Judith A. Weller

Too Many of the Old characters were gone.

Revisado: 07-08-18

I am sorry without Vespasia and Narroway this was not good book for me. I know Perry is trying to move the story on into the 20th century, but that was not to my taste.

I preferred the Pitts in the 19th Century and think that she should have kept her books there. Also I found that the books dragged in many places. We spent too much time over Daniel's thinking and that bored me

For the Pitts I would be happier re-reading the older books with all the familiar characters This book simply did not appeal to me. Too many of my favorite characters have either died or were never active in the plot. Even Pitt, himself and Charlotte were barely present.

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Michael Page saves this book.

Revisado: 01-31-18

I am very fond of mysteries set in the Victorian era or Post WW I. However, one of the fhings I do NOT like is a love interest in a book. I think the presences of Magdalena ruined this book. I do not like her and I find her appearance jarring. The only series I like which has a love interest in it is the C.S. Harris, Sebastian St. Cyr mysteries. Hero was so well integrated into the stories and her presence did not seem out of place. Magdalena for me is out of place and ruins the story.

The mystery itself is quite good, but the author strains to make Magdalena have too big a role in the story. Whole chapters are devoted to Magdalena and her maid - I found myself fast forwarding past those chapters as they added nothing to the story. Because of this I am hesitant to buy the next book in the series.

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Disappointing Second Book

Revisado: 06-18-17

I was very disappointed in this book. I had high hopes for the series after reading the first book. In a sense this book takes up the tale where the last book ended. While in the first book they solved the mystery of the murder of a young student at Oxford, in this book we are involved with his sister on the eve of taking her final vows at a nearby by convent.

However there is not much mystery here. The story is mostly about finding a way to get the heroine, the Novice of the title, out of the convent. There are long periods of following her escape and the efforts of her relative to track her down with dogs. Much of the book is taken up with the escape and flight. I found that rather boring and uninteresting. Some of you may have a different view. But it did not suit me. However, it was well written and you certainly had a feel for what the Novice was experiencing.

I hope that future books in the series will return to the murder/mystery theme of the first volume.

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Great Start of New Series

Revisado: 06-18-17

I like the setting and time period a lot. - 14th century Medieval England just after the Plague has ended. The author knows the period and bring it alive for the readers. The narrator is good at the different voices which makes it great listening entertainment.

The Mystery was well done and ties in nicely with the way books were created in this period. You will learn a lot about how books were created and illustrated by hand. The main character is a very liable person which adds to the enjoyment of the book.

For readers who like historical mysteries, be sure to read this book it is a winner.

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Not as good as Ian Rutledge Series

Revisado: 04-13-17

I liked the Ian Rutledge series so much I thought I would give this a try.

The mystery is pretty good -- but I simply did not like Bess Crawford. She seemed too aggressive for a woman in WWI. She came across to me as a women of the late 20th Century not someone who lived at the dawn of that century. I don't think that the character acted like someone living during WWI. She seemed too forceful and aggressive for the time period.

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Not as Good as others in the Series

Revisado: 04-05-16

This book was not as good as previous books in the series. In fact I lost interest in it early on. The previous books in the series were basically set in London with trips to the country side when necessary. This book was placed entire in the countryside and thus missing are all the interactions with Bow Street, Hendon, Jarvis and other figures that we are used to seeing in London -- Kat, Aunt Henrietta, Lovejoy, Gibson etc. Even Tom is relegated to a very minor role.

The setting in a country village of Ayleswick-on-Teme in Shropshire made the story generally less appealing. There are far too many characters to keep track of, a multitude of murders,smugglers etc. But we never really get to know the characters - they pass in and out of scenes and we never miss them as they are all unmemorable.

There are 5+ murders to solve - some of which are 25 years old and are intertwined with the current murders. I found myself losing track of who is related to whom. However most of the characters are not memorable. Although Hero is there, she is relegated to minor role -- not the brash independent Hero of London.

Of course what brought Sebastian to this hamlet was to deliver for Jamie Knox a mechanical nightingale he had gotten for his grandmother. He meets Jamie Sister but these characters seems trivial in the whole book.
He gets to know know Jamie's Jamie's twin brother, Jude Lowe but like all previous books the quest for his real father must continue in the next book.

