2024 Audiobooks – Page 2 – Rosepoint Publishing

A Slay Ride Together With You by Vicki Delany #AudiobookReview #AmateurSleuthMysteries

Year-Round Christmas Mystery Book 7

Book Blurb:

The slay bells are ringing in this festive seventh installment of national bestselling author Vicki Delany’s Year-Round Christmas mystery series, perfect for fans of Amanda Flower and Donna Andrews.

Rudolph, New York, shop owner Merry Wilkinson’s best friend Vicky Casey is newly engaged to Chef Mark Grosse and is moving into the historic Cole House–a home surrounded by drama, intrigue, and a possible haunting that is in desperate need of renovation. The wedding is just three weeks away, but all is not bliss for the newly engaged couple as estranged relatives of the late owner fight over her will. Then, late one night, Vicky and Merry come across a dead body in the garden of Cole House–and Mark is the one standing over the corpse.

As Detective Diane Simmonds focuses on Mark as the prime suspect, Vicky asks for Merry’s help to clear her fiancé’s name in time for the wedding. As they dig deeper into the connection between the house, Cole relatives, and town residents, past and present, it becomes clear that plenty of people wanted the victim dead.

With a bakery to run, the busy Easter weekend fast approaching, a house to renovate, and a fiancé to clear of a murder accusation, Vicky’s wedding may end up on the chopping block. It’s up to Merry to put aside the chocolate bunnies and stuffed rabbits and help her best friend save her wedding–and her life.

My Review:

Not my first Christmas cozy with Vicki Delany, I previously listened to Silent Night, Deadly Night (Book 4 of the series). This one has another narrator and the storyline is only slightly annoying. Since hubby loves his Hallmark movies and they become overwhelming at Christmas time, I guess my tolerance for violins and sappy seasonal tales leaves me cold as fresh Christmas snow. Still, I feel that obligation to provide a Christmas novel.

This is the seventh installment and involves Merry Wilkinson’s best friend Vicky Casey. She and her intended Chef Mark Grosse will be moving into the historic Cole House. Scuttlebutt is that it’s haunted and has a tragic history. Well, that it does, and the house has been abandoned a long time.

Vicky and Merry come across a dead body in the garden of Cole House—it’s the fella laying claim to the property—and the problem is that it’s Mark who is standing over the deceased. (Is that one of his knives?)

In a town the size of Rudolph, there will be plenty of people who know the history and I love me a good haunted house story. Vicky is freaking and thinking she’ll postpone their wedding while Merry needs to take care of her own little retail establishment with Easter approaching.

Merry will support Vicky while they are working on solving the problems with the house, Mark being a person of interest in the homicide, and the personal lives of support characters. I always enjoy the inclusion of a dog and this one is fun. I had a difficult time becoming engaged with the main character but on the whole enjoyed this episode more so than the last.

Not really a Christmas story, a Christmas-themed town, and a very convoluted plot, rather slow to pick up steam. Also, I had a difficult time believing the person in the reveal—really?

I downloaded a copy of this audiobook from my local well-stocked library. These are my honest thoughts.

Rosepoint Publishing: Three point Five Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Amateur Sleuth Mysteries, Cozy Animal Mystery, Cozy Animal Mysteries
Publisher: Tantor Audio
ASIN: B0D9YT76GL
Listening Length: 8 hrs 10 mins
Narrator: Dina Pearlman
Publication Date: September 24, 2024
Source: Local Library (Audiobook Selections)
Title Link: A Slay Ride Together With You Amazon-US
Amazon-UK
Barnes & Noble
Kobo

The Author: Vicki Delany is one of Canada’s most prolific and varied crime writers and a national bestseller in the U.S. She has written more than forty books: clever cozies to Gothic thrillers to gritty police procedurals, to historical fiction and novellas for adult literacy. She is currently writing four cozy mystery series: the Year Round Christmas books for Crooked Lane, the Tea by the Sea mysteries for Kensington, the Sherlock Holmes Bookshop series for Crooked Lane Books, and the Lighthouse Library series (as Eva Gates) for Crooked Lane.

