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    The Gilded Shroud
    The Gilded Shroud
    The Gilded Shroud
    Audiobook11 hours

    The Gilded Shroud

    Written by Elizabeth Bailey

    Narrated by Esther Wane

    3.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    When a murder is committed, a lady's companion finds herself in the role of amateur sleuth . . .

    1789, London: When Emily Fanshawe, Marchioness of Polbrook, is found strangled in her bedchamber, suspicion immediately falls on those residing in the grand house in Hanover Square.

    Emily's husband-Randal Fanshawe, Lord Polbrook- fled in the night and is chief suspect-much to the dismay of his family.

    Ottilia Draycott is brought in as the new lady's companion to Sybilla, Dowager Marchioness, and soon finds herself assisting younger son Lord Francis Fanshawe in his investigations.

    Can Ottilia help clear the family name? Does the killer still reside in the house?

    Or could there be more to the mystery than meets the eye?
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateJan 17, 2019
    ISBN9781977337047
    The Gilded Shroud
    Author

    Elizabeth Bailey

    Elizabeth grew up in Africa, where her father worked in the then British colony of Nyasaland (now Malawi). It was a great place for children, with tropical weather and wide-open spaces. One of four siblings from parents who were regarded as a trifle unconventional, she was encouraged to develop an interest in reading and drama from an early age. A love of romance was born first through fairy tales and then Georgette Heyer, whom Elizabeth discovered at the age of 11. Instantly hooked, she still enjoys a Heyer for relaxation. Her first kiss was classically romantic — on board ship under the stars — and she still recalls feeling her legs turning to jelly. Writing romance was a late development, however. Returning to England after a short period as a secretary (training which has come in useful ever since), Elizabeth went to drama school and trod the boards for some 17 years as an actress. Writing had always been there, as a hobby and a release. She has acres of poetry and half-finished stories from those years. In her 30s, and almost on a whim, Elizabeth began writing historical romance. Within a very short space of time, writing consumed her life and she realized that this was her true métier. A lengthy apprenticeship was at last rewarded with publication by Mills & Boon in the early '90s and Elizabeth has never looked back. In addition to writing historical romance, she taught drama for years and became producer and director of the school's theater company, writing and adapting plays for casts of over 70 students. Now she has given up teaching, but continues her involvement with the school's theater, creating productions twice yearly. She is also artistic director of a local arts festival held annually in August in Sussex, where she lives.

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    Reviews for The Gilded Shroud

    3.5/5

    55 ratings6 reviews

    What did you think?

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    • 3/5
      I feel like some of the dialog was repetitive. The story was good, I liked the characters, they have developed over the course of the novel. The mystery made sense. I'll try the next in the series to see if the dialog is repetitive and the how the character development goes.
    • 3/5
      OK. OK. I did know the perpetrator almost from the beginning, which is not such a good thing in a mystery book, now is it? Also, the names (Ottillia? Candia?) were clearly an attempt to recall the historical period of the book, but they were a tad annoying. That said and nonetheless, I will read the next one in the series because I love mysteries and I love the Regency time period. Only for the most dedicated.
    • 4/5
      Mrs Ottilia Draycott has just arrived as a temporary companion to the Dowager Lady Polbrook when news reaches them that the Lady Emily is dead. Having a lively inquisitive mind Ottilia starts to investigate as only an outsider can do.
      I enjoyed this historical murder mystery with its likeable characters.
    • 5/5
      This book made me do a happy dance! I was caught within the first few pages. The characters are fleshed out well enough that you know them as people and not characters. And the vocabulary is delicious! I love to read a book that has me looking up words. ?
    • 1/5
      This one disappointed me, I'll admit. I'm still trying to figure out why. The dialogue used seemed wrong somehow. And everyone fawning over Ottilia started to get on my nerves. "Look a woman with an analytical mind -- how utterly amazing!!!" I thought I'd be able to get all the way through it regardless but about 100 pages from the end I gave up and skipped to the end. When I found out who had done it I wasn't the least surprised. And the romance struck me as forced -- I had no idea why these two people would come to care about one another. Overall, very disappointed in a book I thought I would enjoy.

      If you like historical mysteries with romance, I highly recommend the 'Gilded Age Mystery' series by P.B. Ryan instead.
    • 4/5
      Enjoyable Georgian mystery with romance overtones, the start of a series. The milieu will be familiar to readers of Regency romances, although this is set a little earlier (during the early days of the French Revolution, before the Reign of Terror really got underway). A noblewoman is murdered in her bed; her husband left town shortly before the body was discovered, leaving him under suspicion. His brother and his mother's new companion must work together to solve the crime.I did supect the murderer fairly early on, which usually is a black mark for me, but it was a satisfying mystery anyway.