Irritating narrator

The plot and characters are actually okay, and this is the second of these books I’ve read – allbeit both freebies. However, some of the writing is repetitive and some words are constantly repeated. Possibly the most irritating thing is the narrator. He speaks too slowly, he puts the emphasis on the wrong words, he goes up at the end of sentences, and he just mispronounces some words. I won’t bother listening to anymore in this series as he’s so irritating – he seems worse in this book than the first one.

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Too much swooning and sighing.

I thought "Murder at Half Moon Gate" was a Regency murder mystery - which it is, and quite a good one. Unfortunately for me, it's also a romance, which I hadn't realised before starting the book. The story is quite enjoyable, and the characters are well written - especially Raven and Hawk are funny and adorable. But I really could have done without all the swooning, sighing, and endless descriptions of Wrexford's (apparently irresistible) features.

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Likeable Characters

The story was unfolding quite nicely, but I couldn’t get along with it. I found the casual & so, so oft repeated references to satan jarring. I found this to be true of the first book too, but I persevered. I thought this a little better in that there wasn’t just so much repetition, other than the terms “blunt” & “famished” which occur too many times. I stopped not long after the line “praise satan” was uttered. I don’t praise him, nor want to spend time with characters who do.

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Reads like a Mills & Boon novel

Gosh, this is cringe and corny. Please don't expect anything like a rich vocabulary or fiendish plots. Yes, dear author, you my think, we know that blunt means money, get over it.

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Another fascinating story!!!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book -
Even so it is a story finished in itself -
Book II continues to connect the people from book I

Beautifully presented!

A joy to listen to and the plot was thrilling!

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Interesting story but…

The narrator’s delivery was painful. All characters had same phrasing even if with different voice.
Very irritating by the end.

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good, but...

As the second in the series, I really enjoyed the story and the developing characters. However, after a couple of chapters things didn't sound quite right so I googled the author's name and found she's American. Which is fine in itself of course, but I think books set in England really do need an English editor, otherwise there are too many jarring notes, which are a shame when on the whole you can get fully immersed in the story. Other little things were more apparent in this second book - overuse of some words including "snick" and "chuff/chough" spring to mind. However, it's still a million miles better than anything I could write, and really was a pretty enjoyable listen.

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Unnecessarily Dark

This title was admirably read by James Cameron Stewart as usual.

This Regency Mystery genre is new to me and I admire the mix of all of the classes of Regency Society, right down to the Street Urchins! Thomas Raven Sloane is a star! The unfolding relationship between Wrexford & Sloane is an understandably slow burn, but I hope that it will resolve itself within the course of the next tale.

I enjoy the story lines and I’ve begun to notice the pat endings.

However, I wonder about the Author’s over abundance of similes and metaphors of satan, the devil, hell, etc. I find it disturbing and unnecessarily ubiquitous. The “character” of London is already painted dark, dreary, dirty and dangerous. There’s little sunlight, more drizzle, mud and fog, therefore the added satanic sentences are, to my enjoyment, irksome.

I shall read the next one (Murder at Kensington Palace) in the hope that it is a less, ubiquitously dark satanic theme. If it isn’t, then that’s me - done.

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Possibly a good tale?

Might be a reasonably good mystery, but I can’t stand another minute…. The narrator is sadly the worst I have ever heard- it was like listening to an American am-dram production of My Fair Lady- absolutely cringe making. Sorry but it’s awful and there are just too many fabulous books with wonderful performances out there to waste more time on this.

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Could do better

So repetitive. So badly written. A good idea, but ruined by the way it’s read and the constant ‘prickling at the nape’, perching of hips (is Wrexford a parrot? Well, he has a limited vocabulary), pulsing, beating and fluttering. I thought the second book might be better- but it’s worse. This is an author I won’t return to.

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