LOVED IT

The only reason this isn't a 5 is because there is no such thing as perfection in this world. But I enjoyed this novel so much and immediately downloaded the second in the series. There are four titles in the series so far, PLEASE write/record more! I need more Frey and McGray in my life.

If you are a fan of Sherlock Holmes, detective fiction, 19th century gothic literature and early horror like Frankenstein, Phantom of the Opera etc you will enjoy this. I thought it handles these genres and the era very well. The melodrama, the crazy plot twists, the main character's very English toff prejudice against virtually everyone who isn't also an English toff, especially the Scottish, the red herrings, the classic locked room mystery. All of it fits together so well. It was such a treat for a fan of these genres. But it's not just a pastiche or satire, it also felt very fresh.

There are some really funny moments, especially the dialogue between Frey and McGray, but certain plot elements are pretty dark. It's hard to get into without spoiling, but yeah this is set during the period of Jack the Ripper and similar bloody crimes so let's just say the author doesn't sanatise or whitewash the era.

The narration was awesome. The Scottish accents are pretty good to my ear [Aussie who knows a lot of Scots], although I don't know if they would pass muster with actual Scottish listeners. Don't worry about the accents being hard to understand, I found the narrator perfectly intelligible and very entertaining.

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Entertaining, a Bit Different

If you want a mystery that's a bit different, a bit dark a tad gory but quite humorous in parts, then this one should fit the bill.

Inspector Ian Frey, being a touch arrogant in nature and supercilious in manner, is not the most likeable of men. To the dismay of his well to do family he had tried and disliked the study of both medicine and law finally deciding on a career as a detective. A job he is actually quite good at and, having solved one high profile case, he is more convinced than ever of his superior intellect.

Everything is going well, until, due to some political manoeuvres, he finds himself on the verge of losing his job unless he agrees to travel to Edinburgh to solve a very strange case. To his chagrin he finds himself subordinate to Detective Nine-Nails McGray. Poor Frey finds everything north of the border to be terribly offensive to his fine sensibilities - and is not afraid to say so. McGray though is having none of his fancy ways, nor are the house servants, in fact not even the dog shows any respect for him or his fine clothes.

The interactions between Frey and McGray provide the humour, yet there is a serious locked room mystery going on here, Frey takes his usual pragmatic and systematic approach to the investigation, at least, he tries to. Yet on more than one occasion he finds McGrays insistence on following a more unusual path to be both enraging and beyond belief. As past tragedies unfold and the present mysteries are revealed, the two men earn the grudging respect of the other.

Despite a bit of a shaky start when I didn't quite understand what was going on, all did become clear and the beginning fitted the end very well. Some of the characters did stretch my credibility a little, but this only added to my overall enjoyment of this entertaining story. The short violin interludes helped create a chilling atmosphere for this thoroughly enjoyable audiobook.

Narrator
Andy Secombe did a pretty good job of all those accents, the only voice I didn't much care for was that of the crazy girl from the past, I found her just a bit over the top. I loved how he captured the pomposity of some of the political characters and how he somehow managed to seamlessly change those voices from pompous to obsequious when they were in the presence of the Prime Minister. All of the characters were clearly defined, especially enjoyable was the supercilious Frey. The pace and rhythm of the reading matched the story well.

This audiobook was provided by the author, publisher or narrator in return for an honest review.

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Fantastic performance.

The performance was incredibly well done. The writing style was perfectly done. The only reason I did not give five stars was due to a plot twist that although relevant, was weakly connected to the majority of the book. Still a great yarn but I guess I like to feel like I should have a chance a deducing the plot somewhat.

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