Jacey Bedford's Journal

Audiobook narrated by Katy Sobey.

Sophie Arundel and Hugo Harrington are still stuck on an alternate 1925 but rebellion unfolding all around them. Sophie has fallen for Hugo, but he's found a potential bride who has enough money to support them both. Sophie is being courted by Freddie who has loved her since Day One.  Revolution threatens the manor, making it even more difficult to find the way home. Sophie gives in, and with Hugo already engaged, agrees to marry Freddie, but she still wants to crack the gate problem so that Hugo can go home, even though she intends to stay with Freddie. Finally Sophie thinks she's cracked it, but one of the earlier travellers has a secret, and  will do anything to prevent her and Hugo from leaving. Katy Sobey does a decent job with the narration.

Full cast with Colin Salmon as Avon, Keely Hawes as Anna Grant

Oxford University 2230 and a young Kerr Avon is horrified when his professor steals his work and claims a breakthrough in computing as his own, Set against the background of Roj Blake's Freedom Party is struggling against a corrupt regime. A short listen but nicely done.

Audiobook Narrated by Peter Kenny

There's a war raging throughout the Galaxy as the Iridians (and others) fight against the Culture. Horza, a human changer, and mercenary, works for the Iridians despite not believing in their gods or philosophy. He's tasked with finding and securing the Mind, an autonomous super AI created by the Cuilture, which has ended up on Schar's World, the planet of the dead. Balveda is a Culture agent with the same objective. They both end up on a 'free trader' ship the Clear Air Turbulence (CAT) and after a couple of disastrous raids directed by the captain Kraiklin, Horza takes over and persuades the crew, including his lover, Yalson, to go to Schar's World, where they meet hostile Idirans in the tunnels deep below the world. I was disappointed with the ending, but it's a cracking read - a fast-paced space-opera/adventure well read by Peter Kenney who does subtle accent changes and voices brilliantly.

Audiobook narrated by Matt Addis.

I've listened to most of the currently available Bradecote and Catchpoll books, so it was lovely to get hold of the first one. After a skirmish with outlaws in the Sheriff of Worcestershire's company of knights and men-at-arms, Hugh Bradecote would simply like to go home and rest, but the Sheriff's men stay the night at Pershore Abbey where the abbot asks for help to solve a murder. The Bishop of Winchester's envoy has been found dead, prostrate in front of the high altar. The sheriff appoints Hugh as deputy under-sheriff and teams him up with wily Serjeant Catchpoll, experienced thief-taker. The two men don't hit it off immediately. Hugh is a bit sniffy about working with someone of Catchpoll's lowly status, and Catchpoll doesn't wan an inexperienced nobleman getting between him and the killer. But gradually as the investigation progresses, the two man begin to develop a grudging respect for each other. Matt Addis reads this whole series brilliantly. He gets the voices just right from Bradecote's fluent English and Caatchpoll's yokel burr which hides a sharp mind.

Audiobook narrated by Joe Jameson.

Jim Hawkes retreats to Devon on the brink of a breakdown. His fiancee died two years earlier, in traumatic circumstances, and he's held it together so far, but he's had enough. He quits his well-paid banking job and flees to a cottage in Slyford St James. But instead of the peace he was seeking there are things that go bump in the night, the ghost of a murdered girl, objects that won'r stay where they should be, and s dead vicar. His new village friends, Jed and Emma hold a seance and Jim discovers a talent for seeing the spirit world, which he very much doesn't want. But it seems he must solve the mystery of the child's murder, while protecting tose around him (including the pub landlord's charming daughter. I enjoyed this supernatural mystery. Joe Jameson is always a reliable narrator and was one of the reasons I picked the in the first place.

It’s Summer 1145. Bradecote and Catchpoll, complete with Under Serjeant Walkelin are sent to solve the murder of Walter, the steward of Evesham Abbey. There are tensions between the Sheriff and the Abbot, between Bradecote and the current castellan, and between the Abbey and the castle. It turns out that the Abbey’s steward is not the good man the Abbot thought he was, but a reprehensible individual, guilty of many different crimes. A second murder implicates the castle’s serjeant, who seems to be out of control. Is there a connection? It’s a twisty story which puzzles the Sheriff’s officers until the final revelation. Bradecote and Catchpoll eventually not only solve the present murders but a historical one, too. It’s nice to hear Matt Addis reading the story after Jonathan Keeble’s reading of the previous book I listened to.

