Audiobook Review: Murder at Blackwater Bend by Clare McKenna

Murder at Blackwater Bend
Author: Clare McKenna
Narrator: Sarah Zimmerman
Series: A Stella and Lyndy Mystery (Book 2)
Publication: Highbridge (June 30, 2020
Length: 10 hours and 10 minutes

Description: Following a whirlwind engagement to Viscount "Lyndy" Lyndhurst, Stella Kendrick is finding her footing within an elite social circle in picturesque rural England. Except tea time with refined friends can be more dangerous than etiquette faux pas - especially in the company of Lady Philippa, the woman Lyndy was once set to marry, and her husband, the ostentatious Lord Fairbrother....

Outrage erupts and accusations fly after Lord Fairbrother's pony wins best in breed for the seventh consecutive year. The man has his share of secrets and adversaries, but Stella and Lyndy are in for a brutal shock when they discover his body floating in the river during a quiet morning fishing trip....

Suddenly unwelcome around hardly-grieving Lady Philippa and Lyndy's endlessly critical mother, Stella faces the bitter reality that she may always be an outsider - and one of her trusted new acquaintances may be a calculating killer. Now, Stella and her fiance must fight against the current to catch the culprit, before they're the next couple torn apart by tragedy.

My Thoughts: The second Lyndy and Stella historical mystery takes place right after the couple engagement. Stella is trying to find her feet in English society with no help from her future mother-in-law Lady Atherton who still thinks Lyndy can do better. Her boorish father is also no help since he's developing a relationship with an attractive London journalist who wants to write all the details about the up-coming wedding, but who also has a hidden agenda.

When the husband of Lady Atherton's pick for Lyndy's wife is found dead in a local trout stream by Lyndy and Stella on an early morning fishing trip, they have to add a murder investigation to their pre-wedding plans. Lord Fairbrother was not a nice man. Just a little investigation shows that he took bribes and may also be blackmailing people.

The suspects abound. Besides the suspicious journalist and the not-so-grieving widow, there is a plant hunter who seems particularly close to the widow and a local landowner who was one of the people Lord Fairbrother was working with. The local widow is busy throwing suspicion on the local snake catcher who is a favorite of Stella's because of the way he helped her horse when it was bitten by a snake. But he is soon found murdered too. 

I enjoyed the historical setting. I like watching the way Stella and Lyndy's romance is growing. The mystery was also nicely twisty.

I bought this one from Chirp July 25, 2023. You can buy your copy here.