Vicki is a past president of the Crime Writers of Canada and co-founder and organizer of the Women Killing It Crime Writing Festival. Her work has been nominated for the Derringer, the Bony Blithe, the Ontario Library Association Golden Oak, and the Arthur Ellis Awards.

Vicki is the recipient of the 2019 Derrick Murdoch Award for contributions to Canadian crime writing. She lives in Prince Edward County, Ontario.

The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein #AudiobookReview #ThrowbackThursday

Book Blurb:

A heart-wrenching but deeply funny and ultimately uplifting story of family, love, loyalty, and hope–a captivating look at the wonders and absurdities of human life . . . as only a dog could tell it.

My Review:

Enzo, the dog, does a great job of narrating the view of his time with Denny and his family. The book isn’t about the dog, it’s his POV of the family, their struggles with the mom’s illness, and the ultimate fight that Denny confronts as he fights for the right to keep custody of his daughter.

Denny dreams of being a race car driver. He loves his daughter and she is all that is left to him following his wife’s death—except racing. But being torn between racing and the love of his daughter is staring down another horrific loss.

Denny is a hard worker and it’s not easy for him to go on after the death of his beloved wife. It’s a tragedy, yes, but should that be compounded by another tragedy? His wife’s family believe they should raise their granddaughter.

Woven in and through the storyline is the dog’s view of what is happening to Denny, to the family, and the dog’s own love affair, both with his own canine love and that of being part of Denny’s life and racing. He can tell you more about cars and racing than you’d ever want to know and give you a way to enjoy the knowledge.

It’s interesting. Reveling in the wind, the smells, the sheer power underneath him, and the speed. Faster, faster! No, I haven’t done that in a car, though haven’t most of us fantasized about burning rubber? I never red lined my bike, but dragged pegs, and that is certainly an adrenalin rush.

I enjoyed the storyline, followed the nicely paced plot, right until it moved into absurdity which rather ruined it for me. The dog is intelligent, yes, but this moves beyond disbelief and fantasy. Also, I didn’t find it particularly funny. It’s heart-wrenching, indeed, and plays on the human qualities of love, trust, and hope, as well as the canine qualities of loyalty and empathy.

I downloaded a copy of this audiobook from my local well-stocked library. These are my honest thoughts. Did you read or listen to the well-narrated book or see the movie?

Rosepoint Publishing: Four Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Contemporary Fiction, Contemporary Literature & Fiction
Publisher: HarperAudio
ASIN: B0019HXPIC
Listening Length: 6 hrs 56 mins
Narrator: Christopher Evan Welch
Publication Date: May 13, 2008
Source: Local Library (Audiobook Selections)
Title Link: The Art of Racing in the Race [Amazon]

The Author: Garth Stein is the author of four novels: the New York Times bestselling gothic/historical/coming-of-age/ghost story, “A Sudden Light;” the internationally bestselling “The Art of Racing in the Rain;” the PNBA Book Award winner, “How Evan Broke His Head and Other Secrets;” and the magically realistic “Raven Stole the Moon.” He is also the author of the stage play, “Brother Jones.” He has a dog, he’s raced a few cars, climbed a bunch of really tall trees, made a few documentary films, and he lives in Seattle with his family. He’s co-founder of Seattle7Writers.org, a non-profit collective of 74 Northwest authors working together to energize the reading and writing public.

#ThrowbackThursday

Here One Moment by Liane Moriarty #AudiobookReview #FamilyLifeFiction

Amazon Charts #1 this week

Book Blurb:

Life is full of twists and turns you never see coming. But what if you did?

The plane is jam-packed. Every seat is taken. So of course the flight is delayed! Flight attendant Allegra Patel likes her job—she’s generally happy with her life, even if she can’t figure out why she hooks up with a man she barely speaks to—but today is her twenty-eighth birthday. She can think of plenty of things she’d rather be doing than placating a bunch of grumpy passengers.