April 1144. A distinctively dressed corpse is fished out of Flatbury Mill leat on the river. It turns out that he is an Evesham horse dealer who has been stabbed and tipped into the river upstream. Investigations lead Bradecote and Catchpoll (with under-serjeant Walkelin) at first to his young wife (who has a couple of lovers) and the man’s brother, but then they discover that the dead man’s sister has married the ill-tempered lord of Harvington and has died in mysterious circumstances, without her family being invited to the funeral. Is that another murder? There’s a dispute over the ownership of a mill between the lord of Harvington and the Abbey in Evesham, and Harvington has recently hanged a scribe for theft—the same scribe who verified the mill-lease as belonging to Harvington. When a Harvington serving girl is also killed, Walkelin is falsely accused.  Bradecote and Catchpoll must mount a rescue before unravelling the knotty mystery and solving the various crimes. As usual, Matt Addis’s reading is excellent and the twisty plot engaging. Just a puzzled reader's question: why change the style of the covers? This is very bland.

Audiobook narrated by Matt Addis.

October 1143. Hugh Bradecote and Serjeant Catchpoll along with apprentice Walkeling are sent by the Lord Sheriff of Worcestershire to investigate theft of salt wagons on the road from Wich (now Droitwich) , and the murder of all the packmen. A mysterious archer leaves no one alive, his deadly aim making sure that there are no witnesses. Unfortunately Lord FitzPayne is in the wrong place at the wrong time and is also killed, his (distinctive) horse and good quality sword stolen. Bradecote, Catchpoll and Walkelin are based at FitzPayne's hall where his angry and vengeful widow, Christina, is recovering from losing the child she was carrying. The clues are scant. The mysterious archer makes his kills and melts back into the forest. There are rumours that he's a ghost. The investigation is hindered by FitzPayne's cousin who has designs on Christina and the manor, and by the reeve of Wich who is worrird about losing his place.  The is was Christina's second marriage - her first having been truly horrendous, and though she didn't love FitzPayne she liked him. Bradecote, hinself recenently widowed and left with a baby boy, is drswn to Christina and a love story develops alongside the whodunnit. Eventually, thanks to Christina, there's a breakthrough and all is resolved. Matt Addis is an excellent narratore for this series. He's unobtrusive, letting the story stand forward of the narrative, yest at the same time he voiced the characters well, especially the Worcestershire voices. I like this series a lot, though I confess to reading them out of order as they become available.

Audiobook narrated by Kate Rawson.

This is the ninth instalment of the Crow Investigations series featuring Lydia Crow who - in previous books - has gone from being a lone private detective living in a flat above a greasy-spoon cafe with a resident ghost (Jason) to ousting wicked Uncle Charlie and taking his place as head of the Crow (slightly magical) crime family in their particular 'manor' in London. The family members are somewhat perturbed that her boyfriend, Fleet, is a copper. In this book. In the previous book Lydia lost some of her Crow powers and she's struggling to keep control (of herself and the family), and Fleet is also struggling at work, since his bosses are just as sceptical of his choice of girlfriend as the family is about Lydia's choice of boyfriend. Lydia's previous home burned down in the previous book and she's now living in Uncle Charlie's very nice house, but she doesn't feel comfortable there. A series of murders lands on bith Lydia's and Fleet's doorsteps. There are links to Jack the Ripper, except the victims are male. Paul Fox Lydia's one-time boyfriend and now head of the rival Fox (magical) crime family, looms quite large in this book. There is still some residual attraction, but Lydia doesn't trust him. Murders to be solved, families to be sorted. There's a lot in this book, but I'm not sure it moves the whole series story on. Kate Rawson narrates it in her usual slightly breathy little-girl-voice, which seems to work for Lydia, but I'm glad these books are fairly short.

Audiobook narrated by Chris Devon.

