Listen free for 30 days

  • The Mitford Murders

  • The Mitford Murders, Book 1
  • By: Jessica Fellowes
  • Narrated by: Rachel Atkins
  • Length: 11 hrs and 15 mins
  • 4.1 out of 5 stars (509 ratings)

Thousands of incredible audiobooks and podcasts to take wherever you go.
Immerse yourself in a world of storytelling with the Plus Catalogue - unlimited listening to thousands of select audiobooks, podcasts and Audible Originals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.
The Mitford Murders cover art

The Mitford Murders

By: Jessica Fellowes
Narrated by: Rachel Atkins
Try for £0.00

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £19.99

Buy Now for £19.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Listeners also enjoyed...

The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels cover art
Last Bus to Woodstock cover art
Death at the Auction cover art
The Bingo Hall Detectives cover art
The Deadly Mystery of the Missing Diamonds cover art
Mud, Muck and Dead Things cover art
Murder in Tuscany cover art
Dying in the Wool cover art
Say It With Poison, Mitchell and Markby Village, Book 1 cover art
Murder on the Lusitania cover art
Murder at the Spring Ball cover art
The Man in the Queue cover art
Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone cover art
Murder at Mallowan Hall cover art
The Frost Fair cover art
The Cuckoo's Calling cover art

Summary

A Golden Age-style mystery bursting with period detail and set amid the Mitford household, The Mitford Murders is the glittering start to a thrilling and sumptuous new series written by Jessica Fellowes, author of the number one best-selling Downton Abbey books. 

Lose yourself in the gripping first novel in a new series of Golden Age murder mysteries set amid the lives of the glamorous Mitford sisters. 

It's 1919, and Louisa Cannon dreams of escaping her life of poverty in London, and most of all her oppressive and dangerous uncle. 

Louisa's salvation is a position within the Mitford household at Asthall Manor, in the Oxfordshire countryside. There she will become nurserymaid, chaperone and confidante to the Mitford sisters, especially 16-year-old Nancy - an acerbic, bright young woman in love with stories. 

But when a nurse - Florence Nightingale Shore, goddaughter of her famous namesake - is killed on a train in broad daylight, Nancy and amateur sleuth Louisa find that in postwar England, everyone has something to hide....

Written by Jessica Fellowes, author of the number one best-selling Downton Abbey books, The Mitford Murders is the perfect new obsession for fans of Daisy Goodwin, Anthony Horowitz and Agatha Christie - and is based on a real unsolved crime.

©2017 Jessica Fellowes (P)2017 Little, Brown Book Group

Critic reviews

"Exactly the sort of book you might enjoy with the fire blazing, the snow falling. The solution is neat and the writing always enjoyable." (Anthony Horowitz)

"True and glorious indulgence. A dazzling example of a Golden Age mystery." (Daisy Goodwin)

"Oh how delicious! This terrific start to what promises to be a must-read series is exactly what we all need in these gloomy times? Inventive, glittering, clever, ingenious. I devoured The Mitford Murders...so will you. Give it to absolutely everyone for Christmas, then pre-order the next one." (Susan Hill)

What listeners love about The Mitford Murders

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    252
  • 4 Stars
    137
  • 3 Stars
    67
  • 2 Stars
    27
  • 1 Stars
    26
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    270
  • 4 Stars
    118
  • 3 Stars
    37
  • 2 Stars
    14
  • 1 Stars
    16
Story
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    220
  • 4 Stars
    119
  • 3 Stars
    71
  • 2 Stars
    20
  • 1 Stars
    25

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Lovely, lovely, lovely!!!!

Downtown Abbey with murder!!!! And very well read. A pleasure to listen to! Looking forward to the next instalment.

14 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Disappointing

Not a particularly well written story which seemed over long in the telling. The narrator rendered the characters insipid or annoying.

12 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

A curious endeavour

I wonder why this seemed like a good idea? A standard whodunnit with the Mitfords shoe-horned in. I'm not a Mitford expert, but it seems hard to believe that Nancy would have been quite so attached to a rather teary nursery maid with a violent uncle hanging about. And the heavy handed references to the sisters' foibles is grating (imagine - Pam loves animals and Unity is grumpy). Well read though, although the main character has a voice like a docker. All in all, I'd give it a miss.

11 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars

Mitford Murders.

Could have been to!d in half the time. Few of the characters were credible. Nancy Mitford was an excellent authoress and I don't think she would have appreciated this portrayal of herself.

8 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Awful

Genuinely terrible. Makes Midsomer Murders look like quantum physics. Terrible dialogue broadly drawn from a Mary Poppins like view of London.

6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Narrator is distracting

Sadly I just couldn’t get into this book, I persevered but the narrator became too annoying/distracting for me. All subjective, I know! Just not for me.

6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

PREDICTABLE BUT ENJOYABLE...

A fiction greatly enhanced by factual persons and events. An enjoyable read with characters and events both real and invented. Basically, a light, period,detective story but none the less a worthwhile listen - especially if you are a Mitford fan.

5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Waist of time

I had a hard time finishing this audiobook. The characters was unlikable.
A couple of hours, into the book, I had figured out who the murder was.
One of Main characters was a bit annoying, and for some reason the narrator choose to give her extremely childish and annoying voice.
In my opinion this audiobook was a waste of time. But maybe a young audience would like it.
(Sorry for my english, it is not my language)

4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Wonderful whodunit!

Great story, with a few twists.
The characters are brought to life by a superb narration.

Very enjoyable.

3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Brilliant

I really enjoyed this who dunnit! Super plot and very well narrated. Hope there are more tales of Louisa and Guy to come.

3 people found this helpful

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars
Profile Image for GReader
  • GReader
  • 12-11-17

Not any Mitford I know

This book fails on several counts
1. Nancy Mitford was not ever a rather silly girl as portrayed
2. She would not have fraternised with a servant in the manner described
3. The plot is implausible and relies on at least one unlikely coincidence
4. The resolution is completely implausible
5. The writing is competent but not gripping
There are supposedly 5 more books in the series. I'm sorry I spent money on the first and won't be wasting time on the next five.

2 people found this helpful

adbl_uk_web_target_buy_box_sale_test