There’s the well-dressed man in seat 4C who is compulsively checking his watch, desperate not to miss his eleven-year-old daughter’s musical. Further back, a mother of two is frantically trying to keep her toddler entertained and her infant son quiet. How did she ever think being a stay-at-home mom would be easier than being a lawyer? Ethan is lost in thought; he’s flying back from his first funeral. A young couple has just gotten married; she’s still wearing her wedding dress. An emergency room nurse is looking forward to traveling the world once she retires in a few years, it’s going to be so much fun! If they ever get off the tarmac. . . .

Suddenly a woman none of them know stands up. She makes predictions about how and when everyone on board will die. Some dismiss her. Others will do everything they can to make sure her prophecies do not come to pass. All of them will be forever changed.

How would you live your life if you thought you knew how it would end? Would you love who you love or try to love someone else? Would you stay married? Would you stop drinking? Would you call up your ex-best friend you haven’t spoken to in years? Would you quit your job?

Intricately plotted, with the wonderful wit Liane Moriarty has become famous for, Here One Moment brilliantly looks at friends, lovers, and family and how we manage to hold onto them in our harried modern lives.

My Review:

Cherry is a fascinating character, no denying that. She has a history that is woven in and out of the story as we begin to know those deeply affected by her predictions on the plane and how they confront the information.

The rich character development engrains an investment in them and morbid curiosity in how they will confront and possibly work the knowledge advantageously. Can you change fate? Or is this fate written in stone by an old woman who then has no memory of her delivery of the edicts?

It comes down to: How seriously would you, in that situation, take the prediction? What if other predictions began manifesting true?

Well, you can’t say it isn’t thought-provoking, a psychological challenge to delve into that reverberates after the novel is finished—quite handily—I might add. It’s an oddly satisfying conclusion, albeit leaving a few unanswered questions, challenges.

There is a complex storyline, lots of characters. Moments of humor, emotions first jerked one way and then the other. The narrators were super.

This is one I’d recommend purely for the unique premise in a psychological thriller, one that grips quickly and doesn’t sag midway through. It is well-plotted and paced throughout to denouement. I read this author the first time in 2021 with Apples Never Fall, slow burn and thoughtful. Thinking I’ll watch for this author again.

I downloaded a copy of this audiobook from my local well-stocked library. These are my honest thoughts.

Rosepoint Publishing: Four point Five Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Family Life Fiction, Women’s Domestic Life Fiction
Publisher: Random House Audio
ASIN: B0CVSJJLW4
Listening Length: 15 hrs 53 mins
Narrator: Caroline Lee, Geraldine Hakewill
Publication Date: September 10, 2024
Source: Local Library (Audiobook Selections)
Title Link: Here One Moment – Amazon-US
Amazon-UK
Barnes & Noble
Kobo

The Author: Liane Moriarty is the Australian author of nine internationally best-selling novels: Three Wishes, The Last Anniversary, What Alice Forgot, The Hypnotist’s Love Story, Nine Perfect Strangers and the number one New York Times bestsellers: The Husband’s Secret, Big Little Lies, Truly Madly Guilty and Apples Never Fall. Her books have been translated into over forty languages and sold more than 20 million copies.

Big Little Lies, Nine Perfect Strangers and Apples Never Fall were adapted into popular television series with the star-studded casts including Nicole Kidman, Reese Witherspoon, Melissa McCarthy and Annette Bening.

Her new novel, Here One Moment will be released in 2024.

Liane lives in Sydney, Australia, together with her husband, son and daughter.

Happy Autumn Sunday!

Darling Girls: A Novel by Sally Hepworth #AudiobookReview #mysteryactionfiction

Rosepoint Publishing: Five Stars

Sally Hepworth can really write deeply flawed characters that come alive on the pages!

Book Blurb:

For as long as they can remember, Jessica, Norah, and Alicia have been told how lucky they are. As young girls they were rescued from family tragedies and raised by a loving foster mother, Miss Fairchild, on an idyllic farming estate and given an elusive second chance at a happy family life.

But their childhood wasn’t the fairy tale everyone thinks it was. Miss Fairchild had rules. Miss Fairchild could be unpredictable. And Miss Fairchild was never, ever to be crossed. In a moment of desperation, the three broke away from Miss Fairchild and thought they were free. Even though they never saw her again, she was always somewhere in the shadows of their minds. When a body is discovered under the home they grew up in, the foster sisters find themselves thrust into the spotlight as key witnesses. Or are they prime suspects?

