The Seventh Sinner

A Jacqueline Kirby Mystery, Book 1

By: Elizabeth Peters

Narrated by: Grace Conlin

Length: 5 hrs and 50 mins

Publisher's Summary

For vibrant, lovely Jean Suttman, the fellowship to study in Rome was the culmination of all her dreams, until she undertook an innocent expedition to the ancient subterranean Temple of Mithra.  

From the moment she stepped into the pagan darkness and discovered the corpse of the repulsive Albert, one of her fellow students, she was afraid. Not even the comforting presence of the perceptive and practical Jacqueline Kirby could erase the fear that was nourished by one small accident after another. "Accidents" that came dreadfully close to killing her.

Someone was stalking Jean, someone ruthless and determined. Before long she could see no chance of rescue from the ever-present terror...no hope of escape...nothing but death...

©1972 Elizabeth Peters (P)1997 Blackstone Audiobooks

Kirby More Fun than Peabody

Elizabeth Peter's novels that feature Kirby are both entertaining and full of twists. The plots are much easier to follow in an audio book than her somewhat ponderous Egyptian series with Peabody. Kirby adds a quirky humorous anti-heroine slant, taking the endangered young art history student Jean under her protection when she becomes a target for a murderer. Peters makes very believable the group of students who are at once competitors and allies in their desire to get continued funding for their studies in Rome. Ancient art history and those who spend their lives exploring it are both much more accessible in this story. Even my teenage son wanted to listen when I had it on in the car. I rather hated for the book to end, and wish Peters' later novels were more like this one.

Nowhere near as good as Peabody or Bliss

I'm going through the Elizabeth Peters canon, and going from one of her last books (the last Vicky Bliss) to one of her first, the mastery of decades regrettably shows. The Seventh Sinner was okay for a long drive, but the third person narration and the bland heroine (can I call her that, if she's nothing more than a victim?) rob the book of much of the humor characteristic to Peters' others. Rather than continuing on to the next Jacqueline Kirby, I'm going to revisit all the Amelia Peabody's. The first two minutes of Crocodile on the Sandbank were a physical relief after The Seventh Sinner.

Narrator took away from the story

Wow, was the narrator, Grace Conlin, bad. Dana was English, the accent varied. Jacqueline and Jean were one voice. The chapters numbers repeated for some odd reason. Pass on anything from this narrator.

I really struggled with the story due to the poor narration. Took me a month for a 6 hour book. Normally I'm buying extra credits but not this month.

I'm a HUGE Elizabeth Peters fan. I typically have a unequivocal requirement that her stories be read by Barbara Rosenblat. I broke my rule and suffered. Sadly there are close to a dozen Audibles by Elizabeth Peters narrated by Grace Conlin meaning I won't hear a one. In fact I'm returning book 2 and possibly this one.

Witty

This series follows the adventures of Jacqueline Kirby who is an eccentric, middle-aged librarian with a burgeoning penchant for romance and knack for criminal inquiry. Elizabeth Peters consistently produces publications containing dryly humorous and witty characters with one or two cornballs. Furthermore, her novels always contain a cornucopia of historical information making them enlightening as well as entertaining. The Jacqueline Kirby series adheres to this formula and is a fantastic way to kill a few hours at the gym or on a road trip.

Jocose

When I heard Barbara Mertz died on August 8, 2013, I looked her books up to see if there was any I had missed reading. Mertz wrote under the name Elizabeth Peter and Barbara Michaels. Under Peter’s she is well known the Abigail Peabody series and under Michaels the Vicky Bliss series. Mertz was an archeologist who wrote mystery novels with an archeology background. I had never heard of the Jacqueline Kirby books until now. I had read all the other books so decided to give the Kirby book a try. Mertz provided a great deal of Roman history in a sort of sightseeing trip about Rome with Kirby and the group of graduate students. Kirby had a dry since of humor and the student’s were quick with the witty replies made for a few good laughs while reading. The mystery seemed to be secondary to the history of Rome and the interaction of the group of students. I was about 2/3 the way through the story before I thought I had figured who did it but the reason why was a surprise. I had thought there was not much of a plot to the story but obviously I was wrong. Thought it was great the hero was a librarian. Grace Conlin did a good job narrating the story.

Entertaining

Entertaining, not as enjoyable as the Amelia Peabody series but still a enjoyable light listen.

I couldn't finish it.

Elizabeth Peters is an excellent author. Unfortunately, her excessive use of blasphemy in this book was just too much for me. I wish her vocabulary was as captivating as her plots are.

Fun

A fun romp from Ms Peters with the usual dollop of history. I enjoyed it very much. I also enjoyed Grace Colin's narration. She does a fine Jacqueline Kirby. A nice little mystery with an ending I didn't guess as well.

Disappointing.

I love all Elizabeth Peters books, and I have thoroughly enjoyed both the Amelia Peabody & Vicki Bliss series(read by Barbara Rosenblat). I have to say the "performance" on this one left me cold. It wasn't performed, merely read in a flat, uninteresting voice, with very little on the way of emotion, voices or interest in the story. If the rest of the series is read by this same person, I may not go on. It's just too boring.

Love these books but narrator isn’t good

She tries to do voices for all the characters which I generally prefer, but her accents are truly terrible. Seems weird to be a narrator if you can’t do even a British accent