Mrs. Budley Falls from Grace

By: Marion Chesney / Narrated By: Davina Porter

Length: 5 hrs and 9 mins

I love all the books in the series, but this one? Why, I do believe it’s my favorite!

The poor relations are down on funds again, and naturally they’ve decided the only way to deal with this is to turn to crime. Makes sense for those scalawags! And who should get the short straw this time but the silly and fluffy Mrs. Budley? She’s to visit a relation and steal an expensive trifle or two. No problem!

And since Mrs. Budley has no relations, Sir Philip has come up with a plan: Travel some distance and tell old Lord Peterhouse that she’s a relative, and THERE she can swipe stuff. No problem!

Uhm, just one thing: The “old” Lord Peterhouse has died, and the new one, well, he’s not only NOT falling for her story, but he’s kinda crotchety about the ruse. Naturally, this brings the silly and fluffy Mrs. Budley to tears, and she spills the beans. After expressing his disgust, the new Marquess of Peterhouse finds he’s delighted, invites her to be his guest and entertain him for a bit, and that’s it. Mrs. Budley is given a generous bank draft, and it’s back to the Poor Relation hotel for her.

Unfortunately, she fell in love with the Marquess, and things are all downhill from there.

What a delight Mrs. Budley Falls from Grace is! What I like is that the Marquess just doesn’t think about her in that way, even as he searches for a wife and is disgusted by the simpering young misses he squires about town. What I like is that Mrs. Budley, yeah yeah yeah, silly and fluffy, becomes anything BUT silly and fluffy as the story goes on: It turns out that the widow is capable of turning a jaundiced eye on Society, on the Marquess himself. What I like is that Lady Stanton, who’s been up to no-good in the earlier books, has a disASTrous and embarrassing run-in with the poor relations, and she plots even fouler revenge. What I like is that Miss Tonks, who earlier turned highwayman, actually shows quite a bit of ‘bottom’ by the end of the book.

What I like is that this book is just so gosh-darned romantic in a sweet way: Our Hero and our Heroine are vastly likable characters (Even when Lord Peterhouse is unlikable, he KNOWS he’s being irrational, and he gets his act together—it’s not easy for him)! Whereas in Book 2, Miss Tonks Turns to Crime, the loving couple make poor choices at the end of the book, here we’re not left with a bitter aftertaste as this couple do seem well-suited, well-intentioned.

And Davina Porter? Okay, okay, so maybe I DID think her voice for the Marquess was rather cold and a bit sneering, but as the story progressed, and as the Marquess became less of a judgmental prig, more open and warm, Porter’s voice warmed up along with his evolution as romantic hero. Other than that? The woman rocks, what more can I say? She IS the country bumpkin, Jack, doing his best to carry out the wicked Lady Stanton’s plan. She IS the little Cockney boy who picks his pocket. She IS Sir Philip who comes back with an even nastier plan. She IS the sweet Mrs. Budley, the envious Miss Tonks, the tired Colonel Sandhurst, the ever-youthful Lady Fortescue! My gosh, there’s no voice Davina Porter is incapable of conveying!

You wrap it all together, and whadda ya have?

You have 5 hours and 9 minutes of the best author MC Beaton/Marion Chesney has to offer! A total and true delight!