HASTY DEATH

Lady Rose is bored with her life of privilege and decides to join the working class. She and her maid, Daisy, work as bank typists and live in a dreary hostel for women. Narrator Davina Porter gives each of Chesney's characters his or her own snobbish or down-to-earth personality. Her delivery of background material possesses all the emotion, indignity, or delight warranted. Soon Rose is on the trail of a murderer, an adventure that returns her to high society. En route, she and Daisy encounter fanatical vegetarians and other eccentrics. Chesney, who is also M.C. Beaton, creator of Agatha Raisin and Hamish Macbeth, brings humorous intrigue and a mocking class-consciousness to this engaging Edwardian mystery. S.G.B. © AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine [Published: JUN/ JUL 07]