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At the end of her first unsuccessful season out in society, Lady Georgiana has all but given up on attracting a suitable man - until she receives an invitation to a masked Halloween ball at Broxley Manor. Georgie is uncertain why she was invited, until she learns that the royal family intends to marry her off to a foreign prince, one reputed to be mad.
In September 1926, the Honorable Daisy Dalrymple Fletcher visits Sybil Sutherby, a school friend now living in Derbyshire as the confidential secretary to a novelist. Suspecting that something is seriously amiss, Sybil has asked Daisy to discretely investigate. Upon arrival, Daisy finds a household of relatives and would-be suitors living off the hospitality of Humphrey Birtwhistle, who had been supporting them through his thrice-yearly, pseudonymous Westerns. When he took ill, though, Sybil took over writing them while he recovered, only to see the sales increase. Now, she fears that someone in the household is poisoning Birtwhistle to keep him ill and Sybil writing the better-paying versions.
In the Spring of 1926, the corpses of three men are found in shallow graves off the beaten path in Epping Forest outside of London - each shot through the heart and bearing no identification. DCI Alec Fletcher of Scotland Yard, the lead detective, is immediately given two urgent orders by his supervisor at the Yard: solve the murders quickly and keep his wife, the Honorable Daisy Dalrymple Fletcher, away from the case! Thankfully, Daisy's off visiting their daughter at school. But when a teacher is found dead, Daisy is once again in the thick of it.
Gerald Hennessey - silver-screen star and much-loved heartthrob - never quite makes it to Temple Regis, the quaint Devonshire seaside town on the English Riviera. Murdered on the 4.30 from Paddington, the loss of this great man throws Temple Regis' community into disarray. Not least Miss Judy Dimont, corkscrew-haired reporter for the local rag, The Riviera Express. Investigating Gerald's death, she's quickly called to the scene of a second murder.
It's Christmas 1909, and for once Lady Hardcastle - respectable gentlewoman, amateur spy - and her lady's maid, Florence Armstrong, are setting sleuthing aside. They are invited to the festivities up at The Grange, as guests of Sir Hector and Lady Farley-Stroud. But barely have corks been popped and parlour games played when a mysterious crime comes to light.
In March of 1926, Daisy Dalrymple Fletcher and her friend and collaborator, Lady Lucy Gerald, head off for several days to a stately home reputed to have the best grotto in the country. Working on a book of architectural follies, they plan to research and photograph it. Leaving her husband and young twins behind, Daisy is expecting a productive weekend at Appsworth Hall, with the only potential difficulty being keeping Lucy from offending the current owner, a manufacturer of plumbing products. Alas, it's not to be quite so simple.
At the end of her first unsuccessful season out in society, Lady Georgiana has all but given up on attracting a suitable man - until she receives an invitation to a masked Halloween ball at Broxley Manor. Georgie is uncertain why she was invited, until she learns that the royal family intends to marry her off to a foreign prince, one reputed to be mad.
In September 1926, the Honorable Daisy Dalrymple Fletcher visits Sybil Sutherby, a school friend now living in Derbyshire as the confidential secretary to a novelist. Suspecting that something is seriously amiss, Sybil has asked Daisy to discretely investigate. Upon arrival, Daisy finds a household of relatives and would-be suitors living off the hospitality of Humphrey Birtwhistle, who had been supporting them through his thrice-yearly, pseudonymous Westerns. When he took ill, though, Sybil took over writing them while he recovered, only to see the sales increase. Now, she fears that someone in the household is poisoning Birtwhistle to keep him ill and Sybil writing the better-paying versions.
In the Spring of 1926, the corpses of three men are found in shallow graves off the beaten path in Epping Forest outside of London - each shot through the heart and bearing no identification. DCI Alec Fletcher of Scotland Yard, the lead detective, is immediately given two urgent orders by his supervisor at the Yard: solve the murders quickly and keep his wife, the Honorable Daisy Dalrymple Fletcher, away from the case! Thankfully, Daisy's off visiting their daughter at school. But when a teacher is found dead, Daisy is once again in the thick of it.
