A Stab in the Dark

About This Audiobook

*A Stab in the Dark* isn’t your grandmother’s opera-house mystery—it’s a razor-sharp gaslamp fantasy where the backstage politics are as cutthroat as the murder weapon. Suzannah Rowntree drops us into a Paris Opera dripping with gothic opulence and back-alley deals, where Miss Dark’s crew of lovable misfits must navigate a murder investigation while dodging aristocratic blackmail, cursed props, and a tenor whose ghost *refuses* to stay dead. The real magic? Rowntree’s knack for blending wit with genuine stakes—this isn’t just a whodunit, but a *why-dunit*, where every character’s motives are as layered as the Opera’s velvet curtains.

Kylie Stewart’s narration is the audiobook’s secret weapon: her Miss Dark is a deliciously dry counterpoint to the melodrama, delivering deadpan quips with the timing of a stand-up comic, while her voicing of the flamboyant opera divas and gruff stagehands makes the cast feel like a troupe you’d pay to watch *off* the page. The production leans into the gaslamp aesthetic with subtle ambient cues—distant aria snippets, the creak of stage machinery—that immerse without overwhelming. What sets this apart from typical fantasy mysteries is its *rhythm*: Rowntree’s prose has the pace of a heist flick, and Stewart’s performance matches it beat for beat, making this a listen that’s as propulsive as it is atmospheric.