Our Lady of Mysterious Ailments: Edinburgh Nights, Book 2 (Audiobook)
The Mystery at Dunvegan Castle (Edinburgh Nights Book 3)
The Legacy of Arniston House Audiobook – T. L. Huchu (Author), Kimberly Mandindo (Narrator) – 13.03.25
I have been devouring this urban fantasy series, alternating between kindle books and audiobooks (literally just by which is the cheaper way of buying them!).
Set in Edinburgh (well, duh!) the series follows Ropa Moyo, a Scottish teenager of African heritage who lives with her gran and little sister in a caravan in a slum in a post ‘catastrophe’ Scotland where hardship is commonplace.
Ropa (like the little boy in the sixth sense) can see and communicate with dead people, and she makes a living passing messages on from the recently deceased to their grieving relatives. In the first book Ropa turns supernatural private detective after agreeing to help a dead mother who is terribly worried about her missing living son. A chance encounter with an old school friend introduces Ropa to a magical library and whole society of magical practitioners, who see that she has hidden magical potential, and take her on as an intern.
The series just gets better and better (in my opinion). The first time I listened to the audiobook (book two) I wasn’t sure what to make of the narrator – her accent is really nice and she fits the character of Ropa very well, but she has an odd way of parsing sentences often not the way I feel they should sound – putting the emphasis in the wrong place or putting in unnecessary pauses, which annoyed me at first, but then when I read book three on kindle I missed her and her’s was the voice in my head, so I was happy to get back to her in audiobook form in book four (I will definitely buy the fifth and final instalment as an audiobook!)
I just finished listening to book four (The Legacy of Arniston House) and I was totally gripped – I don’t know if it’s just because I’ve got to know Ropa after three previous books, or because this one is more personal to her and her family, but I was very moved by the things that were happening to her. Also book four gives more backstory (which was hinted at in the previous books) to Ropa’s family history which was interesting and thought provoking – not just goodies and baddies, but good people making bad decisions or mistakes or just difficult decisions where their is no clear right answer.
The ending was very exciting, and left a real cliff hanger so I now can’t wait for the next book (which says its the final book in the series, which is sad because I love the series, but good that they are not just stretching it out but have a resolution planned) – I hope T. L. Huchu writes more books though because I love these!
Sarah Wray Writer 