From Cradle to Grave cover art

From Cradle to Grave

Royal Spyness, Book 19

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From Cradle to Grave

By: Rhys Bowen
Narrated by: Gemma Dawson
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About this listen

Lady Georgiana “Georgie” Rannoch is just like any other new mother, balancing responsibilities of being 34th in line for the British throne and solving the shocking deaths of several young men, in this new Royal Spyness novel from the queen of historical mystery, Rhys Bowen.

Georgie may be figuring out what it means to be a new mother but she does know one thing for sure: she absolutely despises the strict nanny who was foisted upon her by her meddlesome sister-in-law. In search of a new nanny, Georgie travels to London to see her old friend ZouZou only to find her about to depart for a funeral, after the unexpected death of a young man in her social circle. It quickly becomes clear there’s more than one mysterious death around town, when another friend reveals he’s also just returned from the funeral of a school friend, who seemingly died in a boating accident. But when word arrives that the son of family friend has also died tragically and unexpectedly, Georgie is certain it can’t be a coincidence. Yet the victims don’t seem to have any connection to one another.

ZouZou shares Georgie’s suspicions that the deaths were not an accident and begs Georgie to solve the case. As Georgie delves deeper, she can’t help worrying that her own husband, Darcy, may be next. It seems likely there is a serial killer at work and Darcy fits the bill to be their next victim. Will Georgie solve the murders before it’s too late for Darcy, and manage to find the perfect nanny all at the same time?

©2025 Janet Quin-Harkin (P)2025 Audible, Inc.
Amateur Sleuths Historical Mystery Women Sleuths Crime Murder Royalty
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An enjoyable adventure with all the usual characters. However the narration was not good- you could not always distinguish which character was talking. The previous narrator was fab- such a shame there has been a change.

Another enjoyable adventure with Georgie

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The story was okay, but I missed the warm, expressive voice of the previous two narrators. The current one overdid the posh accent, and every character ended up sounding exactly the same.

The story was ok

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Now a common theme - it may be a challenge for a new reader to step into a series that has been brilliantly and consistently performed by two previous narrators. Regret to say that Ms Dawson has totally failed to continue the good work. All the characters have lost their identity, and each voice sounds strained and unnatural. The royal spyness series has been a treat, not just for the stories, but for the quality of narration.
Cradle to Grave is a real disappointment.

Spoilt by poor narration

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I fell in love with the Royal Spyness stories when i listened to 12 Clues of Christmas and then went back and listened to the previous ones. Since then i have eagerly awaited each new adventure. They are great to listen to on long journeys and whilst i love reading, the skill of the narrators really brought Georgie and her friends and family to life so that listening was my preferred media. When Katherine Kelgren passed away I wondered how the publishers would find another narrator who could do justice to the style and range of characters Rhys Bowen had created, but in Jasmine Blackborow they found a more than worthy successor. The new narrator however is awful. As others have commented there is almost no difference in the voices of the characters so it is difficult to follow the story and i found myself considering reading, rather than listening to the remainder of the book. However what is worse is that she has completely failed to capture the the quirkiness of the characters, even D’Arcy has lost his Irish accent,
Please either ask Jasmine Blackborow to continue or find someone who can bring these wonderful stories to life.

Great story, shame about the narrator

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Fab story as always but I really really hated the narration, the accents we terrible. all the women sounded the same
Darcy had lost his Irish accent and Queenie was unrecognizable
it was sad as I love this series of books
I will have to buy the book to enjoy it

fab story as always

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