A thrilling suspense of sisterhood, secrets, love, and murder by New York Times bestselling author Sally Hepworth.

My Review:

Jessica, Norah, and Alicia grew up in a foster home at Wild Meadows, viewed from the outside as the ideal. A beautiful property, lovely home, and anything but a loving mother. Miss Fairchild is the epitome of the horrors of foster care.

Sisters by their shared experience, they manage to survive the dreadful conditions until they manage their escape. Close as any biological sisters could be, they are brought together in adulthood again following the discovery of human remains on the property. With their heads together, they revisit the possibilities. Who could the remains belong to? Law enforcement also wants to know and they are called back to be interviewed.

Are they withholding information or sharing a secret each has vowed never to divulge?

Yes, the book will hook from the beginning and describe the background of each of the girls. The characters, both the girls and Miss Fairchild are very well developed. It’s easy to invest in the girls, root for them to survive the latest “discipline.”

There are twists and turns, flips between the present and the past. There were sub-levels of plot. There is a shocking disclosure in the conclusion. Psychological impact of the girls’ past is interwoven in their stories, the way each girl handled the situation, and their fit in the sisterhood. Miss Fairchild is a deeply flawed main character dealing emotional as well as physical abuse on her foster girls.

I read The Good Sister in June 2022 and loved it. This one hooked quickly and became a page-turning thriller, engaging, and fast paced. The narrator did a terrific job of driving the suspense. Recommended.

I downloaded a copy of this audiobook from my local well-stocked library. These are my honest thoughts.

Book Details:

Genre: Mystery Action Fiction, Action Thriller & Suspense, Domestic Thrillers
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
ASIN: B0C3N8Z9FB
Listening Length: 9 hrs 6 mins
Narrator: Jessica Clarke
Publication Date: April 23, 2024
Source: Local Library (Audiobook Selections)
Title Links: Darling Girls – Amazon-US
Amazon-UK
Barnes & Noble
Kobo

The Author: Sally Hepworth is the New York Times bestselling author of nine novels, including The Good Sister and The Soulmate. Her latest novel, Darling Girls, was released in Australia in September 2023, and will be released in North America in April 2024.

Drawing on the good, the bad and the downright odd of human behaviour, Sally writes incisively about family, relationships and identity. Her domestic thriller novels are laced with quirky humour, sass and a darkly charming tone. They are available worldwide in English and have been translated into twenty languages.

Sally lives in Melbourne, Australia, with her three children and one adorable dog. She has recently taken up ocean swimming (or to put it more accurately, ocean dipping.

Happy Listening!

The Heiress: A Novel by Rachel Hawkins #AudiobookReview #GothicHorrorFiction

Best Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

Book Blurb:

THERE’S NOTHING AS GOOD AS THE RICH GONE BAD

When Ruby McTavish Callahan Woodward Miller Kenmore dies, she’s not only North Carolina’s richest woman, she’s also its most notorious. The victim of a famous kidnapping as a child and a widow four times over, Ruby ruled the tiny town of Tavistock from Ashby House, her family’s estate high in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

But in the aftermath of her death, her adopted son, Camden, wants little to do with the house or the money—and even less to do with the surviving McTavishes. Instead, he rejects his inheritance, settling into a normal life as an English teacher in Colorado and marrying Jules, a woman just as eager to escape her own messy past.

Ten years later, his uncle’s death pulls Cam and Jules back into the family fold at Ashby House. Its views are just as stunning as ever, its rooms just as elegant, but the legacy of Ruby is inescapable.

And as Ashby House tightens its grip on Jules and Camden, questions about the infamous heiress come to light. Was there any truth to the persistent rumors following her disappearance as a girl? What really happened to those four husbands, who all died under mysterious circumstances? And why did she adopt Cam in the first place? Soon, Jules and Cam realize that an inheritance can entail far more than what’s written in a will—and that the bonds of family stretch far beyond the grave.

A Macmillan Audio production from St. Martin’s Press.

