul!
The daughter of a baronet and minor heiress, Rosalind Thorne was nearly ruined after her father abandoned the family. To survive in the only world she knew, she began to manage the affairs of some of London society's most influential women, who rely on her wit and discretion. So when artistocratic wastrel Jasper Aimesworth is found dead in London's most exclusive ballroom, Almack's, Rosalind must use her skills and connections to uncover the killer.
It's Christmas 1909, and for once Lady Hardcastle - respectable gentlewoman, amateur spy - and her lady's maid, Florence Armstrong, are setting sleuthing aside. They are invited to the festivities up at The Grange, as guests of Sir Hector and Lady Farley-Stroud. But barely have corks been popped and parlour games played when a mysterious crime comes to light.
Louisa's salvation is a position within the Mitford household at Asthall Manor, in the Oxfordshire countryside. There she will become nursemaid, chaperone, and confidante to the Mitford sisters, especially 16-year-old Nancy, an acerbic, bright young woman in love with stories. But then a nurse - Florence Nightingale Shore, goddaughter of her famous namesake - is killed on a train in broad daylight, and Louisa and Nancy find themselves entangled in the crimes of a murderer who will do anything to hide their secret....
Business is going well at Gemma Rose’s quaint English teashop, and she's delighted about her first big catering job at a local village funeral...until the day ends with a second body and one of the Old Biddies accused of murder! Now, the resourceful tearoom sleuth must find out which delicious pudding contained the deadly arsenic - and who might have wanted the wealthy widow dead....
It's 1929, and Ticky Maltravers is the toast of London high society, adored by everyone - or so it seems, until somebody poisons him over dinner. Now it turns out that numerous people with secrets to hide had every reason to wish him dead. But which of them murdered him? For Freddy Pilkington-Soames, newspaper reporter and man-about-town, the question hits a little too close to home.
Bill Vokes has played Santa at the children's Christmas show for years. But with the show just hours away, he vanishes with no explanation. The whole village is baffled. Did something bad happen to loveable Bill, upstanding citizen, churchgoer, life and soul of the party and the holiday season? Jack and Sarah are on the case - and soon discover there are secrets about this Santa that no one could have imagined.
Olivia Denis is a content young wife with a carefree life in late 1930s London. Then her world is shattered with the violent death of her husband, Reggie. The police want to call it a suicide and close the case, but Olivia knows Reggie couldn't possibly have fired the fatal shot. Further mysteries surface surrounding her husband's death. Did the trustworthy Foreign Office employee betray government secrets? Was his murder linked to the death of a German embassy clerk the same night? And who searched their flat?
Lady Amanda Golightly of Belchester Towers is a person in complete contrast to the stereotypical image of her upper-class breeding. She is short, portly, and embarrassingly forthright. On a visit to a local nursing home, she unexpectedly discovers a long-lost friend, Hugo Cholmondley-Crichton-Crump - and stumbles upon a murder. The pair turn to sleuthing after Lady Amanda reports her appalling discovery to the local police inspector, who treats her as a silly old biddy with an overactive imagination.
Amory Ames is a wealthy young woman who questions her marriage to her notoriously charming playboy husband Milo. Looking for a change, she accepts a request for help from her former fiance, Gil Trent. Amory accompanies Gil to the luxurious Brightwell Hotel in an attempt to circumvent the marriage of his sister Emmeline to Rupert Howe, a disreputable ladies' man. Amory sees in the situation a grim reflection of her own floundering marriage. There is more than her happiness at stake, however, when Rupert is murdered and Gil is arrested for the crime. Amory is determined to prove his innocence and find the real killer. As the stakes grow higher and the line between friend and foe becomes less clear, Amory must decide where her heart lies and catch the killer before she, too, becomes a victim.
I bought this book because it was an Edgar nominee for best novel or best first novel. Also looking for something like The Royal Spyness mysteries. Big Mistake. This lady keeps pausing or putting the periods behind each word, like she is reading from a paper where she hasn't practice her speech. Annoying. I can't take it. I returned.
