Okay, this was such a pleasant surprise! I've heard nothing about this book so I went in completely blind but it was adorable! I loved the audiobook too because we had two different voices! It had mystery, adventure and dash of romance! Absolutely charming and delightful! I was sad it was over so soon! Hope we get more of them!! It reminded me quite a bit of Veronica Speedwell books!

I listened to Ava January's Victorian historical murder mystery set in London on audio, it is approximately 8 hours and 20 minutes long, and is ably narrated by Elizabeth Knowelden and Dennis Kleinman, voicing the characters of Albertine Honeycombe and Spencer, who has recently become the Duke of Earleigh, respectively. They both did a stellar job, it was just that I found this to be a mixed bag of a read, and my issues primarily centred around Albertine, whilst I occasionally found her to be an engaging character, a lot of the time I was infuriated and irritated by her, she came across as so naive, silly, so headstrong she is unable to check her idiocy, as in the whole coffin debacle, and takes her wonderful maid, Joan, without whom she is nothing, far too much for granted, and I cringed at her romantic developments with Spencer.

It is 1894, with her beloved father dead, Albertine is devastated to discover there was no provision for her in his will, and the cousin who inherited has insisted she marry a local farmer with 15 children she will be expected to care for. To escape this fate, she flees for London with Joan, and becomes a private detective, in memory of the dreams she and her dead brother, Algernon, had. She becomes Countess Dagga, with a fictional Count as a absent husband, so that she can live the independent life that would otherwise be denied to her. However, she had not forseen that the rich and powerful who engage her would be so reluctant to pay for her services as she is a woman, as is the case when she retrieves some letters from a Lord Grendel using them for the purposes of blackmail. When he is discovered murdered, she becomes the prime suspect as the last person known to have seen him alive. As she sets out to prove her innocence, she employs an undercover Spencer, working for Scotland Yard, not realising who he really is.

As Spencer gets to know Albertine, he realises there is no way she is a killer, and falls in love with her, only to find their path to love is littered with obstacles. Will the real killer be unmasked and the truth emerge in time to save Albertine before she can be hanged for a crime she did not commit? There are many reviewers who liked this, the first of a historical mystery series, far more than I did, so I would suggest reading other reviews prior to making a decision as to whether to read or listen to this. Many thanks to Dreamscape Media for an ALC.

There were plenty of humor in a “everything that can go wrong will go wrong” king of way and I especially liked the canal scene but if you’re looking for a whodunit with clues and multiple suspects, this not really that kind of book.

This book kept me entertained but I like the first half better than the second. The ending didn’t really do it for me, too much sugar and a bit like watching a 00’s rom com and I was still hoping for more sleuthing.

4 stars due to the first half of the book.

This was such a fun listen with great writing and engaging narrators. With hijinks that seemed to inevitably ensue during every investigation the pacing was great and I loved getting to learn more about the characters throughout their journey. The audiobook narration was excellent with dual POVs and narrators who did a great job differentiating the voices of the different characters. The audio pacing and reading styles were very compatible between the two narrators and overall they really added to my enjoyment of this book.

Albertine has the biggest heart, Joan is hilarious and delightful, and their friendship and partnership really shine in this story. Seeing Spencer’s interactions and growth with them was really fun. I would definitely be interested in any future books with this fun and endearing cast of characters, especially in audiobook form.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for providing this ALC audiobook for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

In an attempt to flee an arranged marriage, Albertine flees to London with her friend Joan and sets up as a detective. Unfortunately paying cases are few and far between. During a case to recover stolen letters a lord is found murdered and Albertine finds herself a suspect in the crime. Albertine must clear her name and avoid being returned to her family. I had a really great time with this book. Albertine and Joan are both very fun characters. I look forward to reading the next book in this series.

I really enjoyed the dual narration in the audiobook. Elizabeth Knowelden and Dennis Kleinman were both excellent.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the ALC in exchange for an honest review.

This was a thoroughly engaging read, and I loved every minute. If real life responsibilities hadn’t gotten in the way, I would’ve binged the book in one sitting. The plot and mystery of who actually killed Lord Grendel kept me interested from the first page until the final, epic reveal. January did a great job at fleshing out and developing her characters. I really enjoyed Lady Albertine, and good for her, for creating her own persona to avoid being married off. Not only that but she turns herself into a female detective to help other women which is definitely something I can root for. I also really loved the slow burn relationship build up between Albertine and Spencer. The other element I thoroughly enjoyed is that this wasn’t a high stakes, adrenaline pumping murder mystery. It still felt relatively low stakes and cozy. I am a sucker for duet narration, so I was thrilled to pick this up and find that there were separate narrators for each POV. This not only helped bring the characters to life but made it especially easy to tell when switching between POVs. I highly recommend experiencing this book via audio because the narration was excellent.

The Mayfair Dagger by Ava January and narrated by Elizabeth Knowelden & Dennis Kleinman is a glorious escapade, fun, intriguing, scintillating and just a little bit tittlating, but clean and a great listen or read!

The audiobook is simply delightful, with a glorious performance throughout!

Albertine does not want to marry a farmer with 15 children so runs away to London to find her own way in the world. Not an easy task for a woman in 1894, let alone a single woman! Albertine decides to works as a female sleuth under the pseudonym, the Countess Von Dagga and does not have the best of beginnings in her sleuthing career. After all, getting framed for murder is just a tad inconvenient, let alone antisocial

Firmly placed at a wonderful cross section between historical mystery and cozy mystery and very well written

Thank you to Netgalley, Dreamscape Media, Ava January and the narrators Elizabeth Knowelden and Dennis Kleinman for this glorious ALC. My review is left voluntarily and all opinions are my own