The Birthday Mystery cover art

The Birthday Mystery

Jenny Starling, Book 1

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The Birthday Mystery

By: Faith Martin
Narrated by: Charlotte Worthing
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About this listen

Discover a new series of whodunits by million-selling author Faith Martin. You'll be gripped from the first second to the last. These classic-style mysteries will have you scratching your head to work out who the murderer is, and look out for some real twists and turns.

Meet Jenny Starling: travelling cook and reluctant amateur detective.

Jenny Starling is catering the 21st birthday party of upper-class twins Alicia and Justin.

She arrives at their parents' country house and is immediately met by the police. A young man has drowned in the pond. Was it an accident or murder?

But the birthday party goes ahead. Then, just after midnight, everyone gathers for a champagne toast...and one of the guests falls down dead. The police are baffled, and there is a whole party full of suspects.

When it comes to someone adding the extra ingredient of poison to her own precious recipes, Jenny isn't going to take it lying down. She has a reputation to protect.

Jenny Starling won't stop until the murderer is found.

Perfect for fans of classic whodunits by authors like Agatha Christie, LJ Ross, TE Kinsey and J. R. Ellis.

Please note this book was first published as Birthdays Can Be Murder under Faith Martin’s pen name, Joyce Cato.

©2019 Faith Martin (P)2019 Audible, Ltd
Cosy Detective Mystery Women Sleuths Women's Fiction Fiction Celebration Exciting Classics
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What listeners say about The Birthday Mystery

Average customer ratings
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  • 4 out of 5 stars
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  • 4 Stars
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  • 3 Stars
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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

narrator has soothing voice

was ok... main character is weirdly smug. not sure why they kept going on about her size and how sext she either like its news to have a larger woman that is still attractive

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Acceptable if not spellbinding

Perfectly acceptable murder mystery read well. The statuesque Miss Starling wasn't a character that I particularly took to, but she was a sound enough character in a slightly hard to believe plot that appeared to be set in the present and yet was more suited to the 1930's. The detective content was particularly colourless. Having said that it really was a reasonable enough listen and as I am rather desperate for new detective series at the moment good enough that I will probably download book 2.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Great listen

The story was great but Cat in kitchen whilst cooking. I with all faith Martin books were on audio

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Enjoyable until the last 10 mins

Unconvinced about the motive. It was weak and farfetched. Also the number of conversations that she just happened to overhear were pushing the boundaries of credulity.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Quite intriguing

A relaxing performed listening of an intriguing mystery solved by a clever cook and a decent policeman whose interactions I particularly enjoyed.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Obsessed with weight of lead

I liked the story and the performance. I would have bought more of these books, but the constant mention of the weight and size of the main character was incredibly irritating. It wasn't only repetitive, but insulting towards anyone bigger than a size 12. It was trying to be body positive (I think) but was patronising and reduced an interesting female character to her dress size

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Enjoyable cosy crime

Got this title in the sale. Happy to say I enjoyed it. Good setting and liked the amateur sleuth Jenny Starling, she was not as annoying as some part time sleuths in cosy mysteries. The narration was excellent.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Very good story.

Downton Abbey meets Miss Marple. There are lots of twists to this story, and it flows along apace. I did guess who the murderer was, but it didn't spoil the story for me. I would like to read more by this author, and I would love to hear the narrator read again.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Good mystery

Good story but absolutely awful narration - what a shame. It spoilt a good book, she had a nice soft voice, ideal to send you to sleep.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Too much foodie talk and not enough crime.

I found it took a long long time to really get into the story. There was far too much food conversation, it was like reading a cook book.

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