Adam Catchpole is a science fiction author whose book sales are slipping. He’s in financial difficulties and spiralling into depression. His agent suggests writing in a different genre, and the popular market trends are spicy romances and Christmas stories. Though he hates Christmas, he reluctantly starts a novel. An odd incident involving a dance and drama school, sets him off reconnecting with the world and he find that as soon as he opens himself up to new experiences and new people, he starts to rebuild himself. There’s also a childhood backstory which reveals why Adam hates Christmas. His own story is that of a Christmas novel – slightly schmaltzy and feel-good. A cosy story, if you’re in the mood. Chris Devon reads it very well. I’m not sure if his accent is Manx (which is where the book is set) but it’s definitely an accent, and the book is all the better for it.

Audiobook narrated by Jenny Sterlin.

First published in 1992, this is set in the (then) near future with time travel, and doesn’t to a bad job of anticipating what a future Oxford and Oxford University would be. Oxford’s history students can go back to the past to see what life was really like in (say) Victorian England, or the 20th Century, but some centuries are considered too dangerous, and the further back you go the more slippage you can expect – from a few hours to a few years, thus not landing exactly when you expected to. Kivrin Engle, a medieval history student requests a trip back to 1320 to experience the middle-ages in the years before the Black Death. Her immediate professor (James Dunworthy) is reluctant but Kivrin (under the auspices of Prof Gilchrist) goes anyway. Unfortunately, the techie on the jump immediately falls ill with a new strain of influenza just as he discovers something is wrong with Kivrin’s jump. Instead of 1320 Kivrin ends up in 1348, the year the plague reaches Oxford. She doesn’t realise this at first, but she has the Oxford flu when she lands, is cared for at a small manor and feigns amnesia to get by, as she realised the middle English she’s learned is not nearly sufficient for every day communication. The book takes place in two timelines, Kivrin and her experiences with life and plague in the 14th century and Dunworthy and co. with a potential pandemic in the book's (near-future) present with Oxford under quarantine.  Gichrist’s interference strands Kivrin in the past. She’s been vaccinated against the plague, but unfortunately her new 14th century friends are oh-so susceptible to it. This won the Hugo and Nebula awards when first published. It might be a touch dated now as you might expect from anything near-future written over a quarter century ago, but by and large it works, except Colin the teen boy character sucks gobstoppers and gets a ‘muffler’ for Christmas. Jenny Sterlin does a decent job on the narration, though she does make the professors Dunworthy and Gilchrist sound more like they’re from the 1940s rather than the 21st century, and she insists on pronouncing Caudhuri (the techie) the way it's written. (My dentist pronounces it Chow-dray, and he should know.)

Audiobook narrated by Michael Page

This is a revisit of one of my favourite books via Audible. Set is a second-world in a city not unlike pre-industrial Venice with alchemy and one specific type of magic, the Gentlemen Bastards are thieves with a difference, and Locke Lamora, The Thorn of Camorr, is their leader. He’s got a devious mind and a talent for deception and false-facing. Unlike the other cutpurse gangs, the Gentlemen Bastards have been educated by (the late) Father Chains to be more ambitious, and to run elaborate cons. This they hide from Capa Barsavi, the city’s crime boss and their supposed overlord, but when the Grey King starts to murder Barsavi’s gang-leaders, Locke and his little gang are dropped in it up to their necks and beyond. While trying to run a con to part a wealthy Don from his money Locke gets involved in both sides of the Grey King’s plans, and the Grey King has a Bonds Mage at his beck and call, a man so powerful that he can kill with a thought. Caught between the Grey King and the city’s Spider (head of the Duke’s Midnighters) Locke and his gang are in big trouble. There are plenty of exciting twists, and Locke goes through the mill (several times). Michael Page reads this well enough, though I could have wished for a little more excitement in the voice, to match Locke’s mercurial personality.

