The Highgate Cemetery Murder

A Tate and Bell Mystery, Book 1

By: Irina Shapiro

Narrated by: Imogen Church

Length: 12 hrs and 42 mins

Publisher's summary

His heart pounding, the man scribbles the words in his notebook as fast as he can: “Woman dead in Highgate. Man in caped coat. Milky way and red streaks. I’m being followed.”

Hours later, the man’s cold body lies in the city mortuary, alongside the woman he couldn’t save. And his sister, unconventional nurse Gemma Tate, tracks down troubled police inspector Sebastian Bell to unravel the truth.

Sebastian has enough pressure to solve the murder of an aristocratic heiress without Gemma meddling in his case. But the cryptic sentences she brings him from her brother’s notebook could be a crucial lead. If only they knew what “milky way” meant. But as the trail of clues takes them away from the gilded drawing rooms of the nobility and into the dangerous slums of London, how far will their partnership be tested on the quest for justice, and will they both emerge unscathed?

©2024 Irina Shapiro (P)2024 Storm Publishing

Great Story!

Loved the mystery and the characters. Imogen Church is by far my favorite narrator. Can’t wait for the next installment!

Not for the squeamish

Magnificent storytelling! This is a real page-turner. I could hardly step away from it and couldn’t wait to get back to it. Every time I thought I guessed where it was going, it took another turn. Be warned, though, that it’s gruesome. The descriptions of horrible death are graphic.

I like this narrator, but she tends to be very overly dramatic. Too many conversations are depicted as extremely angry, which is a little wearing.

Great start to a new series!

I love everything Irina Shapiro has written! She comes up with amazingly twisted stories! I’m happy for a new series but hope to see more of Redmond and Haze and Nicole Rayburn.

Excellent story!

Another great story with excellent character development, and I really enjoyed the reference to Constable Ransom from the Haze and Redmond mystery series.

The story was well written; the narration left a bit to be desired.

The story was well written and the characters engaging.
The narration, though, was bit difficult to follow at times as the narrator would go from really loud to so soft that I could barely hear her. This happened all in the same sentence, multiple times throughout the reading. It took me a while to get used to the up and down inflection.
Otherwise, the story was really engaging and I found difficult to stop listening when my attention was needed elsewhere.

Good story

At times the narrator's voice drops so low you can hear. Frustrating when trying to follow a conversation.

Wonderful Diversion

This novel is well-written. I look forward to more by this author.

I was taken away by the narration. I could imagine myself at the scenes.

Yes, yes there is a sub-plot of boy meets girl. That adds some sweetness to the story.

Summer reading

A slight bit creepy but a relevant topic still today. Listened while I walked every morning. Crazy how art imitates life even today. Thank you. Performances were great and kept my attention.

WOW! This is a great start to a wonderful series.

It starts a bit slow but boy does it pick up speed. The narration is superb and makes the story flow even better. I can’t wait for the next one. THANKS IRINA SHAPIRO!

A tale of bullying and jealousy

Irina Shapiro is one of my favorite authors. Her stories are intense and do not hold back difficult details. This story may have seemed too gory and graphic to some however I have no doubt that the events in this story certainly occurred during the time period of the 1800s. I do hope she writes a sequel as Gemma is a strong female character. Imogene Church is a fantastic narrator.