Murder in Westminster

Abigail Carrington, aka Lady Worthington, is of mixed Scottish and Jamaican descent. She has a nose for crime solving that may be enhanced by “second sight.” One night, she finds her neighbor, Juliet Henderson, strangled on the fence at their joint property line. Juliet’s husband, Stapleton, had recently thrown Juliet out of the house for her numerous adulterous affairs, which makes him a likely suspect. Suspicion falls on Abigail, too, in large part because of the color of her skin. Although Abigail and Stapleton have their differences, they work together to investigate the murder, uncovering additional murders and more suspects in the process. Riley (A Duke, the Spy, an Artist, and a Lie) sets her story in the 19th century, highlighting issues of class and race that resonate even today. Unfortunately, the story line stutters as suspicions change to certainty with little explanation. Additionally, the acrimony between the neighbors becomes tedious long before it ends. Narrator Chanté McCormick’s British accent is lovely, but her pacing is poor, and her characterizations are so similar that listeners may struggle to know who is speaking.