A Ghastly Spectacle
Series: Beatrice Hyde-Clare Mysteries, Book 8
By: Lynn Messina / Narrated By: Jill Smith
Length: 7 hrs and 53 mins
I, uhm, well, it’s like this, uhm, I was kinda sorta, uhm, disappointed…?!?
I KNOW!!! My vast disappointment with this MUCH-loved series knows no bounds. And in retrospect, upon listening to A Ghastly Spectacle, I can only think that author Lynn Messina’s decision to give cousin Flora a book, a mystery of her own to solve, was a true mistake.
Cuz here’s the thing… welllll, okay okay, I’ll give ya the story afore I get to my quibbling.
Married now for all of two weeks, Bea has been lampooned in the Press for her latest investigation. She’s been caricatured as having gazed upon a headless corpse, as having considered the decapitated head, and that-all ilk. NOT true, but there you are. She will NEVER be accepted by the Ton, Duchess or not.
So Lady Abercrombie has the grand idea to throw a little shindig in Bea’s honor where the highbrow sticklers of Society will gather, and there’ll be a Murder Mystery game. Each person will be given a background story, there’ll be a murder victim, they’ll have a chance to ask a couple of questions, and this whole thing will be a chance for Bea to affably show off her mad sleuthing skills. You know, put Bea up on show, surely Bea will LOOOOOVE that, right?
Uhm, noooo. EsPECially when a guest is really murdered. Accusations and insults fly as Bea takes the reins, and it’s a bumpy ride.
All fine and good, yes?
Not really. First, Bea spends a LOT of time insecure, and the whole premise of this entire series is that she finds herself, truly relaxes, when she has something besides herself to think about. So, all that insecure navel-gazing is annoying. Further, when the insults fly, Kesgrave just kinda leaves her to fend for herself. Dude, where’s the love, the loyalty.
Worse? Flora’s wangled an invitation for herself to the party (Annoying), and when it all hits the fan, she’s right beside Bea, mulling over clues and making self-assured, pompous assertions. While Bea finds this amusing, Messina does nothing to distinguish between the two women’s abilities. If Flora can do it, it’s not very special when Bea does, ya know?
And where’s Kesgrave in all this? What I’d loved before was that they’ve been an awesome team. Nope, he’s only around to shag Bea every now and again. Now here’s where I’m going to ding the usually flawless narration by Jill Smith: She flubs Kesgrave’s voice, like, all. the. time, making him sound, not pedantic as we’ve come to love him, but pompous and a bit clueless. Add Flora’s shrill voice, and I wasn’t certain I was going to find anything at all to like about this.
So what DID I like? Well, it’s Bea. And even when she gets it wrong, she never gives up until she’s absoLUTEly sure. Also, when Kesgrave DOES care about SOMEthing in this story, Smith gets his voice right: Sensitive, warm, loving. Maybe she couldn’t manage Affectionate, but she DID nail Loving, so… YAYYYYY!!!
Nope, horribly disappointing especially since I had >gasp< EXPECTATIONS… that it’d be back to Bea and Kesgrave as a dynamic duo, that Flora would’ve been written as hanging out with her new boyfriend, that Bea would be less obsessively insecure.
-BUT-
Onto the next in the series soon! -because- I’m gonna keep it toned down for HOPES rather than Expectations. Maybe Messina just needed one book to get back into her awesome rhythm. And maybe Smith will remember the voice she used for Kesgrave in the oooodles o’ previous audiobooks.
Ya can’t keep Bea down, soooo?
There’s THAT!!!
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