Audio: What the dead leave behind - Rosemary Simpson

As the Great Blizzard of 1888 cripples the vast machinery that is New York City, heiress Prudence MacKenzie sits anxiously within her palatial Fifth Avenue home waiting for her fiance's safe return. But the fearsome storm rages through the night. With daylight, more than two hundred people are found to have perished in the icy winds and treacherous snowdrifts. Among them is Prudence's fiance-his body frozen, his head crushed by a heavy branch, his fingers clutching a single playing card, the ace of spades . . . Close on the heels of her father's untimely demise, Prudence is convinced Charles's death was no accident. The ace of spades was a code he shared with his school friend, Geoffrey Hunter, a former Pinkerton agent and attorney from the South. Wary of sinister forces closing in on her, Prudence turns to Geoffrey as her only hope in solving a murder not all believe in-and to help protect her inheritance from a stepmother who seems more interested in the family fortune than Prudence's wellbeing . . .

Audio CD, 12 h
Published December 26th 2017 by Tantor Audio (first published April 25th 2017)
A Gilded Age Mystery #1
Historical fiction /mystery
For review

My thoughts:

The worst thing with a mystery on audio is how long it takes for everything to be safe! Or behind bars ;) The best thing is the thrilling suspense that does not give out.

Prudence lost her father, and then her fiance. Now she is under the care of her wicked stepmother, who holds the key to her inheritance. 

So the questions are. Where there foul play regarding her father? Sure her fiance' died during a blizzard, but why did he hold a playing card? And who really is her stepmother?

Strange things are happening around Prudence, who is in a laudanum bliss at times (not always at her own will).

And since these were the olden times, it was so easy to see how Prudence could have been swept under a mat if it had not been for her father's good friend, and her fiance's friend who wonders about events too.

There is real detective work (it took legwork in those times), there is danger and suspense, and real evil lurking behind corners. I was on pins and needles for those last 5 hours and more. I just wanted answers and for people to pay.

Conclusion:
Suspenseful

Narrator:

Sarah Zimmerman

I really did like everything about her narration. Good and kept me on the edge of my seat