The Scottish Ladies' Detective Agency

By: Lydia Travers

Narrated by: Helen McAlpine

Length: 9 hrs and 37 mins

Publisher's summary

When Maud McIntyre sets up her own private detective agency, she never imagines her first case will involve murder.... A mystery in the Highlands? The Scottish Ladies’ Detective Agency is on the case!

Edinburgh, 1911: When Maud McIntyre and her lady’s maid, Daisy, form a detective agency, they never dream their first case will take place at a glamorous house in the Scottish Highlands. But when the duchess of Duddingston, concerned that a notorious jewelry thief will target her lavish weekend party, employs Maud to go undercover as a guest to find the culprit, the agency has its first case to solve....

Undercover with Daisy as her maid, Maud follows a trail of clues across the Duddingston House estate. And as she meets the weekend guests, she hopes one of them will reveal themselves as the jewelry thief. But when one of the house guests is discovered dead, Maud and Daisy realize they’re not only hunting precious gems, but a murderer....

As Maud and Daisy investigate, they realize that a connection in Edinburgh might hold a vital clue that will help them solve the case. Travelling back to the city, Maud hopes that what she and Daisy uncover will help them piece together the murder mystery at Duddingston House....

But when Maud receives a telephone call from the Duchess requesting urgent assistance, she realizes that the murderer didn’t have just one victim in mind. Speeding down the drive to Duddingston House, Maud and Daisy hear gunshots ring out across the estate. Will they reach the Duchess in time to save her? And will they catch the murderer in the act?

A warm historical whodunnit, perfect for fans of the mysteries of Helena Dixon, Verity Bright, T.E. Kinsey, and Catherine Coles.

©2023 Lydia Travers (P)2023 Bookouture, an imprint of Storyfire Ltd.

Solid beginning, will definitely consider more!

I see why the comparison was made to the Lady Hardcastle mysteries. This series lacks some of their charm, but it is definitely setting up to have its own charms. Good pacing, good character building, solid reader. Concur with some other comments about finding it awkward to hear the reader act out the laugh before the laugh dialogue tag, but this wasn’t distracting enough to harm my enjoyment. When this is the only negative note I can think to give, that says the rest was better than a lot I have heard from bigger name series and productions in recent months.

Good

Decent mystery and excellent narration. My only complaint is that I prefer narrators not act out the laughing. It’s redundant with the tag, “She laughed.” And it also sounds unnatural, like it’s just been fit in.

Wonderful

A well written and performed book. Characters would be fun to follow in more books

Cute mystery

I had some trouble understanding with the (very appropriate) accent. Had to slow the speed just a bit to help. The plot was good, characters fun to get to know. History seemed appropriate.

Very Entrrtaining

Only one criticism; otherwise, exceptionally good. To the author: Please look up the correct grammatical use of both ‘further’ and ‘farther’. In a grammar book.

Good but

I didn’t like the narrator. Decent characters but I just could not connect with them enough to care what happens next.

Loved it!

I can’t wait to listen to more stories in this series. It is very engaging.

Fun, fast paced, well narrated

This is a great start to a new series. The main characters are very likable, plucky as well as funny. The plot may have been a little easy to work out but I read many “who-dunnits”. I will definitely purchase the next installment in the series.

Sheer fun

Love having a set of new heroines to follow and hopefully see more of on Audible!

Decent story, Meh narration

I like historical mysteries, and the plot and characters were good. The narrator's brogue was obviously fake, and I couldn't get used to it. I realize that accents are hard, especially in different people's voices, but this was just too annoyingly bad. Her old man voices were even worse, sounding like they had swallowed gravel and were at death's door. Her laugh sounded like someone laughing at a bad joke, heh-heh. I probably won't continue the series since I get so distracted by the narration.