I hope the author returns the settings to London which makes the book more fun and intriguing.

Davina Porter as usual does a superb job in narrating and really saves this book from becoming totally boring.

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Another Brilliant Sebastian St Cyr Mystery

Revisado: 12-05-15

Where does Why Mermaids Sing rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

It ranks near the top as I have been following the series since if first appeared. I like the period and this is a good mystery series in which the writer also has a writer who knows the period very well

Who was your favorite character and why?

My favorite charter and most interesting one is Hero Jarvis whose father wishes she were a boy and really does not understand all the things she get involved in. In this story she is involved in finding out who murdered the girls in by burning down a half-way house for prostitutes.

Which character – as performed by Davina Porter – was your favorite?

Davina Porter is such a brilliant narrator that she makes every character come alive by giving them a unique tone and quality of speech. Her narration is the unsung hero of this book. I always look for a book where she is the narrator as she is one of the best in business. She is able to give a unique voice to characters whether male, female, or children and imbues here characters with the distinguishing quality of the social class they belong to.

Any additional comments?

Any lover of historical mysteries will want this book. And I noticed that there is only one more book to add, to have all the series available on Audible .

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Not Really A Mystery

Revisado: 12-05-15

This is basically a book about the early attempts at blood transfusion. It centers around a chemists who is attempting to save a wealthy patient who has white cell disease (I presume it was Leukemia). The doctor is using the blood of children whom he purchased from their parents.

Hester is filling in for a sick friend doing night duty at the hospital. She finds the children, being used to draw blood, who are near death due to dehydration. She save them by giving them water and beef tea. When she goes looking for the doctor who has caused this, she is kidnapped and taken with the children to a lonely farm

At the farm she not only nurses the patient but also makes sure that the children kidnapped with her are kept alive and well fed. Monk and other go looking for her and release her from her imprisonment along with the children. They explore the farm and find graves of children and adults in the orchard.
The daughter of the patient is there helping with the cleaning and cooking.

There is a trial of the doctor for kidnapping which they lose when the sick patient walks in announcing that he is cured. Trial end in chaos and doctor is hailed as a miracle worker. The the daughter is found murdered, the doctor is accused and found guilty of the murder and hung. The sick patient has a relapse and goes to the hospital for treatment and dies. I will let you enjoy finding out how he dies.

Basically this is one of the least interesting books Anne Perry has ever written. It is not really a mystery - the only thing approaching a mystery is the murder of a daughter and that is barely mentioned. The emphasis is more about the efforts to develop blood transfusion and what little mystery there is, has been pasted on top of medical story.

It was not my cup of tea. I have always enjoyed Monk less than Pitt and more or less skimmed thru the books. There was no murder, nothing to solve - hardly what I would call a mystery.

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This Series took a Big Nosedive

Revisado: 08-21-15

I loved the first book in the series, so I got the second book. Boy was I disappointed. The series took a dive to the bottom. Except for a different historical period, the events are pretty similar. This book made no effort at all to capture the real history of Jack the Ripper - but instead used the famous Crimes as a tie in to Mr. Bad whom we met in the first book. Now Mr. Bad gets into St. Mary's and tries to destroy it from within. Although supposedly about Jack the Ripper, other than using his name there was no real investigation into Jack the Ripper. It was all about dealing with Mr. Bad.

All of sudden I recognized an author who has a template for a book, and other than changing the locations or event is basically going to have the same story just a different setting. I did NOT like this book and while the first book in the series is really excellent, it appears to be all downhill from there. I will not get another book in this series.

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Great Start for a Series

Revisado: 08-21-15

This is more than your ordinary time travel book. This series is sending scholars back to find out the truth about certain facts or events in a given period. In this book we meet Max who will be the star of the series. We also learn about the origins of St. Mary's and meet the man Max will fall in love with. There is plenty excitement and we meet Mr. Bad who is trying to kill all the St. Mary's crew and ruin the school. I really enjoyed the series especially its attachment to historical periods and events. It was the history that made the series for me.

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