The Companion
Series: Sisters of Woodside Mysteries, Book 3
By: Mary Kingswood / Narrated by: Joanna Stephens
Length: 12 hrs and 55 mins
Did I say Book 2 was Gothic? Well, it ain’t got nuthin’ on Book 3 here!
Whoulda thunk it? I honestly didn’t know what to expect in this book of the “Sisters of Woodside Mysteries” as sister Margaret of the Winterton sisters, is up to bat here. And the young woman has something going on where she just canNOT speak—which sounded like a relief as in Book 2, all sister Lucy does is talk and chatter—so I guess I was planning on a whole lot of inner dialogue, and maybe some lower-key happenings. Cuz after all, what all much can an extra shy girl get into that’s so dramatic?
Turns out? A LOT!
And I’m not sure that I’m liking this whole series, if there’s soooo much drama! Drama! DRAMA! that goes along with the pleasant little mysteries. The first book had the: Who killed the wife? thing. The second book had: How did the babies die? and What are we gonna do with this other slasher-type person? plus: a nymphomaniac thrown in for good measure.
The story opens as the sisters, newly impoverished and split apart so that they might find genteel employment, are traveling to the places they’ll now be living. Now, I wrote a novel some time ago, and my writing critique group kept pointing out: You know, your main character is crying again. At the time I just thought Yeh, yeh, yeh; that’s cuz the situation’s just plain sad. In other words, I blew off their warnings that tears got to be annoying. And they’re soooo right! All Margaret does is cry at the beginning. And cry. And cry some more. To the point where not just I, but the other characters as well, wanted to throttle her. So right away, I kinda sorta didn’t like her.
Fortunately, author Mary Kingswood sort of does a good deal of character development, showing that Margaret has a curious and astute mind, goes about things (When she’s not weeping) in a matter of fact and organized manner, and she’s just fairly reasonable… When she’s NOT CRYING!
And situations arise, all sorts of ‘em, whereby she has plenty of good reasons to weep. After the woman she went to be Companion for dies, there’s all sorts of drama in the woman’s will, whereby the estate will be left solely to Margaret… only if she marries a cousin (Ick!). This is too bad as she’s already desperately in love with Mel, the young curate (And there’s the mystery of his parentage/unfortunate beginnings), who completely and totally returns her love early on, to the point where he not only understands her lack of verbal communication, but is patient enough to read everything she writes down to say (And it has only NOW occurred to her to write what she needs?!? Well, yes, cuz her sisters always knew exACTly what she was trying to say… but now they’re gone… so weep and scribble and weep some more…).
There’s plenty of her running off to avoid the whole situation when said relatives descend like a plague of locusts, all cut-throat and greedy and cunning. And there’s plenty of references to wanting to do some of the nastier things with Mel whilst she’s in her runaway phases.
But there’s also a kidnapping. And also the threat of a rape. And also a murder. And also, did I mention that nobody knows who Mel’s parents are exactly, but if they DO know, they’ll kill to hide it or make it known? This was almost 13 hours of bouts of passionate kisses, and scheming, and weeping. I kinda liked it at the time, but I kinda did some eye rolling also and, now as I write this, I’m kinda exasperated by the whole thing, especially as narrator Joanna Stephens does her usual: Throw it ALL into the performance! stuff and she really moans when Margaret moans, and she certainly SOBS when Margaret sobs. Sooo, maybe that has a bit to do with my less than enthusiastic review.
I’m still going to go onto Book 4, (And when Book 5 comes out in audio, you knoooow I’m gonna snap it up…), but I’m sorta wary about it all, since I’m wondering if Kingswood feels she needs to top herself with every following book. I mean, how ya gonna top attempted ravishing, and successful murder and mayhem?
I’m worried, folks, but I’ll do it. I’m nothing if not a ready and able Accomplice!
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