The Heiress of Linn Hagh

The Detective Lavender Mysteries, Book 1

By: Karen Charlton

Narrated by: Michael Page

Length: 9 hrs and 15 mins

Publisher's summary

Northumberland, 1809: A beautiful young heiress disappears from her locked bedchamber at Linn Hagh. The local constables are baffled and the townsfolk cry "witchcraft".

The heiress' uncle summons help from Detective Lavender and his assistant, Constable Woods, who face one of their most challenging cases: The servants and local gypsies aren't talking, Helen's siblings are uncooperative, and the sullen local farmers are about to take the law into their own hands.

Lavender and Woods find themselves trapped in the middle of a simmering feud as they uncover a world of family secrets, intrigue and deception in their search for the missing heiress.

Taut, wry, and delightful, The Heiress of Linn Hagh is a rollicking tale featuring Lavender and Woods—a double act worthy of Holmes and Watson.

©2015 Karen Charlton (P)2015 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved

Surprisingly good!

I looked at this book for a while, having difficulty deciding whether to take a chance on it. I'm happy that I finally did. I love the way the author has set up the story very slowly and carefully. Feels as though I know the characters well by the time the story gets into its fullness. The story has aspects of historical interest, a slight touch of gothic novel,a good variety of characters, and a pair of quite interesting detectives who have to tackle a "locked room" mystery. The narrator does a good job with various voices and accents I think. I sort of hope this might be the beginning of a series, though I don't see anything to indicate it will. I will happily read another book by this author/narrator team!

Really enjoyed this book

I enjoyed this book so much that I purchased the remaining 2 books in this series. Looking forward to the author writing book 4.

Probably better in print

What made the experience of listening to The Heiress of Linn Hagh the most enjoyable?

It was a British mystery set in a time frame in which I've not done a lot of reading.

Did the plot keep you on the edge of your seat? How?

Not the edge of my seat exactly, but it was engaging with no obvious holes or awkward idiot ball moments. All in all, a very respectable plot. There was some unnecessary dialogue, but not enough to spoil the book.

What didn’t you like about Michael Page’s performance?

Two things really bugged me. One, as another reviewer mentioned, was that many of the male characters sounded like they were yelling. Most were not terribly well-fleshed out anyway, and that one dimension got annoying. The second was the voice used for Lavender. It reminded me of Brent Spiner as Data doing Holmes in Star Trek TNG. This worked well for Data doing Holmes; not so much for Page doing Lavender.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No

Any additional comments?

I'll probably give the next book in the series a try, but perhaps a print version so I can avoid the narration and skip over the occasional unnecessary dialogue.

entertaining listen.

dint have me on the edge of my seat but i did want to know what cane next

loved the narrator

Enjoyed the story line...action, intrigue, humor and well flushed out characters. I really enjoyed it.

Long and drawn out

The book was unnecessarily wordy with scenes and actions that don't add to the overall enjoyment of the book. It was basically a Georgette Heyer short story expanded to too many pages. The characters were not interesting or engaging. At the beginning, there was a big lead-up to a story about a Spanish lady and her maid, and then they disappear for the rest of the book. The author needs guidance on not padding her work, developing characters, and leaving out uninteresting bits.

Greed

This was a chilly story where greed was the main factor to all the horrible things that happen to Helen by her own family to get her wealth for themselves.This was a great read.

Interesting Mystery

I enjoyed the story, and the narration was great. I had hoped that my young teen would be able to listen but there was a bit too much inuendo for her age.

An excellent read

From beginning to end I loved this book. I really enjoyed Inspector Lavender and Constable Woods.

Bad reviews are a harbinger to good story.

It's amazing how a bad review can sometimes pique your interest in a story and such is the case here. Reviewer's comments such as "Formulaic period piece with gratuitous Iberian temptress, evil and idiot half-sibs, loyal servants, gypsies in the woods, rustic but underdeveloped locals and a plucky heroine." actually made me curious and want to listen to this tale. Just my kind of story and I was not disappointed. Great writing and contrary to what an earlier reviewer stated, excellent narration with a variety of good vocal characterizations.