The Ghost and Lady Alice

The Royal Series, Book 7

By: M. C. Beaton

Narrated by: Charlotte Anne Dore

Length: 5 hrs and 22 mins

Publisher's summary

Alice Lovesey is a poor, mistreated scullery maid whose desperate plea for help miraculously summons Wadham Hall's rakish eighth duke - summons him from the dead! Though caught up in the delights of being newly materialized, the duke promises to return the favor by helping Alice become a lady of quality. But does Alice's heart stand a ghost of a chance now that she has lost it to a restless spirit?

©1981 Marion Chesney (P)2014 Blackstone Audiobooks

Different from her usual book

I’ve read dozens of Chesney/Beaton books. This one is unusual for her Regency pieces in that it’s fanciful and contains supernatural elements. I enjoyed it greatly. The protagonist male is slightly different in character from her usual brooding heroes. Recommended.

I loved this book

This is a great book. I will listen to over and over again.... worth a credit.

Delightful tale. Terrible narrator!

This whimsical "ghost" story is ruined by a completely incompetent narrator. Ms. Dore cannot do even basic voice differentiation, accurately depict emotion, or even pronounce much of the English language much less foreign places any regular reader of period romances knows. (Ms. Dore, Ciudad is not pronounced kyu-I-dad; it is see-you-dad.). She narrates the entire book as if she didn't bother to read it first. Her male voices are deplorable and devoid of any appropriate emotion. She mixes up her female voices with that of the story's narrator.

I would hope that either she takes vocal acting lessons or finds another line of work.

Despite a lot of teeth gritting over the performance, the story is a delicious cross between a gothic novel if the time and a very witty fairy tale.

So much fun!

Supernatural fun!
I never wanted this story to end.
Quirky, funny and entertaining. The ghost is great fun.

Meh... not horrible, but hot all that good.

I did finish it (well I skipped a bit of it), but honestly, I am not sure why.

The idea seemed novel enough, but the main character was too much of a drip and story seemed to drag along.

To be fair, this suffered for me because I had just recently finished a Georgette Heyer regency and this paled badly next to it.

The narrator was okay.

This is no Cinderella.

What did you love best about The Ghost and Lady Alice?

M c Beaton has a knack of creating unique characters and conveying a lot in few words. The plot is tight and the characters are memorable.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Ghost and Lady Alice?

I like the scene where the ghost first appeared. Alice is dirty and in rags and the detail of the Duke's costume is so beautifully detailed.

Have you listened to any of Charlotte Anne Dore’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

When I heard her voice I recognized it, but I'm not sure from where. She is very professional and can voice an array of characters without becoming annoying.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

No! It is such a great book. If it was made into a film they would make a mess of it. Maybe a BBC mini-series might handle it.

Any additional comments?

I was a huge fan of the Hamish McBeth series and have nearly every audible book. I wasn't so impressed with the female detective M C Beaton wrote next, but I'm so glad to find that he/she is still writing and if the other books are as good as this one, I'll be listening for awhile to come.

The story is unique and super fun! But...

This narrator needs to do more research on the pronunciation of words. Too many mistakes.

Weird

This was a very different type of romance that is for sure. Typical of the author but the story was a little more creative.

Goofy ghost story

Did not love the supernatural direction. Made it to the end, but it was tedious. One complaint I have about many of these titles is the male love interest referring to the female as “my child” with the adult seduction ensuing. It creeps me out.