My Review:

I had no idea I was tackling a Gothic thriller, but I can tell you that this dysfunctional family makes you happy you aren’t rich. Good grief, with money comes treachery, woes, and misery. Or perhaps the McTavish family is unusual? I hope so.

Cam and Jules have been married for a while, solid and comfortable, childless but happy in Colorado far away from the family who adopted him and the mother who denied her birth children the home and fortune she left Cam. The siblings, who were never thrilled with him, are now left bitter and conniving after Ruby’s death.

Cam is called by his uncle to Ashby House to straighten out a financial mess. It’s Jules who convinces him he should return, reconcile with his adopted siblings.

Then it does read like a Gothic novel, describing a home of monumental proportions on a palatial estate, breathtakingly beautiful. It’s easy to veil the secrets, tension, and suspicion each family member heaps on each other. Narcissism screams with each character, whose personalities have been defined by money, power, and privilege.

The plot deepens with revelations from each of the characters, beautifully captured by multiple narrators. Adding to the tension are the little letter vignettes from Ruby, disclosing the stories of her four unfortunate husbands, all having met suspicious deaths.

I really enjoyed this psychological thriller and the trove of unreliable narrators, ramping suspense. From a slightly slow start through the twists, one last zinger at the end, and the satisfying denouement, this novel may well be enjoyed by Gothic and psychological thriller fans and it doesn’t hurt that the area descriptions become so atmospheric.

I downloaded a copy of this audiobook from my local well-stocked library. These are my honest thoughts.

Rosepoint Publishing: Four point Five Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Gothic Horror Fiction, Gothic Fiction, Psychological Thrillers
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
ASIN: B0C3NX3ZK6
Listening Length: 8 hrs 20 mins
Narrator: Dan Bittner, Eliza Foss, John Pirhalla, Patti Murin
Publication Date: January 9, 2024
Source: Local Library (Audiobook Selections)
Title Link: The Heiress [Amazon-US]
Amazon-UK
Barnes & Noble
Kobo

The Author: Rachel Hawkins (http://www.rachel-hawkins.com) was a high school English teacher before becoming a full-time writer. She lives with her family in Alabama, and is currently at work on the third book in the Hex Hall series. To the best of her knowledge, Rachel is not a witch, though some of her former students may disagree….

Happy (Audiobook) Thursday

Fire and Bones by Kathy Reichs #AudiobookReview #medicalfiction

A Temperance Brennan Novel Book 23

Boy howdy do I love it when I find an established series that I can get into, crave another, and read as standalones. Does it get better than that? I think not.

Book Blurb:

#1 New York Times bestselling author Kathy Reichs returns with a twisty, unputdownable thriller featuring forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan, who finds herself at the center of a Washington, DC, arson investigation that spawns deepening levels of mystery and, ultimately, violence.

Always apprehensive about working fire scenes, Tempe is called to Washington, DC, to analyze the victims of a deadly blaze and sees her misgivings justified. The devastated building is in Foggy Bottom, a neighborhood with a colorful past and present, and Tempe becomes suspicious about the property’s ownership when she delves into its history.

The pieces start falling into place strangely and quickly, and, sensing a good story, Tempe teams with a new ally, telejournalist Ivy Doyle. Soon the duo learns that back in the thirties and forties the home was the hangout of a group of bootleggers and racketeers known as the Foggy Bottom Gang. Though interesting, this fact seems irrelevant—until the son of a Foggy Bottom gang member is shot dead at his home in an affluent part of the district. Coincidence? Targeted attacks? So many questions.

As Tempe and Ivy dig deeper, an arrest is finally made. Then another Foggy Bottom Gang-linked property burns to the ground, claiming one more victim. Slowly, Tempe’s instincts begin pointing to the obvious: somehow, her moves since coming to Washington have been anticipated, and every path forward seems to bring with it a lethal threat.

My Review:

Write what you know…isn’t that the saying? And this author does just that.

I love stepping into the world of forensics and with whom better than an acclaimed expert in the field. Temperance “Tempe” Brennan answers a call from Washington to look into the fire in Foggy Bottom that resulted in multiple fatalities.

