First Line: The first time I met Lillian Pentecost, I nearly caved her skull in with a piece of lead pipe.
Little did circus runaway Willowjean "Will" Parker know that saving the life of Lillian Pentecost with her knife-throwing skills would change her life. She didn't realize that she was saving the life of New York City's finest and most unorthodox private investigator.
Pentecost's multiple sclerosis means that she's not able to keep up with her case load, and she wants to hire Will as her right-hand woman. In return, Will will receive a salary, room and board, and training in Pentecost's methods of investigation.
Three years later, the two are on the Abigail Collins case, the case of a rich woman who was bludgeoned to death with a crystal ball during a booze-laced Halloween party in her home. Rumors are flying that the woman was killed by the vengeful spirit of her husband, who committed suicide in the same chair in which Abigail's body was found. The police can't seem to find any answers, so the Collins family hires Pentecost.
The case proves to be even trickier than Will expected. There's a spiritualist involved whom Pentecost has had her eye on for years, and then there's Becca Collins, the gorgeous daughter of Abigail whom Will finds herself falling for. Will the two investigators be able to navigate all the twists and turns in order to bring a killer to justice?
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I feel as though Fortune Favors the Dead should win some sort of special award. You see, it's the first audiobook I've listened to that didn't put me to sleep in under thirty seconds. Granted, I wised up and had my knitting needles busy while I was listening, but I think the book would have kept me awake regardless.
Stephen Spotswood has written an engaging story set in 1940s New York City that has a hint of noir, a dash of humor, and two unusual and mesmerizing characters in Willowjean "Will" Parker and her boss, Lillian Pentecost. It's not often that you read a mystery that involves a female circus runaway and a middle-aged woman with multiple sclerosis and a glass eye. Will is the book's voice, and that voice drew me right into the story with its sass and spark. She kept me listening as the story unfolded, and I didn't even particularly mind that the identity of the killer wasn't that difficult to deduce.
As a novice audiobook listener, it hasn't taken me long to learn that the narrator has a lot to do with a book's success. I found that the narrator of this book, Kirsten Potter, was perfect. Her Will was smart and sassy and her Lillian was calm and determined. She did a good job of creating different voices for all the characters even though I don't find that to be a necessity. (Just don't have a run-of-the-mill voice that drones.) In fact, I found Potter to be so good that Spotswood's series is one that I'll continue to follow in audiobook format. Now all I have to do is wait patiently for Pentecost and Parker to make another appearance.
Fortune Favors the Dead by Stephen Spotswood
Narrated by Kirsten Potter.
ASIN: B085J1TKR2
Random House Audio © 2020
Audiobook. 8 hours, 31 minutes.
Historical Mystery, #1 Pentecost & Parker mystery
Rating: B+
Source: Purchased from Audible.
