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A Poisoned Season

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A Poisoned Season

By: Tasha Alexander
Narrated by: Justine Eyre
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London's social season is in full swing, and Victorian aristocracy can't stop whispering about a certain gentleman who claims to be the direct descendant of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. But he's not the only topic of wagging tongues. Drawing rooms, boudoirs, and ballrooms are abuzz with the latest news of an audacious cat burglar who has been systematically stealing valuable items that once belonged to the ill-fated queen.

Light gossip turns serious when the owner of one of the pilfered treasures is found murdered, and the mysterious thief develops a twisted obsession with Lady Emily Ashton. It will take all of Emily's wit and perseverance to unmask her stalker and ferret out the murderer, while faced with a brewing scandal that threatens both her reputation and her romance with her late husband's best friend, the dashing Colin Hargreaves.

©2007 Anastasia Tyska (P)2012 HarperCollinsPublishers Amateur Sleuths Detective Fiction Historical International Mystery & Crime Mystery Romance Romantic Suspense Suspense Thriller & Suspense Victorian Women Sleuths Women's Fiction Thief Crime England

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Featured Article The Best Audiobooks for Mystery Lovers and Hopeless Romantics
Engaging Mystery • Complex Plotlines • Excellent Narration • Historical Elements • Romantic Subplot • Compelling Heroine
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the story is good like the previous books. but this narrator is awful! she sounds like she is constantly swooning. it's awful. I wonder if that's how she really sounds all the time.

GAH! The Narrator!

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The heroine is inquisitive but not idiotic. She’s an intellectual who doesn’t fit into society and is fun to solve the mystery with.

A fascinating mystery in Victorian England

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Lady Emily Ashton is an amazing detective. I loom foreard to reading more of her books.

A step back in time ...

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Interesting mystery with a twist on the lost dauphin. Murder, mystery, d suspense and yes love.

I love the narrator Justine Eyre and have heard her on many stories and I thought she was perfect!

Sigh

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Setting: England, Victorian era
Genre: Mystery
This is the second in the Lady Emily series of mysteries. I haven't read the first yet, though I read (listened to) Star of the East, a novella set later in the series, as my first exposure to Tasha Alexander. Forgive me if my lack of taking this series in order negatively affects this review.
Lady Emily is in London for the season, which is, as usual, abuzz with gossip and the happenings of the nobility and upper class. Lady Emily is facing a few challenges. Her childhood friend, Ivy, is having marital difficulties; her American friend, Margaret, is having a disagreement with her parents about Oxford; her family friend, Isabelle, is having issues with suitors; and Colin Hargreaves is still asking Emily to marry him. Added to all this, a series of thefts of items with a French connection in common begin among Emily's acquaintances. And then there are two murders that may or may not have been committed by the thief. Lady Emily knows these things are related, she's just not sure how, and the life of the maid accused of the murders is on the line. It is up to her, with the clues provided, to solve the mysteries.
I liked Emily and the supporting cast of characters. I almost put this on my romance shelf, as well as mystery, because of the low-key relationship development between Emily and Colin, but that is definitely in the background. The star of this show is most certainly Lady Emily and the mysteries presented. The story had me changing my mind about whodunit more than once, and it wasn't until the end that all was revealed.
This reminded me of Elizabeth Peters' Amelia Peabody mysteries, as they are also first person narratives set in the Victorian era. There were, however, enough differences in characters and style to keep me from going there after my initial observation. I did enjoy the writing. It was so refreshing not to have to edit grammar in my head as I went along, so I was able to stay in the story. I assume the bulk of Lady Emily's character was developed in the first book in the series, but not having experienced it didn't detract from this story. In fact, unless you just have to have things in order because that's how you roll, this book could stand alone. Yes, there were some things, like some of Emily's relationships, it would have been nice to see before this book, but only because the interaction would seem more organic. But I could guess at these comfortably.
I have this in both ebook and audio mediums, which provided some amusement for me. There was a character whose name the narrator pronounced "lettuce". I thought, really? someone would give her daughter that odd a name? Then, when I went to the ebook for a bit, I saw a character named Lettice. Ohhh. THAT'S Lettuce! I would have put the accent on the second syllable... Normally, I love Justine Eyre's narration, but Lettuce? :-)

Pleasant

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Lady Emily, brainy Greek-reading Victorian, solves a mystery. Who is sending her flowers and Greek quotes? Who killed Mr. Francis? Is Mr. Berry really the progeny of Marie-Antoinette? Is Ivy’s husband having an affair? Which servant is spying on her? All of this and even more!

Brainy Victorian Solves a Mystery

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Enjoyed every moment of this book. So happy to have found the series. I'm starting to get very attached to the main characters; Emily is written so well. Thank you Tasha Alexander... you are very talented!

Justine Eyre was phenomenal!!

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The story kept me interested, but not as much as her later ones. I started listening at a later books in this series so while the reader for this one was good, she was different than the one I was used to and made it a little harder to “see” the characters. I was quite happy to learn about the couple’s beginning relationship.

Not my favorite, but still good.

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Justine Eyre provides incredible voice, as always to an intriguing mystery. Though this is not my favorite book in the genre, it was enjoyable and markedly better than the first book in the series.

Decent Story, Excellent Narration

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Why change a good thing? Narrator sounds extremely pompous, and has an annoying habit of dropping her voice at the end of sentences. Once you get used to a narrator, it's so hard to change your opinion about what the main character sounds like, and it's so frustrating when they transform into an entirely different person, just based on the voice.

Kate Reading was better

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