Under an English Heaven

By: Alice K. Boatwright

Narrated by: Saskia Maarleveld

Length: 7 hrs and 18 mins

Publisher's Summary

When Ellie Kent moves to an English village with her new husband Graham, she fears the villagers will always see her at that young American who snared their attractive vicar during his sabbatical in California. But this challenge is nothing compared to what happens when she stumbles across a body in the churchyard. 

The villagers insist they don't know the murdered man, so suspicion mounts that the killer must be the incomer - the vicar's new wife. As evidence piles up against her, Ellie tries to stay one step ahead of the police to unravel a decades-old literary mystery and love story. Will others die before she can solve it? And what will be left of her new life and marriage, even if she succeeds?

©2014 Alice K. Boatwright (P)2018 Audible, Inc.

Outstanding

Loved the characters and plot. Very well written and the mystery keeps you guessing! The narrator does a fabulous job and Ellie sounds like an intelligent American rather than an ignorant slang obsessed bimbo which unfortunately is what I’m used to hearing. I will definitely read the sequel.

Interesting and surpassed my expectations

I enjoyed the story and reading very much. I bought the book thinking it would be just a simple ‘I probably won’t mind too much’ listen, but was surprised to find I rather enjoyed the book! Ellie was quite a likeable main cast, and the supporting cast was likeable too. The story was at a good pace, interesting and well written, without any cheesy stereotypes. This would be a perfect cosy time audio book.

First book of Alice Boatwright that I listened

Narrator and narration both complement each other. I would definitely buy more books from the author and the narrator.

very enjoyable

Nice storyline, I enjoyed that she was an American that had moved to England. I also enjoyed that she was a vicars wife and she wasn't sure what she believes. It gave more personality to the characters but also made them more real. For it being a mystery there wasn't too much grossness, it wasn't dwelt on. I also liked that the language was not vulgar. it can be good without the obscenities.
So Alice Boatwright thank you for a clean enjoyable book!

English Amateur Investigator

This book and the sequel are about a female amateur investigator in England. Typical detective type sleuth. I listened to each book mostly straight thru. A lot of details to remember and many characters. I was entertained but do not feel the want to reread/listen again.

Narration was good.

Plot turns and twists, well drawn characters

I found the descriptive writing at first to be somewhat unbelievable, yet once the characters started appearing I couldn’t stop listening. The plot, the characters, and the narration were so very compelling.
Can’t wait to read about Ellie’s next adventure.
I highly recommend this lovely mystery set in the author’s well-loved Cotswolds. Read it soon!

Very enjoyable mystery

Good mystery story. Well read/narrated by Saskia Maarleveld. Good English accents IMHO. Only question for author, how could a vicar marry a woman who didn't believe in God?

Excellent

I’m so glad I discovered this series! When I saw the great recommendation from M.C. Beaton (my favorite cozy mystery author) I decided to give it a try and I’m so happy I did! Excellent characters, wonderful descriptions, and unexpected subplots make this a great read. Saskia Maarlevand does an incredible job reading. Can’t wait to start book two!

Fantastic!

I enjoyed every minute of this book! It is very engaging. A truly delightful read!

A Cut Above

I really enjoyed this free Audible book. It's a who-dunnit but it is a superior version, less of a pot-boiler. I thought it had a good enough plot and I enjoyed listening to it unfold.

Also, the narration was excellent. I really recommend it for non-taxing but also not mindless escapism.

Good plot. Some niggles though.

The plot of this book is very good. However there are a few irritating niggles. Firstly as the central character has a laptop I assume that book is set recently. WWII was over 70 years ago. so the time gap is dubious. Secondly the mysterious caller could have been identified with a simple 1471 call which will attempt to identify the last calling number. Thirdly there was not a mention ogf DNA in the effort to identify the body.

Also, withholding evidence from the police is a crime in itself. So the central character should have been arrested on a number of account of this crime.

Also, Vicars are not normally addressed as Father. This is usually a Catholic title.

Also an ASBO is read as azbo not A.S.B.O.

Apart from that it's a very well thought through and enjoyable story Thanks

Cozy mystery? For Americans?

I did enjoy this gentle mystery, which I felt was once again written with the American market in mind. If you’re British and can accept that then you’ll enjoy this book as I have…( it just gets a bit boring that there are so many books written this way)

Obviously for an American audience

The story is interesting and the performance is good. The problem is with the writing, it sounds like an English village but it's really written for those who have never ever been to one. The Americanism is really off putting the use of words like sidewalk, trash and windshield are annoying to any English listener. But descriptions of certain items are clearly American, the one main example is we do not have green and white police vehicle's?? Not sure if the author has ever been to England? but we don't all have double barrelled surnames, never heard so many in one village.

A Heavenly Tale

A realistic view of English Country life with a not unrealistic twist in the tail

Don’t listen if you’re British!

What a load of twaddle! This twee view of life in an English village, written with no sense of irony, is obviously written by an American and meant for the American market. The characters speak as if they’re in the 1940s yet it’s supposedly set today. The language throughout is American English, not British.
The narration is unforgivably bad, with some truly extraordinary mispronunciation. (Anthony Troe-lope… really??) Surely someone should proof the audio before it’s published?! The “English” characters’ accents are unrecognisable, which would be ok except they are inconsistent. Sometimes the vicar (we don’t call them “Father”, by the way) speaks in a Dick van Dyke-style “cockney”, other times he has a West Country “burr”, or lapses into an American accent. At times, he even speaks like Mrs Doubtfire (i.e. not English but Scottish).
I struggled as far as Chapter 3 but couldn’t bear it any longer. I gave up when the police described the murder as someone going on “a little spree” and the victim as “the old gent”.

Infantile

Childish
There was no depth to this story it was obvious who the murderer was
I’m only sorry I wasted a credit
The narrator was excellent though but unfortunately didn’t make up for the content
Joanna

Narration

I am unable to continue listening, the narration is just unforgivable. I can almost ignore some errors but pronouncing Trollope as “Trolowp”is a step too far. I cannot understand why people put themselves forward for this, risking ridicule but more importantly, why doesn’t whoever vets the narrators do a better job! I always listen to the sample now, but it won’t always include mispronunciations. I have to put a star for the story, but haven’t listened to enough to provide this with any accuracy so this is most unfair to the author.

Narrator: Don't attempt English accents!

The ghastly attempts at English accents make this book unlistenable-to. It would have been better to use two narrators or just talk American all the time. Narrator hasn't even heard of Anthony Trollope, or Tre-lope as she puts it.

wrong reader

I gave up on this story as so many words were pronounced wrongly. It's set in an English village with one American character so you need someone who can do various English voices, this reader can't.