Apparently, the site of an illegally run AirBNB, it’ll be difficult to buck the local fire officials. Tempe had special plans with her long-term love interest, reservations set, and had to cancel those incurring the wrath of said boyfriend. Not bad enough she had to cancel those plans but then she’s confronted with no available accommodations and has to accept the invitation of her daughter’s friend, a reporter, Ivy Doyle. Of course, she is not free to divulge findings until they are properly released. They manage to find a cooperative compromise.

Completing a thorough sweep of the house, however, reveals yet another body in a sub-area stuffed away in a sack that obviously dates well back prior to this fire. Multi-layers of investigation, descriptions of what happens and why to a body may get graphic but fascinating at the same time. The complexity ramps up with numerous threads beyond forensic anthropology. There is a sense of humor displayed here, often manifest in severe crime scenes that helps to keep the macabre down a bit.

The tension builds as more scientific evidence is uncovered, solving plot points along the way. I really enjoy the intelligence of Tempe, her independence, still at the same time, wondering if she’s killed her long-term romance with Ryan. Also, I wondered what line would be drawn in the real world where forensics anthropology would have rightly ended and law enforcement would take it from there. Cross-over into someone else’s job?

The pacing is amazing, so much information (even what you might not have wanted to know), and a storyline that keeps you flipping pages. As I do sometimes, I’ll now go back now and see if I can’t find a book that takes place in Canada (as the series sometimes does).

This series, however, is a solid one for me and if it’s new to you as well, I’ll heartily recommend it. The TV series “Bones” was created from the experiences and books by this author starring Emily Deschanel as Temperance Brennan. I’m going to have to revisit that now, too.

I downloaded a copy of this audiobook from my local well-stocked library. These are my honest thoughts.

Rosepoint Publishing: Four point Five Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Medical Fiction, Medical Thrillers, Women Sleuth Mysteries
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
ASIN: B0CLHHNHN9
Listening Length: 8 hrs 40 mins
Narrator: Linda Emond
Publication Date: August 6, 2024
Source: Local Library (Audiobook Selections)
Title Link: Fire and Bones Amazon-US
Amazon-UK
Barnes & Noble
Kobo

The Author: Kathy Reichs’s first novel Déjà Dead catapulted her to fame when it became a New York Times bestseller and won the 1997 Ellis Award for Best First Novel. Her other Temperance Brennan books include Death du Jour, Deadly Décisions, Fatal Voyage, Grave Secrets, Bare Bones, Monday Mourning, Cross Bones, Break No Bones, Bones to Ashes, Devil Bones, 206 Bones, Spider Bones, Flash and Bones, Bones Are Forever, Bones of the Lost, Bones Never Lie, Speaking in Bones, A Conspiracy of Bones, The Bone Code, Cold Cold Bones, The Bone Hacker and the Temperance Brennan short story collection, The Bone Collection. Fire and Bones will be released in the Summer of 2024. In addition, Kathy co-authored the Virals young adult series with her son, Brendan Reichs. The best-selling titles are: Virals, Seizure, Code, Exposure, Terminal, and the novella collection Trace Evidence. The series follows the adventures of Temperance Brennan’s great niece, Tory Brennan. Dr. Reichs was also a producer of the hit Fox TV series, Bones, which is based on her work and her novels.

From teaching FBI agents how to detect and recover human remains, to separating and identifying commingled body parts in her Montreal lab, as a forensic anthropologist Kathy Reichs has brought her own dramatic work experience to her mesmerizing forensic thrillers. For years she consulted to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in North Carolina and to the Laboratoire de Sciences Judiciaires et de Médecine Légale for the province of Québec. Dr. Reichs has travelled to Rwanda to testify at the UN Tribunal on Genocide, and helped exhume a mass grave in Guatemala. As part of her work at JPAC (Formerly CILHI) she aided in the identification of war dead from World War II, Korea, and Southeast Asia. Dr. Reichs also assisted in the recovery of remains at the World Trade Center following the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Dr. Reichs is one of very few forensic anthropologists ever certified by the American Board of Forensic Anthropology. She served on the Board of Directors and as Vice President of both the American Academy of Forensic Sciences and the American Board of Forensic Anthropology, and as a member of the National Police Services Advisory Council in Canada. She is a Professor Emeritus in the Department of Anthropology at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte.