Gerald Hennessey - silver-screen star and much-loved heartthrob - never quite makes it to Temple Regis, the quaint Devonshire seaside town on the English Riviera. Murdered on the 4.30 from Paddington, the loss of this great man throws Temple Regis' community into disarray. Not least Miss Judy Dimont, corkscrew-haired reporter for the local rag, The Riviera Express. Investigating Gerald's death, she's quickly called to the scene of a second murder.
It's Christmas 1909, and for once Lady Hardcastle - respectable gentlewoman, amateur spy - and her lady's maid, Florence Armstrong, are setting sleuthing aside. They are invited to the festivities up at The Grange, as guests of Sir Hector and Lady Farley-Stroud. But barely have corks been popped and parlour games played when a mysterious crime comes to light.
In March of 1926, Daisy Dalrymple Fletcher and her friend and collaborator, Lady Lucy Gerald, head off for several days to a stately home reputed to have the best grotto in the country. Working on a book of architectural follies, they plan to research and photograph it. Leaving her husband and young twins behind, Daisy is expecting a productive weekend at Appsworth Hall, with the only potential difficulty being keeping Lucy from offending the current owner, a manufacturer of plumbing products. Alas, it's not to be quite so simple.
Evan Evans is a young police constable who has traded in the violence of city life for idyllic Llanfair, a Welsh village tucked far away from trouble. Nestled among the Snowdonia mountain range, Llanfair looks to Constable Evans like a town forgotten by time, but he quickly learns that even the bucolic countryside has its share of eccentric - and deadly - characters.
Take one quiet Yorkshire Village, add a measure of mystery, a sprinkling of scandal and Kate Shackleton - amateur sleuth extraordinaire! Bridgestead is a quiet village: a babbling brook, rolling hills and a working mill at its heart. Pretty and remote, nothing exceptional happens...except for the day when Joshua Braithwaite goes missing in dramatic circumstances, never to be heard of again.
In the late 1920s in England, the Honorable Daisy Dalrymple Fletcher is recruited to help her cousin Edgar - i.e. the Lord Dalrymple. About to turn 50, Lord Dalrymple decides it is time to find out who would be the heir to the viscountcy. With the help of the family lawyer, who advertises Empire-wide, they have come up with four potential claimants. For his fiftieth birthday, Edgar invites those would-be heirs - with Daisy and the rest of the family - to Fairacres, the family estate.
In September 1925, Scotland Yard DCI Alec Fletcher inherits a large house on the outskirts of London from a recently deceased great-uncle. Fortunately so, as he and his wife, the Honorable Daisy Dalrymple Fletcher, are the recent proud parents of twins, and their house is practically bursting at the seams. Though in need of a bit of work, this new, larger house seems a godsend - set in a small circle of houses, with Hampstead Heath nearby, the setting is idyllic. Idyllic, that is until a dead body shows up half-hidden under the bushes of the communal garden.
Molly Murphy always knew she'd end up in trouble, just as her mother predicted. So, when she commits murder in self-defense, she flees her cherished Ireland, and her identity, for the anonymous shores of America. When she arrives in New York and sees the welcoming promise of freedom in the Statue of Liberty, Molly begins to breathe easier. But when a man is murdered on Ellis Island, a man Molly was seen arguing with, she becomes a prime suspect in the crime.
Lady Emily Hardcastle is an eccentric widow with a secret past. Florence Armstrong, her maid and confidante, is an expert in martial arts. The year is 1908 and they've just moved from London to the country, hoping for a quiet life. But it is not long before Lady Hardcastle is forced out of her self-imposed retirement. There's a dead body in the woods, and the police are on the wrong scent. Lady Hardcastle makes some enquiries of her own, and it seems she knows a surprising amount about crime investigation...
Audie Award Finalist, Mystery, 2014
As 35th in line for the throne, Lady Georgiana Rannoch may not be the most sophisticated young woman, but she knows her table manners. It's forks on the left, knives on the right - not in His Majesty's back….
