Heirs and Graces

By: Rhys Bowen

Narrated by: Katherine Kellgren

Length: 8 hrs and 22 mins

Publisher's summary

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…."

©2013 Janet Quin-Harkin (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

another wonderful episode

these stories are absolutely delightful. and the narrator's spectacular ability to move from an Australian accent to a cockney to an upper class child's makes me feel more like I'm listening to a pay than a novel. highly recommended.

So sad to see the book end

I am addicted to these cozy mysteries by Rhys Bowen and narrated by Katherine Kellgren. I don't know what I like better, the mysteries themselves or the narration. Katherine Kellgren is brilliant. Her narration sounds more like a fully dramatized script rather than a one woman narration. She makes these books come alive. The books themselves are simple mysteries. Nothing complex here. They are good books to curl up with on a rainy day to enjoy the foibles of the British aristocracy while Georgie follows the leads to wrap up a good mystery. I will admit that a good reason of why I read these is to see what will develop between Georgie and her possible beau Darcy. In this recent book, Heirs and Graces, their relationship has seemed to finally hit it's stride since they have a "understanding". I can't say that the mystery in this book was very robust but I don't really expect it to be. I liked the previous book, The Twelves Clues of Christmas, much better as a mystery than this one. However, the characters are compelling and well developed and I listened to it quickly, though I did try to savor it a bit, knowing I would be Georgie and Darcy -less for the next year while I wait for Rhys Bowen to pump out another book. For those who like light mysteries without all the dark violence and sex that so often seems to be a requirement to get books published these days, this is the series for you. This is a series I would probably let my 13 year old listen to, (with some light editing on Georgie's mother and Belinda, Georgie's best friend) and that is saying something. Thank you Rhys Bowen and Katherine Kellgren for another entertaining book. I will now go into withdrawals.

Guilty Pleasure listening to this book!

Enjoy the series, light frothy entertainment wrapped around a mystery. Self depricating 34th in line to the throne....what a heroine!!! The books are great fun. The author writes such a good story that I have now purchase all in the series and am looking into her other books. The miles just fly by when listening. The narrator has such a complete and total lock on the character creating just the right nuances to make the author's story line flow.

A masterful ‘who dunnit’!

As usual, Katherine Kellgren captures the characters masterfully with accent, inflection, dialect and detail of Rhys Bowen’s written word. From the aristocratic commanding timbre of her grace,the duchess, to the dignified calm of the butler, each character comes alive in a gripping story. On to the next in the series!

Great story and narrator

I've read most of the Royal Spyness series, and this one is one of my favorites.

A review of Heirs and Graces

What did you love best about Heirs and Graces?

Heirs and Graces was an enjoyable mystery with familiar characters. Murder follows Georgie wherever she goes and in this installment she is at a Duke's estate. The Duke was not well liked so there were plenty of suspects who wanted him dead. I did not expect the twist in the end.

What other book might you compare Heirs and Graces to and why?

This book is similar to Marion Chesney's Edwardian Murder series.

Which scene was your favorite?

I loved the scenes with the elderly aunts. They were so quirky and entertaining.

Any additional comments?

I had to get used to the narrator's voice as the different accents were difficult to understand. Some accents were very British. Don't give up, listening gets easier.

Lovely!

Like all the others before, a light lovely cozy mystery. Kellgren is an amazing narrator through the whole series

The Butler didn’t do it.

This story was like a game of clue so many characters, and each of them had a motive to kill Sedrick. As Rhys is so clever, you never guess who the murderer is.

Love it

As usual a terrific tale. Well thought out. Can’t wait to hear the next adventure.

Such a hoot!

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