The Fatal Flying Affair

A Lady Hardcastle Mystery, Book 7

By: T E Kinsey

Narrated by: Elizabeth Knowelden

Length: 8 hrs

Publisher's Summary

August 1911. Emily Hardcastle and her inimitable lady’s maid Florence Armstrong are enjoying a fine summer until Harry, Lady H’s brother, turns up out of the blue with a mystery for them to solve.

A routine parachute test at a local aeroplane factory has gone horribly wrong - with pilot Dickie Dupree plummeting to his death. Harry is certain there is more to this ‘tragic accident’ than meets the eye, having discovered that someone at the airfield is leaking top secret intelligence to foreign rivals.

In between strolls to the Dog & Duck and planning for the annual village show, the daring duo dust off the Crime Board and go undercover at Bristol Aviation. With international powers investing heavily in aeronautics, the stakes are high - sky high - and the suspects soon mount up.

Can Lady Hardcastle find the culprit before someone else falls down dead?

©2020 T E Kinsey (P)2020 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Critic Reviews

Winner of the AudioFile Earphones Award

“This audiobook should have come with a warning: Listen at your own risk. If others try to pause it, you may snap their heads off in frustration. As Lady Hardcastle and her lady's maid, Flo, return to spying for England in the summer of 1911, narrator Elizabeth Knowelden enhances the story full of witticisms and a clever plot by immersing listeners in the lives of these two characters. Listeners will catch Flo's excitement as she discovers that her newest job requires investigation at an airfield where someone was recently killed.” --AudioFile Magazine

Wonderful as Usual But Don’t Change the Series!

I have been anxiously waiting for this book to be released. I enjoyed it as I hoped I would like the previous books. I listened to it twice already. Elizabeth Knowelden performed excellent as usual. The storyline was captivating as usual. I had thought how neat it would be to hear some of Lady Hardcastle and Flo’s past adventures as government agents or their experiences during their escape from China in future books but I really didn’t want them to be government agents again. That would have changed the whole character or nature of the books. As retired agents, they would be free to go and do whatever without being under anybody’s thumb, especially the government’s. I like how they became involved in the mysteries through personal involvement with people in their everyday life. For example, how they met Skins and his band and invited them into their home and became good friends. I don’t think it would have played out naturally if they were government agents. As government agents, this would become strictly a spy series and it would change my interest in the series. There were versatility in the previous books that I foresee may become lost in future books as it transitions into a spy series. I love this series!! Please don’t change it. It has everything that I like in a mystery story, it’s clean and wholesome, it has humor, wonderful human interactions, great multi-level plots, versatile storyline, and the solutions that you can’t easily guess within the first half of the book or until it’s revealed. Please don’t change the series!

Wonderful

I’ve listened to each book in the series twice and have waited patiently for six months for this. Worth the wait. I love these characters and the narration is always spot on.

Great book and narrator!

T E Kinsey can’t write the Lady Hardcastle books fast enough ! They are a fun listen with much dry humor! The narration is spot on! Keep them coming!

Wonderful addition to the series!

I love the Lady Hardcastle series, and The Fatal Flying Affair is a wonderful addition! The narrator is absolutely wonderful, keeping the voices and accents consistent through every book. I confess that I have been waiting for this book to be released, and downloaded it the moment I could. This book is a delightful mystery, sans-gore. Highly recommended!

Excellent reading and story

Loved it!! Would order again. His books are very entertaining and informative. Good performance by this reader.

Another spectacular mystery!

I absolutely love this series! Lady Hardcastle & Flo’s banter is top notch. Of course, the banter between the “Feather-stone-huff” siblings & Flo is also delightful. As for the over all story... it was another well done piece of Whodunit writing.
The small tidbit about Skins’ Maloney only made me more impatient to read The Deadly Mystery of the Missing Diamonds due out in March.

Well Done!!

Another entertaining and well done, enjoyable story! Love the Nanette and repartee between Hardcastle and Armstrong. Great narration!