"Here I am thinking the education I received at my posh Swiss finishing school would never come in handy. And while it hasn't landed me a job, or a husband, it has convinced Her Majesty the Queen and the Dowager Duchess to enlist my help. I have been entrusted with grooming Jack Altringham - the Duke's newly discovered heir fresh from the Outback of Australia - for high society. The upside is I am to live in luxury at one of England's most gorgeous stately homes. But upon arrival at Kingsdowne Place, my dearest Darcy has been sent to fetch Jack, leaving me stuck in a manor full of miscreants…none of whom are too pleased with the discovery of my new ward. And no sooner has the lad been retrieved than the Duke announces he wants to choose his own heir. With the house in a hubbub over the news, Jack's hunting knife somehow finds its way into the Duke's back. Eyes fall, backs turn, and fingers point to the young heir. As if the rascal wasn't enough of a handful, now he's suspected of murder. Jack may be wild, but I'd bet the crown jewels it wasn't he who killed the Duke…."
It was ok but just dragged. It wasn't the worst in the world but not something I would want to listen to again.
What did you like best about Heirs and Graces? What did you like least?
I hated the ending, pretty disgraceful to be honest.
If you’ve listened to books by Rhys Bowen before, how does this one compare?
Not as good as earlier ones.
How did the narrator detract from the book?
I am getting more than a little tired of the over hysterical narration. It has been getting steadily worse over the series.
If this book were a film would you go see it?
No.
Any additional comments?
I am wondering if Rhys is finding her character a little jaded, perhaps a rest might not be a bad idea.
2 of 4 people found this review helpful
I've really enjoyed this series. This installment wasn't my favorite, but it was nice. There was a nice twist at the end.. but, it felt like there was a long build up, but the ending was rather abrupt.
I was also cooling a bit on the romance between Georgie and Darcy. Darcy was around more, but I didn't feel the spark between them as much as I had in other books.
This series has been one of my favorites. I look forward to each installment.. but this one, seemed just a bit off the mark to me. Yes, I enjoyed it! It was just not quite as good as some of the other installments.
The narrator does a great job.
Yes, I'd recommend it, just read the installments in order.
16 of 17 people found this review helpful
This isn't the series to go to if you want to expand your mind. But, if you'd like a well-crafted light (and I do mean light) mystery with an easy-to-listen-to narrator, this is the one. Start at the beginning and just go through them. Once in a while this kind of book is a nice break. Be warned. It's a cupcake, not a meal.
By the way ... this is a series you can share with your mom, grandma and great aunt. It's all just good, clean fun.
The narrator, Katherine Kellgren, really needs a shout out. Her work is terrific. She makes Georgie come to life.
27 of 31 people found this review helpful
Can we talk about what a wonderful narrator Katherine Kellgren is? She just never drops the ball. Ever. Each recurring character is precisely the same as they have been in each previous book.
I love this series. It's pure historical fun. Heirs and Graces has a neat twist ending (with Georgie ending up rescued by someone other than Darcy, hooray!), and delightful caricatures of British nobility.
13 of 15 people found this review helpful
This is a good story almost ruined by narration. Katherine Kellgren used to be a good narrator, but in recent years she has gone over the top dramatically trying to act out the events in the books she reads and giving the characters exaggerated accents. In Nora Robert's Dark Witch and Rick Riordan's Kane Chronicles she actually ends up shouting most of the lines! Some of those dramatics show up in this book, too. She does a much better job on the early books in this series.
6 of 7 people found this review helpful
Georgie discovers another body. With all the practice she's had, it is no wonder that she is getting better at examining the crime scene. The description of the house and estate rival the interactions of Georgie and the other characters.
Katherine Kellgren is a splendid narrator who brings each character to life and makes it so enjoyable to listen to the story.
I am waiting with great interest to follow Georgie's next adventure.
9 of 11 people found this review helpful
What did you love best about Heirs and Graces?
Rhy Bowen does and amazing job of spinning a mystery around a Royal Family. With all the characters in the story, you can not pinpoint who did the deed. Great Ending to the story!!
What did you like best about this story?
The story was great, the voices that Katherine Kellgren added put the book over the top.
What does Katherine Kellgren bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?
She brought believable accents and dialects that would have been lacking had you just read the written word.
