A Murder in Time

Kendra Donovan Mysteries Series, Book 1

By: Julie McElwain

Narrated by: Lucy Rayner

Length: 18 hrs and 39 mins

Publisher's summary

Beautiful and brilliant, Kendra Donovan is a rising star at the FBI. Yet her path to professional success hits a speed bump during a disastrous raid where half her team is murdered, a mole in the FBI is uncovered, and she herself is severely wounded. As soon as she recovers, she goes rogue and travels to England to assassinate the man responsible for the deaths of her teammates.

While fleeing from an unexpected assassin herself, Kendra escapes into a stairwell that promises sanctuary but when she stumbles out again, she is in the same place - Aldrich Castle - but in a different time: 1815, to be exact.

Mistaken for a lady's maid hired to help with weekend guests, Kendra is forced to quickly adapt to the time period until she can figure out how she got there; and, more importantly, how to get back home. However, after the body of a young girl is found on the extensive grounds of the county estate, she starts to feel there's some purpose to her bizarre circumstances. Stripped of her 21st century tools, Kendra must use her wits alone in order to unmask a cunning madman.

©2016 Julie McElwain (P)2017 Tantor

Competent heroine, decent story, lousy narration

Female FBI agent runs into trouble, makes a questionable decision, ends up in 1815 England, where she has to put her profiling and investigating skills to work without technology or backup. The plot is not too shabby. It was easy to figure out who the killer was NOT, but not so easy to identify who it was - or why. Nice blend of fantasy and reality - our Kendra is just lucky she fell in with such a hotbed of women's rights advocates. Also, be warned, this is not for the squeamish.

Nice plot but much too long. The modern day lead-in could have been cut by at least fifty percent, and the rest could have used some judicious editing. I did enjoy Kendra's confusion and education into how the household staff was organized.

Lucy Rayner is not an awful narrator but she was just not up to the demands of this book. The first part is set in America and the accents were so bad I almost quit listening. Once they got to England, the male voices were not very good either. The two male leads both sounded like they were auditioning for a title role in Beauty and the Beast. Rayner needs to stick to British historical romances.

I didn't hate it, and I did finish it, though I stopped halfway through and listened to something else before going back to it. Not something I would listen to a second time, but I'll probably get the sequel if there is one.

Thrilling Read

I loved this book not just for the time travel aspect which is one of my favorites but for the Sci-Fi details added to the story. I love details that get the mind thinking and not boring additives often found in murder mysteries. Can’t wait to read the next book by J.McElwain..
Also miss Rayner did a great job with narration and character voices. Bravo

Time travel at it's best

Excellent read. This book is full twists and turns. It will keep you reading until all hours of the night to find out what happens next.

I must be tone deaf; no problem with the narrator

Everyone's ranting and raving about the narrator. I didn't notice any problems. I loved the storyline and wish I could be half as good as the author. Kendra is my hero, living in a hotbed of male chauvinists while bringing to the 1800s skills that few men or women in 2020 can conquer. This too reflects upon a brilliant author. Her character development is impeccable and her transitions between books are sublime. I've listened to all four and actually, by the end of book one, I was a fan. Now I'm a dedicated fan. I watch Julie McElwain's page for more releases. She beats Stephen King in my single credit a month. Get past the reviews about rotten narration and enjoy Kendra, out of time, out of place, and making her way even in a hostile world.

Five stars for the story, One for the narration

The narration was ploddingingly slow, I recommend speeding it up to 1.25 to get it anywhere close to the normal Audible narration speed. The means voices, particularly the Duke and Marquis, were gravelly and grating and expressed absolutely no change in emotion throughout. I would buy books from the author again but not narration by this performer.

Couldn’t finish bc of performance

The narrator tries to do a different voice for every character and they often come across as absurd and silly. I couldn’t finish the book because I couldn’t take it seriously. I wish they could have read it less ridiculously, and the story wasn’t good enough to bare through it. Sorry, not a favorite.

Foul language

Couldn’t get past the first ten minutes without hearing disgusting language. Would not recommend even though it has good reviews. I wish books had ratings like movies!

Story is good but narration is awful

The narrator is terrible but if you can get oast that the story is good and I found it interesting. It didn't figure out the mystery until the end. Would recommend but just ignore the narrator and focus on the story :)

Good story, annoying narration

I enjoyed the story started reading it first then transferred over to audio to finish it. Almost couldn't finish it due to the narrator's horrible interpretation of the mens voices. She did fine on the female reading but the male readings is bad enough to almost ruin the entire book. I won't be able to listen to the next one if she's reading it, I'll just have to put it on hold until I have time to do finish the book version.

Just plain fun

Cleverly plotted with a whodonit that keeps you guessing. Just enough history added to please fans of "light" historical fiction.