The Twelve Saints of Christmas

Heathcliff Lennox, Book 12

De: Karen Baugh Menuhin

Narrado por: Nicholas Boulton

Murder, mystery and a dog of distinction. Heathcliff Lennox investigates.

Twelve Saints, who are not true saints at all. They are the great and the good, although none are entirely great, nor good—indeed one is a murderer.

Temple House near Bath is built upon an old Roman Temple, the house bequeathed many centuries before to a secret order of old aristocracy. The 'Saints' are not true saints, they are remnants; the last of their line, they have wealth, but no heirs.

The Order may invite any such relict to join them. They will come to live in Temple House, they will become a revered and venerable Saint, and when they die all their wealth must go into the saints coffers.

Each Christmas these coffers are opened and the Saints—after much debate and contemplation—will donate a proportion of their wealth to a good and deserving cause.

This fine philanthropic task has followed the same line for hundreds of years—until now. It is Christmas 1923 and a Saint is found dead, murdered, and the killer is from within Temple House itself. The Order of the Saints is shrouded in secrecy and this dreadful deed cannot be allowed to expose them. And so their keeper of the books—the Dead Reckoner—suggests they call in Major Heathcliff Lennox and ex-Inspector Jonathan Swift to uncover the killer.

Major Heathcliff Lennox—ex WW1 war pilot, six feet, three inch, tousled dark blond hair, age around 30–named after the hero of Wuthering Heights by his romantically minded mother–much to his great annoyance.

©2024 Karen Baugh Menuhin (P)2025 Karen Baugh Menuhin

Love this series!

I own and have read all of the Lennox books. I have greatly enjoyed all of them. This one has an interesting variation of the setting and an interesting group of characters/suspects too. I have been enjoying watching the main characters grow and develop between books.

I had become very attached to Sam Dewhurst-Phillps as narrator, so having someone else was a big shock for me after 11+ books with him. Nicholas Boulton did a fine job though, and I appreciated his performance once I adjusted to the change. I do still miss Sam very much though!

Ruined by new narrator

After eleven books, the narrator is changed, which has ruined the series. The narrator’s voice is dull and boring, with absolutely no feelings. Unfortunately, I will be returning this disaster.

Entertaining

Good story. The narrator is good. I liked Sam Dewhurst-Phillips, but it took so longer to get a finished audiobook. He will be missed, but this was very good narration

Hopeful, but cautious

First off, thank you Karen for another great installment to the Lennox series. This story wasn’t one of my favorites, but it was still enjoyable. I did figure out “who dunnit” fairly early in the story, but not the why.

Second, thank you Nicholas for taking up the mantle to narrate the current addition to the series. It’s not easy to replace a narrator that has many fans and did a super job bringing the stories to life. I’m hoping that as you get to know the characters better, you too will bring them more to life. At times though, it was difficult to tell the difference in voices between Lennox and Swift. Also, please don’t make Tommy the boot boy sound so old.

Third, thank you Sam for all the hard work you did bringing Lennox to life. You will be missed, but you need to do what is best for you. The best off luck to you in all your future endeavors.

Disappointing narration

Unfortunately the narration killed this one for me. Previous narrator did an amazing job of adding a spark by following the author’s lead and not taking themselves or the story too seriously. That endearing tongue-in-cheek charm is lost with a more straight narrative style here. The voices also missed the mark for me.

The young boot boy’s voice sounded very similar to some of the more elderly folks. The Nordic character’s accent was strange- morphed frequently sounding at times Russian, Eastern European, Spanish, etc. He did a fine job of distinguishing voices from each other and would be great for a less whimsical style of writing.

I listen to a lot of audiobooks and series, and have continued through narrator changes many times. This one was quite disappointing. Might not buy the next one. Just plain not as fun. :(

Bring back the old narrator

Although the new narrator did a wonderful job of bringing life to the 12 Saints, the main characters’ voices (that we are used to) became flatter and almost interchangeable at times. And Mr. fog didn’t talk at all. Bring back the barking!

I want Sam back!

As usual this is a great story with character who are firmly lodged in my heart. BU