9 of 11 people found this review helpful
I listen to several different genres and Rhys Bowen's books rank up there with my favorites. Rhys makes her characters come to life for her readers and they have very distinct personalities. I love the chemistry between Georgie and Darcy! Queenie is such a disaster it's hilarious! Georgie's Granddad is a loveable character and one of my favorites. He always pulls through for Georgie! I love the suspense, mystery, romance, and comedy that Rhys incorporates into her books. I can't wait for the next one.
9 of 11 people found this review helpful
I have loved every single book in this series about Lady Georgiana Rannoch, an impoverished distant cousin of the queen, whose life is a constant search for finding a secure place somewhere. Her peculiar circumstances, of being a "royal" but without any money or training for a career, has left her open to having to go to new places, where she meets people and gets herself into situations where intrigue and murders occur. Naturally, she is the clever one who winds up solving the mysteries.
This was the absolute best in the series so far--and the wait was worth it! Katherine Kellgren, the most talented narrator, has outdone herself with the amazing versatility she shows for creating different voices. I have never "read" one of the books in this series (always listened to these recordings of them) but cannot imagine doing so, after listening to Kellgren's delightful readings of them. There are just not enough superlatives available to describe the range of her vocal skills. The stories are loads of fun--they are genuine mysteries, but with a subtle (and sometimes not so subtle) mockery of the aristocracy, laugh-out-loud funny much of the time, and genuinely quite addictive! I recall that the first of the series I ever read, I chose with some skepticism, since that does not sound like the typical books I read--but by the end of the first chapter of the first book, I was a confirmed follower of Rhys Bowen's Lady Georgiana series. The author, the narrator and the uncommonly clever writing work together in a way that many recorded books do not.
In this book, Georgiana goes to a lush mansion with Lady Edwina, a wealthy duchess with great pretensions, to help her teach a long-missing grandson how to behave properly in his new place in society. However, when the young Australian outback, sheep-farming youth meets his royal and very pompous, grandiose grandmother--the outrageous fun begins--along with the murder.
If you choose to listen to this book--it would be wise (and fun) for you to begin at the beginning of the series. However, it would be fine to begin with this one--I believe it could be a great stand-alone book on its own.
12 of 16 people found this review helpful
Very little happens, and what does happen is accidental rather than arising from the innate motives of a character. Therefore as the plot unfolds there is no character development and thus not much interest. Sadly, Darcy is relegated to an incidental character not much involved in plot development. This is the least interesting of the series.
8 of 11 people found this review helpful
This book was hilarious it made me laugh out loud while driving down the road other drivers must have thought I was crazy!
Georgiana is staying at Kingsdowne Place to help out the family when they find a new heir for the Dukedom unfortunately for this upper crust family the heir apparent is an Aussie who has been raised as a rancher not as a Duke, plus the current Duke Cedric is a jerk who would rather have everyone gone and adopt one of his male playthings than put up with an interloper or anyone else in the family. Unfortunately for the Duke things don’t go well for him at all.
The mystery was a good one I didn’t guess who had done it. And the cast of characters and I do mean characters are all fabulous; you have Princess Charlotte who constantly wants to have a séance, her sister Vivienne who is a highly sexual being and turns everything into innuendo, The Dowager Duchess who is as upper crust as they come, her daughter Irenee who just whines a lot and her two incorrigible children. Plus we have, as Georgiana called them, the Starlings who are Cedric’s companions and possibly his lovers. And of course we have Georgiana’s boyfriend Darcy and her best friend Belinda shows up hoping to catch the new duke in her snares.
Katherine Kellgren’s narration was as always Amazing. I kind of feel sorry for anyone else in an Audie category that is up against Katherine Kellgren because she is so amazing. There are so many characters in this book with very different accents and each and every person sounds different and is distinct. Some of the accents in this book were; high brow English, Australian, cockney, Irish, male and female, kids and grown-ups all done absolutely flawlessly. No other book in the mystery category had this many accents and characters done so well.
This was a fun book and a cute story; I’ve only read the first book in this series and wasn’t confused at all so this one could easily be read as a standalone. This is a very fun historical cozy I highly recommend this series.
4 ½ Stars
3 of 4 people found this review helpful