Garden of Lies

By: Amanda Quick

Narrated by: Louise Jane Underwood

Length: 10 hrs and 12 mins

Publisher's summary

The New York Times best-selling author of Otherwise Engaged and The Mystery Woman presents an all-new novel of intrigue and murder set against the backdrop of Victorian London.

The Kern Secretarial Agency provides reliable professional services to its wealthy clientele, and Anne Clifton was one of the finest women in Ursula Kern's employ. But Miss Clifton has met an untimely end - and Ursula is convinced it was not due to natural causes.

Archaeologist and adventurer Slater Roxton thinks Mrs. Kern is off her head to meddle in such dangerous business. Nevertheless, he seems sensible enough to Ursula, though she does find herself unnerved by his self-possession and unreadable green-gold eyes. If this mysterious widowed beauty insists on stirring the pot, Slater intends to remain close by as they venture into the dark side of polite society.

Together they must reveal the identity of a killer - and to achieve their goal they may need to reveal their deepest secrets to each other as well.

©2015 Jayne Ann Krentz (P)2015 Recorded Books

Easy to listen to

There were too many repetitions of themes from earlier books by Amanda Quick.

Jayne Krentz is a good writer as much as I always look forward to her new releases she may need to take a break and renew her creative energy.

Just okay

I generally like Amanda Quick (JAK, JC, whatever name she decides to write under). Her stories do all follow a similar path at this point, but that's fine too since it's a path I enjoy. This book however was just annoying. I didn't connect with Ursula. Her character was far more up tight than a normal AQ character - which, it's the Victorian Era so maybe she wasn't? but AQ generally puts very modern day heroines in even her period books... and I really didn't like how Ursuala seemed to want Slater to read her mind. It was so immature and kind of mean. Not something normally found in this author's writing.
But the story itself was decent and I liked Slater and all of the supporting cast. This narrator isn't my favorite but she isn't the worst - although she sounded as if she was shouting whenever an American talked. that was weird. Although maybe that explains how the narrator did The Woman Who Knew Too Much - it was maybe the worst audio book ever.
All in all, this isn't the worst AQ book (side eye - Surrender), but it's nowhere near some of my favorites (Ravished, Dangerous, The Paid Companion, The River Knows, and most of the Burning Cove books).

Hmmm

3 1/2 stars. Above average, but not a book I'll gush about
Setting: London, England
Genre: Victorian Romance/mystery/suspense
Things I liked about this book: I found both female and male protagonists likeable. Ursula Kern is the owner of the Kern Secretarial Agency which provides trained typist/stenographers to individuals. After being widowed and left destitute, she took a job as a companion in a wealthy household. After a scandal in the household, she left her position, re-invented herself, and opened the agency. Aside from her employees, she has no friends or family. She's independent and intelligent. I like that she doesn't default to damsel in distress around men. Slater Roxton is the acknowledged bastard of an actress and a nobleman. He is an archaeologist, but after a harrowing incident on an archaeological mission, he quit to become a recoverer of stolen artifacts. His late father made him trustee of the Roxton estate and guardian of the heir and spare so, due to these responsibilities, he has to give up artifact recovery. He isn't one of those "I can do it better because I have a penis" type of heroes. I found the basic plot enjoyable as well. One of Ursula's employees was found dead. The police said the death was from natural causes, but Ursula believes it was murder, and she thinks it is connected to Ann's assignment working for Lady Fullbrook. She left a one sentence long note in her unique shorthand which led Ursula to Ann's jewelry, steno notebook, and some seeds. Whodunit and why? The answers are revealed over the course of the book.
What I didn't like: There were a couple of tangents that didn't contribute to the forward motion of the plot. They weren't detailed enough to count as subplots. Just episodes that added nothing to the story. There was a secondary character introduced who brought nothing to plot development. Who he is and what he does could be omitted entirely and it would not affect the story at all. This is aside from the characters in the tangents mentioned.
As for the narration, Louise Jane Underwood did a fair job. The only problem I had was the working class accent she gave to Lord Fullbrook's American business partner. Sure, he was a criminal, but it would make more sense that an English nobleman would partner with someone of a higher class. There is nothing in the story indicating that he was of a much lower social position to Fullbrook.

Wow was that 1000 pages?

I just could not care about the H/h... and the book just went on and on! JAK / Amanda Quick is the greatest! I love her books. This one just did not catch my interest.

campy late 1800s gothic

Gothic turn-of-the-century Romance with a mystery done with a touch of camp and humor by Quick. Though Slater is more obtuse and Ursula Kern more bitchy than most of her characters. Ursula just didn’t give the clueless man any hints that I picked up on. Quick didn’t provide any inner monologues that clued me in, either. A teeny tiny one for readers would have kept me more invested.
Underwood does a fairly decent job of narration.
Attn Audible Tech Support: This is my 4th attempt to submit the written review which did not post June 30 with my starred review.

A Definite Achievement for Me to Enjoy a Romance

As a rule I don't usually spend my time reading romance on a regular basis. It's often one or two over a length of time. I found the author to be be a better than just good writer. Her story had some intrigue and was often humorous. I know this title is a winner for me because I am immediately moving on to another of her titles.

Good Story... Good Narration... kept me guessing

Unlike others who reviewed this book I had no problem with the narrators' voice... yes it was in the higher register but it was not unpleasant or jarring to the ears.... if you want unpleasant ie fingernails on chalkboard, go watch walt disney's original "snow white" (talk about painful)

the voice of the narrator seemed to be the most anyone had bad to say about the story... Alright I didn't particularly like the new york accent for Mr Cobb...but it was ok and different enough to distinguish him from the other characters which in the end is what matters most to me in an audio book


i will say it was a good story, well written with lots of spunk (as usual). The bad guys were obvious almost from the start but the #1 villain was a guess... JAK/Amanda Quick did an excellent job of misdirection as well as leaving subtle clues as to who the real culprit was and what their individual motive was in the story... i love to guess, and am usually right... and was this time...but my guess waivered from time to time (good misdirection. and side paths)

all in all an excellent example of romantic/ murder mystery... i recommend this book

*note this book was very reminiscent of some of her earlier books ... wicked widow, lie by moonlight... don't look back (series), etc.

Horrible Narrator Great Story

I could not believe this narrator, I could hardly listen to this story. I love Amanda Quick, Jayne Ann Krentz and Jayne Castle and I tried and tried to listen since I do enjoy her books and often listen to them alot more than once but Louise Jane Underwood in this particular venue is just awful!!! Eventually I just got our my kindle and read the store which I thought was very enjoyable. Why would Recorded Books re-record books that had already been recorded i.e. Lie by Moonlight which Anne Flosnik recorded and was Very good just don't understand how this person could have been given this book to read in Audio. Her voice is not pleasant in your ears. UGH! If you can get past the narrator the story is good.

Good enough

A formularistic Amanda Quick book, falls in line with her recent ones. I liked her earlier books better

Another great story....

I'm a Barbara Rosenblat fan. So, I'm used to being entertained. This narrative was so fast I had to turn down the speed (first time in my 10+ years listening to audible books). If the story hadn't been so good I prob would not have finished it.