A Treacherous Performance
Series: Beatrice Hyde-Clare Mysteries, Book 5
By: Lynn Messina / Narrated By: Jill Smith
Length: 10 hrs and 33 mins
Am I delighted the Series has continued?!? Oh HOW delighted!!!
Yup, I left off Book 4 of a 4 book series hoping so much that author Lynn Messina meant for there to be room for a next book to be added to this fine series. And when I saw this, A Treacherous Performance, cuz I’d been checking in now and again, lemme tell ya! I snapped it up like an M&M that’s been on the floor for less than 5 seconds. Started listening to it right away!
… promptly fell asleep …
And it’s taken me until now, our 100th issue Happy Birthday celebration, to make the attempt to listen to it again. It’s like this, see:
The series was just soooo good leading up to this fifth book. At first, we see Bea as a 26-year old spinster, and it’s a delight to listen to her coming into her own, showing courage and spunk. Then we giggle as she stands up to the Duke of Kesgrave, and we love the banter of the newly brave Bea taking him to task, not giving a whig and not toad eating to him as pretty much every single other person in Society does. Refreshing. Then, with each book, we see their growing relationship and start wondering if maaaaybe the Duke doesn’t kinda sorta like her a little. Then there’s Bea’s torment as she starts wondering if maaaaybe she doesn’t kinda sorta like the Duke a little. The whole back and forth, you know; the whole does he/does she? and How Will I Live if He Doesn’t? thing goes a loooong way and can be deliciously torturous if written well. Plus, there was ALWAYS some dead body popping up when Bea’s low spirits needed it the most.
So how on earth, now that Kesgrave and Bea are engaged, is anything going to be of scintillating interest? I went in to this listen already having a chip on my shoulder, thus dozing off when I should know better with Messina and narrator Jill Smith: The two as a pair have put out AWEsome stories, and really! I should just hush up and listen.
Cuz really! Yes, the book opens with Bea just a few hours from marrying the Duke, but a monkey wrench is thrown in, in the guise of relatives who want a long engagement so the fuss over Bea outing a murderer at a party can die down, and so that Lady Abercrombie can throw a grand party to “introduce” Bea to the ton yet again. The argument to delay the ceremony is given further weight when Bea’s arch nemesis turns up with a mystery that only Bea, who just last night showed her interrogation skills, can manage.
And that’s where things start getting fun, and I started listening with my usual joy to hear of Bea’s shrewdness, the disguises she dons, the stories she creates to manage a line of questioning, and yesssss: To the point in the story where a dead body turns up (Which exasperates the Duke to no end). Cuz Bea has been played and been played well. Her downfall has been plotted and almost came off, but the corpse threw it all off.
So we’re treated to a new mystery for both Bea and Kesgrave to solve and, while I was whining about the whole building romance thing before, I can say that Messina’s writing had me loving the relationship that’s blossomed between the pedantic Duke and the sharp-witted and clever-tongued Bea. They’re a crime fighting duo, and all the clever banter is there, only now each knows the other’s quirks and foibles. That there’s physical chemistry there is delightful also and not toe-curling at all. Bea is a woman who knows what she wants, and by gosh, she’d better have that ceremony soon (This is unlike traditional romances where the Hero initiates everything and the heroine is surprised to “suddenly” feel this that and the other).
Yes, I’m still new to the whole Mystery genre, so I can’t tell you how expertly crafted it was here; certainly I didn’t know who did it, but I’m a bit gullible, so take that with a grain of salt. But at least there was one instance where Bea said something that I just kneeeeew was going to come back to bite her on the bum, so maybe that suggests that SOME things were a bit obvious. But these are cozy mysteries, so I’m not all worked up about not feeling more dread and suspense.
Mostly I just wallowed in excellent writing and in Jill Smith’s usual masterful interpretation. Smith makes Kesgrave, that pedantic (And I think the word was used too much in the book) man, adorable and swooooon-worthy, and when it all hits the fan at the end, the combo of the writing and the Duke’s addressing Bea in such warm tones, Smith rocking it all, had me with a lump in my throat and a Brava, Ladies: Well Done! on my lips.
It’s become a habit to check in on Messina and Beatrice Hyde-Clare every few weeks, and I discovered and immediately purchased the next in the series. So I’m just waiting for a bit of time before I joyfully dive into THAT one. Add to that?
There’s a Book 7 due out in October! And I dunno, as cousin Flora might be the heroine of that one, I miiiiiight be purchasing the audiobook posthaste then falling asleep early cuz it’s not the “usual” Bea story-style I’m whining for. But then?
Of COURSE I’ll give it another chance at a later date and will discover that I’d been a fool to be lulled into lowered expectations. -Or- I might discover that it’s awful…
Stay tuned, fellow Accomplice. If it’s bad, I’ll have taken the hit for you!
You’re welcome…!
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