One thing it is NOT is a Christmas mystery, which is bull crap as far as I'm concerned. Not only do I LOVE Christmas cozies, I had every reason to expect that this would be one. It's called Ten Lords A-Leaping, the third in a series that started--of course--with Twelve Drummers Drumming and Eleven Pipers Piping. As if that weren't Christmasy enough, the sleuth's name is FATHER CHRISTMAS! And this one was published in December! Why WOULDN'T I expect it to be a Christmas mystery? But alas, no, it does not take place at Christmas time.
It was a little hard for me to get past that one, if I'm honest. It's like C.C. Benison was taunting me. But I digress.
The mystery itself is enjoyable enough, I suppose, though it does proceed at a meandering pace (read: it's a little long). It was hard to maintain any sense of urgency when the murder itself seems all but forgotten throughout much of the book as the characters go off on tangents about lost relatives and weird romances. But I did like the English manor setting, complete with labyrinth (who doesn't love a labyrinth?), and the set up of the literal "lords a-leaping" (Peers of the Realm skydiving for charity) is a lot of fun.
I read this book and also listened to the audiobook, and I must say that the narration by Steve West (with Jean Gilpin) was amazing. I'm pretty picky (read: easily annoyed) about audiobook narration, but I had no complaints about this at all. In fact, I may look up other books narrated by Steve West to see if there are any others I'd like to hear.
BOOK DETAILS:
Ten Lords A-Leaping: A Father Christmas Mystery
by C.C. Benison (Douglas Whiteway)
Audiobook narrated by Steve West and Jean Gilpin
Published by Random House/Delacorte Press
Audiobook published by Random House Audio
Publication Date: December 3, 2013
View on Amazon
Source: NetGalley (audiobook from my local library)
No comments:
Post a Comment