Audiobook narrated by James Anderson Foster

Media tie-in of one of my favourite TV series, Firefly, masterminded by Joss Whedon. Captain Mal Reynolds is kidnapped from a rough bar on Persephone and spirited away to a kangaroo court of Browncoats who’ve been told he’s a traitor. The crew, Zoe, Wash, Book, Jane, Simon and River scurry about trying to find a clue as to where he’s gone, while on board Serenity, five crates of dangerously volatile mining explosives are heating up towards a big bang. James Anderson Foster narrates the story well.

Audiobook narrated by Roy McMillan

Christopher Fairfax, priest, rides across remote Exmoor in the 1400s, sent by the Bishop of Exeter, to find an isolated village with a dead priest awaiting burial… except it’s not the 1400s you might think. This is gradually revealed to be a post-apocalyptic landscape, 800 years after some unknown cataclysm. It’s regressed to pre-industrial revolution levels of living. Science is proscribed, and even researching into the past and its artifacts can get you branded (literally) a heretic. The church is law. Law is the church. What Fairfax finds in that village leads him to question truths that have always been self-evident to a young believer. Expect religion, science and the apocalypse. The writing is superb, the story gripping, and Roy McMillan (who also narrated Conclave) is a perfect narrator. He subsumes his narration to the story while still subtly delineating character voices.

Full cast recording featuring Peter Dinklage as Hercule Poirot.

There’s a serial killer on the loose and Poirot has received letters from the killer simply signed ABC. There’s a new inspector at Scotland Yard, who tries to sideline Poirot as old-fashioned, but in the end they are forced to work together. First a woman whose name begins with A is murdered in Andover, then Betty in Bexhill, then a C and a D etc. Poirot and the police are baffled. I worked it out before they did. Poirot gets there in the end, despite a red-herring. I prefer straightforward reads to full cast recordings as the voices are not always well-differentiated, but Dinklage makes a good – and easily recognisable – Poirot.

Audiobook narrated by Tony Robinson

After an autobiography and several history books aimed at kids, this seems to be Tony Robinson’s first attempt at adult historical fiction, but he’s such a good narrator of other people’s books, his own seems to have landed without teething troubles. It covers the historical period of Alfred, later known as Alfred the Great, ruler of Wessex, and eventually King of the Anglo-Saxons until his death in the year 899. He was the youngest son of King Ethelwolf and three of his older brothers ruled before him. But this is not all from Alfred’s point of view. Chief amongst the viewpoint characters is Asser, idealistic monk (and eventually a bishop) who is credited with writing Alfred’s biography. The story concentrates of the rule of High Ethel Wolf, Alfred’s father and his children and heirs and also covers religious politics in Rome, with Asser and Cardinal Balotelli hoping for a better world, and to see an end to the predations of the Norlanders. For much of the story Alfred in in Rome, having been exiled by his father, while his older brothers jockey for position as the next High Ethel. The story moves from Anglo-Saxon Wessex to Rome and back again (several times) weaving a tapestry of historical fiction around real events. Expect Viking raids, down-to-earth rulers (good and bad), religious politicking, and some excellent characters. It’s a good listen.

Audiobook narrated ny Kat Riley and Ash Beverly

Lainie Eaves returns to Hideaway Cove after the death of her grandparents. She’s inherited the family house, but, being human, she knows nothing about shifters, which is a bit unfortunate as it turns out. She needs to see what's left of her inheritance, a crumbling house and a missing fortune in jewels. She doesn't know the cove and doesn't know that it's a sanctuary for shifters, having been sent away when it became obvious that she was 100% human. Then she meets Harrison Galway, a carpenter/builder when in human form - and also a griffin shifter. The premise is that shifters instantly recognise their one true mate - and Harrison sees Lanie and 'knows'. The rest plays out as you might expect with a spiteful member of the shifter community trying to eject Lanie from the town. These Hideaway Cove books guarantee a happy ending so I needn't outline the plot. It's lightweight, and at 4 hours 49 minutes, is a quick listen.  The readers make a decent job of it.

