Ransomed Jewels by Laura Landon

Narrated by Rosalyn Landor

I have listened to a couple of books by this author in the past, and I confess to having been somewhat underwhelmed by the stories. In both those cases, however, Ms Landon was fortunate in having excellent narrators – Rosalyn Landor in Silent Revenge and James Langton in A Risk Worth Taking, both of whose performances were more than good enough to paper over some of the cracks in the storytelling, so I thought I’d give this latest offering a try.

Ransomed Jewels sees Rosalyn Landor at the helm once again, and a very fine job she does of bringing to life a story which, while enjoyable for the most part, was at times so frustrating as to have made me want to bang my head against the wall.

Major Samuel Bennett, in his capacity as an agent for the British government, has been tasked with the recovery of the Queen’s Blood, a priceless necklace belonging to the Russian royal family. It should be a simple matter, given that Bennett and his fellow agent, the Marquess of Huntingdon, had previously stolen the necklace from the French spy who had appropriated it. Unfortunately, Huntingdon was killed four months previously, but his dying words indicated that his marchioness is in possession of both the necklace and some important coded papers, both of which are vital to the negotiations which are about to begin with a view to bringing about an end to the war in the Crimea.

Bennett needs urgently to retrieve both the necklace and the papers from Hunt’s widow, and he must do it before François Roseneau, the French spy and Russian sympathiser from whom they stole the necklace in the first place, can get to them. Not doing so risks the failure of the upcoming negotiations and a continuance of the war that has been responsible for the deaths of so many.

Meanwhile Claire, the Marchioness of Huntingdon, has been a widow for four months and isn’t sure what to do with her life. Her marriage was not a happy one; her husband was never physically abusive or cruel, but theirs was a marriage of convenience made at the insistence of his overbearing father, and while she and Hunt played the happy couple in public, behind closed doors they led separate lives. She has been left well-provided for, but Hunt denied her the things she really wanted; physical closeness, affection and a family, so it’s not surprising that her feelings toward him are clouded with bitterness and anger. To make things worse, she has begun receiving anonymous threats asking her to give up something she does not have. So far the threats have been made on paper, but as the story opens, she is physically attacked by a man with a Russian accent, who informs her that her brother is being held hostage and will be freed in exchange for the return of the Queen’s Blood.

Claire is badly wounded in the attack, but is saved from worse by the intervention of the major and one of his men, who have been watching the house. She’s in a bad way, but that doesn’t stop Sam from trying to interrogate her or accusing her of lying to him when she tells him she doesn’t have the necklace. Unfortunately, this sets the tone for much of the rest of the story; Sam and Claire are strongly attracted to each other and there is plenty of romantic tension between them, but every time they seem to be making progress in their relationship, something happens to cause Sam to return to his default position of mistrust. Honestly, if Jumping to Conclusions were an Olympic sport, then Sam Bennett would win Gold, Silver AND Bronze hands down. Worse, he refuses to listen to Claire when she tries to explain, although another part of the same problem is that Claire’s life with Hunt led her to cultivate the art of cutting herself off from hurt and shutting down when things got too emotionally difficult for her, which is exactly what she does instead of confronting Sam head on and forcing him to hear the truth.

Even so, the story is decently executed, the mystery is simple, but nicely done and as the truth about Claire’s marriage is revealed, it is easy to sympathise with her and to understand why she reacts as she does. Anyone paying close attention will probably have worked out the location of the jewels and letters before it is finally revealed, but that doesn’t take anything away from the story, as the listener then wonders when the characters are going to work it out, too.

Fortunately for Sam Bennett, Rosalyn Landor’s expert narration saves the day, and turns him into a much more appealing and sexy hero than his words and actions might suggest. Her pitch and tone are perfect to convey a man of action and authority and in the more intimate moments, she turns him into a convincing lover by adding a darker, softer note to her portrayal. The pacing is excellent, her acting choices are all spot on, and every character is very clearly differentiated according to gender, age and station. Besides Sam, there are several male characters who appear throughout the novel, principally Claire’s brother Barnaby, Doctor Bronnley and Sam’s adjutant, Honeywell, all of whom are completely distinct from one another. The villains of the piece sound suitably menacing and Roseneau’s French accent is accurate and consistent. Ms Landor always vocalises the female characters in the books she narrates extremely well, and here is no exception; her portrayal of Claire is excellent, really capturing the essence of the lonely, neglected woman who is determined to stay strong and stand up for herself, even when her heart is breaking.

Ransomed Jewels is ultimately a bit of a mixed bag. The storyline is decent and the romance works surprisingly well given what I’ve said about the seemingly endless misunderstandings and mistrust between the protagonists. But I can’t deny that their continual “two steps forward, one step back” got very frustrating very quickly. It’s possible that had I not been listening to Ms Landor, I might have been tempted to rip out my earbuds and stomp on them, but as it was, I rolled my eyes and kept listening because she’s good enough and convincing enough to have made me care about the characters and want to know how they would work things out between them.

Caz

Narration: A+

Book Content: B-

Steam Factor: Glad I had my earbuds in (but at the very tame end)

Violence Rating: Minimal

Genre: Historical Romance

Publisher: Brilliance Audio

Ransomed Jewels was provided to AudioGals by Brilliance Audio for a review.

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