Dr. Reichs is a native of Chicago, where she received her Ph.D. at Northwestern. She now divides her time between Charlotte, NC and Montreal, Québec.

Happy Listening!

You’ll Never Find Me by Allison Brennan #AudiobookReview #WomenSleuthMysteries

Angelhart Investigations Book 1

If you love getting in on a new series with Book 1, you may want to check this one out.

Book Blurb:

Nothing brings family together like crime. In the first book in the thrilling new Angelhart series from New York Times bestselling author Allison Brennan, private investigator Margot Angelhart helps clients the law overlooks, but when she takes on a case more dangerous than she imagined, teaming up with her estranged siblings may be her only hope for survival.

Working alone as a private investigator is tough. Estranged from her PI family, Margo Angelhart does what she must to get by—including taking on sordid cases that pay the bills, even if she’d rather be helping those the justice system has failed.

That is, until a cheating husband case she’s working intersects with her siblings’ corporate espionage investigation, forcing Margo to cooperate with the Angelhart firm. Now, as the siblings compare notes, it’s clear they need to work together before a white-collar crime escalates to murder.

With far more questions than answers and a key suspect on the run, they’ll need the whole family to pitch in. But as they investigate the ever-twisting mystery, Margo isn’t sharing everything. Can she learn to trust her family and heal their once-close relationship before her secrets put those she loves most in danger?

My Review:

The author introduces us to the Angelhart family in a new series. Not my first experience with the author but thought I’d try again with the first in a new series as I usually come in well after the characters are established with history.

Margo is a PI, estranged from the family. The dynamic with the family is strained and I had a hard time engaging with Margo’s character, discovering the separation from the family business was possibly explained in a prequel that I didn’t read it.

This narrative splits and creates a sub-plot. As the blurb describes, one of Margo’s cases and her siblings intersect. Margo is also trying to help a woman escape a dangerous situation with her husband. Add the dissension between Margo, her family, and why her dad is in prison and the storyline gets complex. She’s sure he didn’t commit the crime and can’t understand why her family won’t back her in working to clear his name.

There may be too many threads packed into the storyline—it becomes a bit convoluted—and working on separate plot points, found myself disassociating from the audio and not staying tuned.

The chapters bounce between different characters POV. Sometimes that works well for me. While it gives the reader more inside info into the thought processes of the characters, it became just too much in this case. The point seems to be setting them up for further inclusion in additional installments. I did enjoy the descriptions of the Phoenix area since we spent a year in Goodyear and got to understand the real beauty of the area.

Too many holes for me, bouncing POVs, switching plot threads, setting the stage for the next installment, and the conclusion left me with unanswered questions. I had somewhat the same experience with the writing style in The Wrong Victim last year. Again it seems, I want more potency in the main thread, more tension, faster pace, suspense.

I downloaded a copy of this audiobook from my local well-stocked library. These are my honest thoughts.

Rosepoint Publishing: Three point Five Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Women Sleuth Mysteries, Crime Thrillers
Publisher: Harlequin Audio
ASIN: B0CT479PLS
Listening Length: 10 hrs 31 mins
Narrator: Hillary Huber
Publication Date: June 25, 2024
Source: Local Library (Audiobook Selections)
Title Link: You’ll Never Find Me [Amazon-US]
Amazon-UK
Barnes & Noble
Kobo

The Author: Allison Brennan is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling and award winning author of more than forty thrillers and numerous short stories. She was nominated for Best Paperback Original Thriller by International Thriller Writers, had multiple nominations and two Daphne du Maurier Awards, and is a five-time RITA finalist for Best Romantic Suspense. Allison believes life is too short to be bored, so she had five kids and writes three books a year. Originally from northern California, in 2019 she and her husband relocated to Arizona where they enjoy baseball Spring Training, hiking, and spending time with their kids, grandson, and assorted pets.

Happy Thursday!

Dog Day Afternoon by David Rosenfelt #AudiobookReview #animalfiction

An Andy Carpenter Mystery #29

Book Blurb:

Paterson, New Jersey’s favorite reluctant lawyer Andy Carpenter returns in Dog Day Afternoon, the next mystery in this fan favorite series from National Bestselling Author David Rosenfelt.

