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Cleopatra's Dagger

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Cleopatra's Dagger

By: Carole Lawrence
Narrated by: Kate Rudd
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About this listen

A journalist in nineteenth-century New York matches wits with a serial killer in a gripping thriller by the prizewinning author of the Ian Hamilton Mysteries.

New York, 1880. Elizabeth van den Broek is the only female reporter at the Herald, the city’s most popular newspaper. Then she and her bohemian friend Carlotta Ackerman find a woman’s body wrapped like a mummy in a freshly dug hole in Central Park - the intended site of an obelisk called Cleopatra’s Needle. The macabre discovery takes Elizabeth away from the society pages to follow an investigation into New York City’s darkest shadows.

When more bodies turn up, each tied to Egyptian lore, Elizabeth is onto a headline-making scoop more sinister than she could have imagined. Her reporting has readers spellbound, and each new clue implicates New York’s richest and most powerful citizens. And a serial killer is watching every headline.

Now a madman with an indecipherable motive is coming after Elizabeth and everyone she loves. She wants a good story? She may have to die to get it.

©2022 Carole Bugge. (P)2022 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved. Detective Fiction Historical Mystery Thriller & Suspense Women Sleuths Women's Fiction New York Crime Murder

Critic reviews

“The youthful, exuberant voice of narrator Kate Rudd brings to life reporter Elizabeth van den Broek, who becomes personally involved in the fiendish murders of a serial killer who is obsessed with Egyptian mythology.… The youthful photographer, Evans; the drink-impaired old seaman, Sea Dog; the sophisticated Cordelia are a few of the excellent portrayals that enhance this audiobook.” —AudioFile Magazine

“The riveting story of a female journalist in nineteenth-century New York who must match wits with a serial killer…a vivid murder mystery thriller that is superbly performed by the narrative skills of vocal actor and storyteller Kate Rudd. …a fine and recommended pick for…the personal lists of fans [of] historical mysteries featuring a female sleuth trying to catch a killer in spite of the misogyny that surrounds her in latter decades of the 19th Century.” —Midwest Book Review

“Lawrence makes New York City come alive with numerous colorful details…Fans of Victoria Thompson’s Gaslight mysteries will hope for a sequel.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
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I persevered with this because it was recommended by a friend but upon finishing it I still didn’t understand what he liked about it. I found the story tedious and had to keep rewinding. Also my friend read a paper copy so didn’t have to suffer the terrible attempts at various accents and male voices by a female narrator. Overall I would not recommend

Boring and terrible accents

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The story of yet another pampered American princess who thinks she’s living real life because her parents pay for an apartment but no servants. To be honest though my ire is largely reserved for the narration. I’ll forgive or at least be amused by attempts at regional British accents so what I thought was two Scot’s characters didn’t really faze me. What made this unbearable was the lack of pace, emphasis or any other humanising characteristic of the voice. It was like hearing a small child read. Also, didn’t 19th century Americans ever contract their words? A whole book of ‘I did not…I would not…I could not’ made for stilted conversations at best.

Insufferable narrator

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