The Mysterious and Amazing Blue Billings by Lily Morton

Narrated by Joel Leslie

Author Lily Morton branches out into paranormal romance with The Mysterious and Amazing Blue Billings, a ghost story set in York, which is often called one of the most haunted towns in Britain. The author’s trademark humour and snark are very much in evidence, the central romance features two engaging characters who come to share a strong emotional connection, and Ms. Morton knows how to bring the spooky, so maybe this isn’t a book to listen to in the dark!

Following the death of his mother and his breakup with his partner of five years, Levi Black relocates from London to York, where he has inherited a house from a distant relative. It’s a beautiful old building in a prime location not far from the Minster, and he falls in love with it straight away (despite the rather odd noises coming from upstairs), determining to fix it up, turn it into a proper home and make a fresh start. His plans to move in have to be put on hold however, because the house is in a worse state than he’d realised, so he moves into a hotel for the six months while the workmen make the house habitable again.

When Levi is, at long last, able to move back in, he’s at a loss to explain the pervasive scent of Lily of the Valley, or why windows and doors he’s sure he’s locked start banging open. On his first evening there, Levi gets a shock in more ways than one, discovering a) his house is on the route of one of York’s regular ghost tours, b) it’s known as the “Murder House” and c) a group of tourists staring at him through his kitchen window where he’s wandered, completely naked, after a shower.

When he wakes up the next morning, freezing cold because all the windows he KNOWS he closed the night before are now open and the boiler has been turned off, Levi decides he needs to find out more about the house – and specifically, why it’s called the “Murder House”. So that night, he waits for the tour to pass by and then tags along, intending to ask some questions of the strikingly attractive tour guide with the bright blue hair.

Over a drink later that night, the guide – Blue Billings – tells Levi the gruesome history of the house, that it was once the home of a brother and his widowed sister rumoured to have died in a bizarre murder-suicide. When Levi makes a sceptical comment about the existence of ghosts and the spirit world, he realises he’s made a mistake, because Blue becomes withdrawn and Levi decides he’s outgrown his welcome and says goodbye.

But Blue is the genuine article, a psychic who sees spirits everywhere and all the time, many of them seemingly intent on communicating with him. It’s exhausting and frustrating; he’s never been able to hear as well as see them or work out how to hone or control his ‘talent’. But he realises that he’s going to have to find a way to do just that if he’s going to be able to help Levi when the inexplicable happenings in his house start to escalate and it becomes suffused by an atmosphere of darkness and dread.

Blue and Levi are well-rounded and immensely likeable characters who come from very different backgrounds, but who find something in each other that they’ve been missing. Levi is charming and funny, but the recent loss of the mother he loved dearly has really pulled him down and he’s still struggling with the loss, something the author handles very sensitively. (There’s a beautiful and breathtakingly poignant scene in which Blue uses a stained glass window as an analogy, which is truly affecting). Blue has had a tough life, ending up in care and then on the streets by the time he was thirteen, doing what he had to do to survive. He’s prickly and defensive, believing the only person he can rely on is himself, and steering clear of emotional entanglements because in his experience they never last – which makes the strong protective instinct he feels towards Levi all the more puzzling.

They have terrific chemistry and their slow-burn romance is nicely done. Levi is wildly attracted to Blue, but doesn’t think a guy that quirky and gorgeous could possibly be interested in someone so boring and ordinary, while Blue, of course, thinks Levi is completely out of his league. The spark of attraction that ignites between them at their first meeting grows slowly and convincingly, first into a genuine friendship and then into more.

There’s a handful of secondary characters – notably crotchety old Tom, the owner of the local bookshop where Blue has spent much of his time – and the author’s descriptions of the city and its history are wonderfully vivid, easily conjuring up images of the narrow streets, the gleaming cobbles and old buildings in the mind of the listener and making York feel like a character in its own right

Joel Leslie is, as I’ve said before, the perfect narrator for Lily Morton’s particular brand of fun, witty, sexy romance. His way with the deadpan bon-mot is impeccable and his comic timing is always spot on; I honestly can’t imagine anyone else reading her books. He once again brings his impressive array of technical accomplishments to the story, giving Blue a big belting Belfast brogue (well, Northern Irish brogue, but I liked the alliteration!) and clearly having great fun with his characterisation of the cantankerous, gruffly-voiced Tom. His interpretation of Levi is great, too; Levi’s accent is subtler and less of a “star-turn” than Blue’s, but it’s no less notable for that; he has a typically London/Estuary accent, which is a bit less “posh” than some of the author’s other characters and is as consistently sustained as the brogue. In addition, Mr. Leslie always brings an authenticity to his characterisations and most importantly, to the connections the author creates between her leads; the warmth and affection Levi and Blue so obviously feel for each other – whether they’re bantering or just being quiet together – is always there in his voice.

The author ably balances the ghost story, the mystery and the romance, skilfully weaving together the humour and the pathos, the sweet and the scary to produce a complex and satisfying whole. Another superbly acted and insightful performance from one of the best romance narrators around means The Mysterious and Amazing Blue Billings is an all-round winner. Highly recommended.

Caz

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