7 of 7 people found this review helpful
Would you try another book from Ashley Weaver and/or Billie Fulford-Brown?
honestly, i couldn't listen to more than 3 minutes of this person reading. i have no idea about the story. the narrator made me want to run away from my phone.
Would you recommend Murder at the Brightwell to your friends? Why or why not?
no. un-listenable-to
Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Billie Fulford-Brown?
anyone
You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?
not sure.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful
Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?
Yes, I would recommend the book to anyone who likes Agatha Christie type mysteries - but in book format, not audio. It's not the best or most gripping mystery, but if you like the genre it's a pleasant read.
If you’ve listened to books by Ashley Weaver before, how does this one compare?
1st one
How did the narrator detract from the book?
The narrator over pronounced her lines, made strange pauses and inflections, and gave annoying voices to many of the characters. Enough to make me want to stop listening to the story.
Did Murder at the Brightwell inspire you to do anything?
Write a review. I don't do that often, but I bought the book despite another reviewer's comments about the narration and deciding to add my hearty agreement when it really was so stilted that it detracted from the story.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful
What did you love best about Murder at the Brightwell?
The story was cute and kept moving. It is a lighthearted mystery/romance story.
Would you recommend Murder at the Brightwell to your friends? Why or why not?
Yes I would. Easy story to drive to. It doesn't take a lot of concentration. But the book was fun.
How could the performance have been better?
To be honest the narrator ruined the book for me. I almost stopped listening several times.The cadence of her speech was way off. It was painful to listen to, my mind would reconstruct each sentence after she spoke. Too hard to explain here but the good news is that the next book that follows has a different narrator. I will never buy another book read by her. Too bad really.
Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
No, not that gripping. Just. Lighthearted story. Just what I need sometimes when I am multitasking.
Any additional comments?
So glad to see a new narrator was hired for the next book, this one does not do the story justice.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful
What would have made Murder at the Brightwell better?
A story is in the details: NO details in this story. Every gown has a color, but not a picture. I knew how many of the sentences would end before I heard them. The characterization was based on the reading voice, but not on the depictions of the people.
What do you think your next listen will be?
Huge Frasier reading Agatha Christie. What a relief. This book seemed as if it were an imitation of Agatha Christie, but didn't quite make it.
How could the performance have been better?
The reader's voice is very irritating. Her British accent is extreme. Her imitations of the men's voices is terrible.
What character would you cut from Murder at the Brightwell?
The German actor pretending to be British. He seemed extraneous to the story, even as a might-be murderer.
Any additional comments?
Well, it was something to listen to. Perhaps the author's next novels will be better.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?
Different narrator. This one spoke slowly and haltingly, as though reading for the mentally impaired. Her narration robbed the story of all humor and life. The story shows such promise, but I couldn't get past the second disc.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?
Yes, it's an ok 1930s English mystery, but I suspect better enjoyed as a book than listened to.
How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?
A different narrator. I'm not usually picky; this is the first time in having listened to many Audible books that I've reacted so viscerally and negatively.
How could the performance have been better?
The narrator's performance is so annoying that it interferes with enjoyment of the plot. Why in the world she drags out every sentence, puts strange emphasis on the odd adjective or verb, and can't produce a soft female voice that doesn't sound insipid, to name a few of my objections, I do not know. Is it the narrator's responsibility or that of the producer to ensure the delivery isn't weird? Probably both.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
What did you like best about Murder at the Brightwell? What did you like least?
nice agatha christie type novel.
What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)
What do you think the narrator could have done better?
a little irritating trying to speak the male parts. over-exaggerated in a few other parts as well.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
The author has woven a spectacular tale. The narrator makes the story come alive. Together they are an unbeatable team. I highly recommend this book.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
Jesus I can't believe I have to have 15 words to submit a review and I still have to continue until now