Renee's Book Addiction

Where the Heart Leads (First Volume in the Casebook of Barnaby Adair) by Stephanie Laurens

(AUDIOBOOK)

This is the first book in the Cynster-related series, the Casebook of Barnaby Adair. It was a good book, though it didn’t blow me away. The usual minor appearances of Cynster relations/friends were made though there was a definite feeling of a shift of focus and setting up the new series.

Here’s the book description:

Penelope Ashford, Portia Cynster’s younger sister, has grown up with every advantage — wealth, position, and beauty. Yet Penelope is anything but a typical ton miss — forceful, willful and blunt to a fault, she has for years devoted her considerable energy and intelligence to directing an institution caring for the forgotten orphans of London’s streets.

But now her charges are mysteriously disappearing. Desperate, Penelope turns to the one man she knows who might help her — Barnaby Adair.

Handsome scion of a noble house, Adair has made a name for himself in political and judicial circles. His powers of deduction and observation combined with his pedigree has seen him solve several serious crimes within the ton. Although he makes her irritatingly uncomfortable, Penelope throws caution to the wind and appears on his bachelor doorstep late one night, determined to recruit him to her cause.

Barnaby is intrigued-both by her story, and her. Her bold beauty and undeniable brains make a striking contrast to the usual insipid ton misses. And as he’s in dire need of an excuse to avoid said insipid misses, he accepts her challenge, never dreaming she and it will consume his every waking hour.

Enlisting the aid of Inspector Basil Stokes of the fledgling Scotland Yard, they infiltrate the streets of London’s notorious East End. But as they unravel the mystery of the missing boys, they uncover the trail of a criminal embedded in the very organization recently created to protect all Londoners. And that criminal knows of them and their efforts, and is only too ready to threaten all they hold dear, including their new-found knowledge of the intrigues of the human heart.

Penelope and Barnaby intrigued me when I met them in The Taste of Innocence. I haven’t read all the Cynster novels — one of my few exceptions to reading a series in order— but Barnaby also appears in The Truth About Love and What Price Love, Penelope is introduced in On a Wicked Dawn. They were a great match, and the case that brings them together is absorbing.

I really enjoyed the interplay between Penelope and Barnaby. Initially, Penelope fights her attraction to Barnaby, since she sees any attachment to a man as a threat to her independence. Barnaby, quickly recognizes (and respects) Penelope’s need for independence, and woos her in a way that allows her to keep it.

I also enjoyed the secondary characters, Basil and Griselda (who also appear in previous books.) I like that they will be prominent characters in subsequent books in the series, yet aren’t members of the ton.

While there were mentions of events in previous Cynster books, I never felt confused or like I missed something important. I might in the future read a few more (early books in the Cynster series,) but it’s unlikely I’ll every read the entire series. However, I will likely continue to read/listen to new  books in the Casebook series as they are released.

The audiobook production was excellent, however, while the narrator, Simon Prebble, was extremely talented (his facility with voices is amazing,) hearing him read the highly descriptive love scenes is still (he also narrated The Taste of Innocence, which I listened to) more than a little disconcerting. I got the audio CDs from the library, but Audible also has the digital audiobook, with Charlotte Parry as narrator.

• Stephanie Lauren’s site.
• Print excerpt for Where the Heart Leads

   
Bummer!

I’ve written before about how I am completely addicted to listening to audiobooks on my iPod. I use it when I’m cooking, vacuuming, gardening, and driving around town (don’t worry, I have a nifty attachment to my car stereo!) 

About 3 weeks ago, my trusty little iPod went MIA. I’ve been hoping it’ll turn up in a jacket pocket, under the car seat, or under a couch cushion. No luck. I’ve resigned myself to the fact that I will probably never see it again, and until I can afford to replace it, my audiobook listening will be curtailed to audioCDs borrowed from the library, and listened to on the car stereo.

The worst part about this is that I was in the middle of Kim Harrison’s White Witch, Black Curse when it got lost.