Delightful, Thoughful, Intelligent, and Very Funny

I took a chance on this one. It has a release-date in October 2008, but one one had even bothered to rate it until now (June 2010). I am soooo glad that I took the chance!!!

It is well written & well read, and has an amazing attention to detail. It takes place in 1805, and the book is written from the point of view of the spinster-aunt of a young lady who wants to find out the answer to some pretty worrying mysteries in and around her life. The aunt (Dido Kent) is the one sent for because she is known for being too intelligent & too curious for her own good (that's why she's a spinster), and she notices things & finds connections in a very perceptive way. But, because she is the dauter of a clergyman, and still lives a somewhat sheltered life, almost entirely near her various family members, she can occasionally be naive about a few of life's darker, or stranger sides. She is totally beleivable as being of that time - NOT an almost-modern woman in a historic setting.

Maybe if Jane Austen wrote a detective story, it would be somewhat like this - a comedy of manners with clues & crimes. LOTS OF FUN!!!

9 people found this helpful

Don't miss it!

I loved this book when I read it so I was so excited to see a book from Anna Dean on Audible I didn't bother to read the descr.... and didn't realize the same book was published under the title, Bellfield Hall. So don't be disappointed like I was... if you've already read Bellfield Hall.
Otherwise, there's nothing disappointing about this book! Don't miss it!

2 people found this helpful

Charming Protagonist, Regency murder mystery

Aunt Dido is in her late 30s,who while keeping company of a neice that has been jilted the day after her engagement, is also attempting to discover the murderer of a unknown female found in the grounds of their host, a wealthy landowner.

Side plots (non of them instrusive, just adding the enjoyment of the novel) involve the tangled courtships of other guests in the household, plus a few red herrings along the way.

Dido is undoubtly clever but in some of the ways of the world excedingly (and amsuingly) naive, but that is in keeping with the period. Talking of which, the period detail is skillfully woven into the fabric of the novel. I enjoyed the lively letters to her sister Eliza to relay information or to give a quick recap.

The narrator can be occasionally noisy - bear with her as she does improve (I wish they had her reread the first couple of chapters though), and I found her narration on the whole quite charming.

Hoping to find more of Anna Dean's novels narrated in the near future.

1 person found this helpful

wish the others were on audible too

I love this series and was sad to only be able to find this one, and it's under the original name, not "Bellfield Hall". I hope the others will be recorded sometime.

A pleasant surprise

I realize I have read the print version of this book some time again but by that time I was into
The story and and didn’t really remember the details. I was also taken by the positive comments of another reviewer and so I I had a very pleasing and relaxing listen while I appreciated not only the plot but the really excellent descriptive quality of the author’s story telling.