My favorite in the series so far

I've enjoyed this series a great deal but this one was my favorite. All our favorite characters are present, there's plenty of village action, and a number of very funny moments. The author has really hit his stride. This is one I'll be listening to again.

And the narrator is delightful. She has quite distinct voices for all the characters without ever sounding stilted. I could easily keep track of who was speaking and her adept ability to express a character's, well, character was a big bonus. A bumbling guard, a flirting barmaid, or a competent engineer... each one not only has a distinct voice, but you understand them better by the way they are read. I'll be looking for more by this narrator.

Absolutely charming!

These are wonderful books made even better with an extraordinary narrator. I love these characters and am always a little sad when the book is over.

Thoroughly Entertaining!

Another great entry in this wonderful series.The narrator is excellent and brings the story and characters to life. Looking forward to the next book.

smasher.

yet another smasher for T E kinsey with Elizabeth Knowelden knocking it out of the park yet again. I never tire of hearing about the good old tiny servant and the adventures of Lady Hardcastle!

Good continuation of the series

These books are a nice bit of escapism. I like that there is no swearing, occultism or sex. They are just a pleasant story that gives you a giggle. The relationship between Flo and Lady Hardcastle is pleasant and fun. I’ve dropped it down a star (4 not 5) just because the author doesn’t seem to grasp there is more than one term for “said” a “replied, asked, retorted or exclaimed” would be welcome once in a while. That’s my only niggle. Overall a good buy and a worthwhile listen.

Outstanding as usual

The Lady hardcastle books never fail to hit the spot for me, expertly brought to life by the amazingly talented Elizabeth knowlden.

This time around we have planes and parachutes and skullduggery abound.

I love how the characters keep evolving and moving forward, I love the banter between Emily and her "tiny servant", and also Mr "featherstonehough" (Fanshaw - still not 100% sure how that even works!). I love all the side characters also, basically I just love this series.

To be fair, I'm not sure whether I would have continued with even the first book had I been reading them, because I think the "what ho" and "I say!"s were all a bit much for me, but I'm so glad I discovered they were on audio (and included free with the kindle unlimited books at the time, although I've now bought them all, along with the spinoff series too), Elizabeth knowlden brings the books to life like no other and really makes all the what ho's etc sound totally natural where they always sounded awkward in my head.

The story moves along at a fair pace, with plenty of twists and turns along the way, and I must admit I didn't pick the real baddies out til the big reveal so that kept it interesting. The village play was a lovely little side story aswell, I could totally picture Emily in a spangly leotard having knives thrown at her head!

As always, I'm left wanting more and hoping there will be another soon. I would definitely recommend this whole series, starting from book one.

Love this series

I’ve listened to all the Lady Hardcastle stories & enjoyed them all. Elizabeth Knowlden does an excellent job of representing the period and people. Well done TE Kinsey

Amazing ( no spoilers )

I love this series both the books and the audio version the narrator is fantastic and does all the voices just as I imagine

Boring

Loved the rest but this one felt like it was phoned in. What a pity.

Joyful

I look forward to each new Lady Hardcastle and Flo adventure with associated news of family, friends and conspirators. I especially like all the careful detail hidden amongst the hilarious crime-stopping. All over far too quickly... Off for another listen.

Planes And Cows!

A more pedantic start to this story and not as much active espionage as before (decidedly low key), but still an enjoyable tale.

This had more of a family feel to it (in as far as you can get with three spies). Harry Fanshaw is as engaging as his sister!

Elizabeth Knowelden is as terrific as always - now she adds animals to her repertoire! An enjoyable time.

The Fatal Flying Affair

With more secrets and spying Lady Hardcastel and Flow find the murder, spy and swindler. Read brilliantly again by Elizabeth Knowelden.

Another fun mystery

I really enjoy these books, I shall regret when the series finishes. Most of the time I like to sit and crochet in the evening while listening to the now familiar voices of the characters. The narration is excellent as usual which adds much to the story as it unfolds. It has been a pleasant source of relaxation for me during the worrying times of Covid19