A short exploration of time travel in which you don’t have to worry that stepping on a butterfly will cause your grandfather to die in infancy. Yes time travel causes the future to change, but not OUR future. It causes the timeline to branch and a new future to be created. Thus we can time travel as much as we like and our world won’t be affected. And we never find out what happens on those branched worlds because we can never to back to take a peep. Fascinating stuff, all explained to the reader by the man who pushes the button to send tourists on their journey, and receives them back one second later. They have a choice of three return windows, either in 3 days, 9 months or 27 years. Thus they might return only 3 days older, or if they choose the final window, 27 years older. Or they can choose to stay and live their changed timeline. It’s all very fascinating, reading like a great setup, and then there’s a twist at the end. A short read but a fascinating one.

Audiobook narrated by Katie Villa

This is the third Unholy Island book, following on from The Ward Witch and the Book Keeper. It's set in the same universe as her Crow Investigations books and there is a little bit of crossover, but not enough to confuse a new reader. THe island, Unholy Island, is off the coast of Northumberland, joined to the mailland at low tide by a causeway. It's a sanctuary for magical misfits and people hiding from their past. In the first book. Luke came to Unholy Island looking for his missing brother, and met a whole cast of characters including Esme Gray. In the second book he became a permanent resident, taking over the island's magical bookshop. In this book, the island's mayor goes missing, Luke's twin, Lewis, finally turns up, but he's not quite what he seems to be. Esme and Luke's new relationship comes under strain when she seems to be the only one on the island immune to Lewis's particular form of attraction. I've enjoyed this whole trilogy. It has a certain cosiness without sacrificing tension. Katie Villa's reading is easy on the ear.

Penric is called to a building project because his son (helping his uncle) has quite rightly diagnosed an ox as being possessed of a demon. Things get complicated when the ox goes missing and Pen and his kids (natural and adopted) track it into the mountains. Pen is injured and the kids have to take charge. This one is more about the kids than it is about Penric. Though young, each one is thinking about their future. The point of view is divided between Pen and each of the kids. It’s always nice to get a further glimpse into the life of Penric and his growing family, though (injuries notwithstanding) this is more about Penric’s personal life than momentous events.

Audiobook narrated by Peter Kenny.

Audiobook read by Katie Villa.

Luke Taylor has been looking for his missing twin brother for eighteen months with no success. A vague clue leads him to Unholy Island, a little further off the Northumbrian coast than Lindisfarne, and accessible only by a causeway at low tide. The locals, all with their own secrets, don’t like tourists and the island itself usually ensures that visitors spend no more than two nights there, but Luke is determined to stay longer and – surprise – the island lets him. He stays at Esme Gray’s B&B. Esme, who has run away from a troubled past with a controlling partner, is the island’s ward witch. She’s drawn to Luke, but still very wary of him. When Luke finds one of the villagers dead on the shore, suspicion falls on him, though Esme doesn’t believe he’s guilty. Gradually the truth is revealed, and Luke finds himself accepted by the suspicious islanders. This is set in the same world as Sarah Painter’s Crow Investigations books, which I very much enjoyed, but it’s a completely new sequence and can be read without having read the Crow books. Nicely read by Katie Villa

Audiobook read by Kate Mulgrew. An interesting take on Janeway from childhood to post-Voyager, including some of the bits from Voyager that readers might be familiar with. Particularly interesting for me because I missed some of the Voyager episodes and haven’t caught up with all of them yet. I might not have tackled this, but Una McCormack is always a reliable writer and this was well written, and also well read by Kate Mulgrew – who is the only possible voice of Janeway.

Audiobook Narrated by Peter Kenny

There’s a war raging throughout the Galaxy as the Iridians (and others) fight against the Culture. Horza, a human changer, an mercenary, works for the Iridians despite not believing in their gods or philosophy. He’s tasked with finding and securing the Mind, an autonomous super AI created by the Cuilture, which has ended up on Schar’s World, the planet of the dead. Balveda is a Culture agent with the same objective. They both end up on a ‘free trader’ ship the Clear Air Turbulence (CAT) and after a couple of disastrous raids directed by the captain Kraiklin, Horza takes over and persuades the crew, including his lover, Yalson, to go to Schar’s World, where they meet hostile Idirans in the tunnels deep below the world. I was disappointed with the ending, but it’s a cracking read – a fast-paced space-opera/adventure well read by Peter Kenney who does subtle accent changes and voices brilliantly.