Retired lawyer Andy Carpenter has run the Tara Foundation—the dog rescue organization named after his beloved golden retriever—for years. It’s always been his calling, even as Andy’s pulled into representing clients in court. His investigator, Marcus Clark, has been at Andy’s side for a long time. Even though they’ve known each other for years, Marcus keeps his personal life a mystery.

So it’s a shock when Marcus arrives at the Tara Foundation with two strangers in tow. Turns out Marcus takes disadvantaged young men under his wing, gets them jobs, a place to live, and a chance at a different life. And they want a dog. Andy’s specialty. One of the young men, Nick Williams, instantly falls in love with one of the dogs, Daisy.

When there’s a mass shooting at Nick’s work, leaving six dead, all signs point to Nick. Marcus, who’s never asked Andy for anything, asks Andy for help. Despite Nick’s troubled background, Andy trusts his friend and takes the case.

A Macmillan Audio production from Minotaur Books.

My Review:

Yes, it’s time for another Andy Carpenter legal mystery narrated by one of my favorites, Grover Gardner—who is Andy Carpenter personified. I just have to hear that voice and I see the man. (Andy may need to walk his dogs a little longer.)

You’ll remember by now, since this is one of my favorite series, that Andy Carpenter has been trying to retire from being a defense attorney for years. He no longer needs to work but is heavily involved in the dog rescue organization he created with a partner, a former client. He has three dogs in his own family dynamic, each with very different personalities, levels of energy, and contributions to the storyline.

And then there is Marcus, who never known for his verbosity, suddenly seeks Andy’s help in the defense of a disadvantaged young man he helped get the job where there has now been a mass shooting. Marcus knows he couldn’t have done it, Nick is a dog lover.

I love the complexity of the installments. They are multi-layered and twisty, and you never know where the storyline is heading. These narratives are never simple. Andy has his usual crew besides Marcus, including Sam and his wife Laurie. Each character adds an authentic touch to the crew that helps with his investigation and legal proceedings.

Along the way, just in case things are getting heavy, are the usual banter, snide remarks, and casual snarky observations.

While the author follows his successful format pattern, the characters are well drawn and relatable, balance each other well, and the stories work as standalone. This is absolutely a series you’ll opt for the audiobook as Gardner’s narration is always a hoot and just too much fun. (Of course, it helps that the author has penned his signature sense of humor.)

The novels are always well-paced and, of course, I love the inclusion of the dogs. Each of the installments is engaging and entertaining.

This last book in the series I read in October 2023, Book 28, was ‘Twas the Bite Before Christmas” and I loved it. I’m thinking we’ll soon have one for Christmas 2024. I’m looking forward to it.

I downloaded a copy of this audiobook from my local well-stocked library. These are my honest thoughts.

Rosepoint Publishing: Four point Five Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Animal Fiction, Traditional Detective Mysteries
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
ASIN: B0CH1D7WJF
Listening Length: 7 hrs 13 mins
Narrator: Grover Gardner
Publication Date: July 2, 2024
Source: Local Library (Audiobook Selections)
Title Links: Dog Day Afternoon [Amazon-US]
Amazon-UK
Barnes & Noble
Kobo

The Author:

David Rosenfelt, a native of Paterson, New Jersey, is a graduate of NYU. He was the former marketing president for Tri-Star Pictures before becoming a writer of novels and screenplays. “Open And Shut” was his first novel; “First Degree,” his second novel, was named a best book of 2003 by Publishers Weekly. He currently lives in Southern California with his wife and 35 dogs.

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The Narrator:

Grover Gardner’s narration career spans twenty-five years and over 550 audiobook titles. AudioFile Magazine has called him one of the “Best Voices of the Century” and features him in their annual “Golden Voices” update. Publishers Weekly named him Audiobook Narrator of the Year for 2005. His recordings have garnered 18 “Golden Earphones” awards from AudioFile and an Audie Award from the Audio Publishers’ Association.
http://grovergardner.blogspot.com/