Many of the reviews of this book say that it's short on plot and long on history, but really the action moves along at a very fast pace as the lead character and her allies investigate the murder mystery and attempt to find a long-lost Shakespeare play as well as the identity of Shakespeare himself. For anyone who likes historical mysteries, this will be a great read. If you love Shakespeare, you'll also love learning more about him and the different theories as to who he was. (I favor the Stratford theory myself: the simplest explanation is usually the correct one, and it's snobbery to think that a middle class man couldn't also have been a genius. Anyone is capable of educating himself just by reading and listening to those that he comes into contact with.) I came away eager to try the second book in the series and almost wanting to read "Don Quixote" because you'll learn quite a lot about Cervantes and his hero as you read or listen to this wonderful novel.On the other hand, when the audio narration started, I was worried that I wouldn't make it through because the narrator, Kathleen McNenny, did a horrible job with the British accents. Even to an American ear, she didn't sound at all like any British speaker that I ever heard. Once I was past Disc One, however, the action moved to the United States, and almost all the characters were Americans. For that part of the book, McNenny was a fine choice. She did make some of the mistakes that are common with all but the best audiobook narrators (suprasegmental choices that don't quite work), but all in all, she did a fine job with voice characterizations and pacing, etc. If I was surprised at how bad she was at British accents, I was horrified when she came to the two Mexican-American characters, especially Mr. Jimenez. He didn't sound like any Mexican-American that I ever heard, and I live in the Western United States and teach ESL. His accent was seriously offensive to someone who isn't Latino; I can't even imagine what Latinos would think. Ms. McNenny needs to stay away from books where she has to use accents. Stick to the American voices, really! I'm glad that book two in the series has a different--and more experienced--narrator. I'm looking forward to it.