Audiobook Review : In the Bleak Midwinter by by Julia Spencer-Fleming
Written By: amodini
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Oct•
30•19
Author : Julia Spencer-Fleming
Narrators : Suzanne Toren
Genre : Mystery
Publisher : Blackstone Audio
Listening Length : 12 hours 58 minutes
Rating : 3.7/5
Narrator Rating : 4/5
Reverend Clare Fergusson is the new priest at St. Albans in Miller’s Kill, New York. A former army pilot, Fergusson is all ready to take on the responsibilities of her parish, when one cold winter’s day she finds an abandoned baby on the church steps. A note with the baby indicates that he be given to two of her parishioners. Claire calls in the police. As the investigation gathers steam, and the murders start to pile up, Clare gets more and more embroiled in it.
This is my first book of the series, and I’m very pleased to have found another great mystery series! The characters are very likeable and well drawn. The mystery is nicely wrought, and Clare is in the thick of it by being the discoverer of the baby and the parish priest; she considers herself responsible for the well-being of her flock, although some of them disapprove of her new-fangled ideas. Clare has a solid sense of ethics and privacy, but is impulsive. Although she is good friends with local police chief Russ van Alstyne, she is hesitant to ask for help, and lands in one hairy situation after another.
A surprising and unexpected twist in this tale, is the attraction between Clare and the very much married Russ. This is the first book, and from the looks of it, this is going to progress, and I’d be curious to see how, given that she is the priest and he has a wife to boot. I wouldn’t call this book very fast-paced; there are discussions of churchyard sales, and long conversations between Clare and Russ, and Clare and her parishioners. The book really got going about midway.
Suzanne Torren does a great job narrating. Her Clare is a Southern belle, unprepared for the harsh winter with her lightweight clothing, flimsy boots, and snow-unworthy car. Police van Alstyne sounds a bit raspy but believable. All in all, an interesting book made better by Torren’s narration.
Audiobook Review : After I’m Gone by Laura Lippman
Written By: amodini
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Aug•
28•19
Title : After I’m Gone
Author : Laura Lippman
Narrators : Linda Esmond
Genre : Mystery
Publisher : Harper Audio
Listening Length : 10 hours 34 minutes
Rating : 2.5/5
Narrator Rating : 3.5/5
“After I’m Gone” is my first Laura Lippman, and I am kind of disappointed. This book was average; “meh” describes it best.
Felix Brewster, small time conman with illusions of grandeur, trying to escape the law disappears mysteriously leaving behind wife Bambi, 2 daughters, and a mistress Julie. Julie disappears 10 years later, presumably to join Felix. Much later when her body is found in a remote park thicket, retired detective Sandy Sanchez investigates this cold case.
“After I’m Gone” has an intriguing premise, but the characters are so flat that I don’t care about them. What we do know about them makes them unlikeable – they are either plain dumb, arrogant or shorn of common sense.
The book is slow-moving with details thrown in that don’t impact the story or build nuance – like why do I care about the detective’s back story? His character does not shape the case (not like Tana French’s books) so it is rather frustrating to wade through so much description for nothing. Bambi is swept off her feet by Felix but is still reserved, “holding back a piece of herself” – and what does that do to the story? Absolutely nothing.
This book felt like it hadn’t been fully thought through. In bits, the events and characters probably made sense, but as a whole this just didn’t have the momentum or excitement of a mystery/thriller. Also some skillful editing was called for.
I have heard Lippman books recommended to me, so I must try other books by her – which I’m currently loath to do.
Linda Edmond’s narration passed muster.
Audiobook Review : A Banquet of Consequences by Elizabeth George
Written By: amodini
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Jul•
31•19
Title : A Banquet of Consequences
Author : Elizabeth George
Narrators : John Lee
Genre : Mystery
Publisher : Penguin Audio
Listening Length : 21 hours 34 minutes
Rating : 5/5
Narrator Rating : 5/5
A young man, William Goldacre, leaps to his death. Soon after famous feminist Clare Abbott is poisoned. Some time after the feminist’s editor and longtime friend Rory Statham escapes another poisoning. The common connection? William’s mother and Clare’s assistant Caroline Goldacre.
The first half of the book introduces us to the characters until we get to know them pretty well. There’s Caroline and her two sons William and Charlie, each pretty disturbed in his own way. Domineering Caroline appears to be a psychopath of the first order and makes life hell for the sane people that surround her. There’s her current husband Alistair and her ex Francis. And then there’s her employer Clare and her editor Rory. All of them seem to be tolerating Caroline fairly well until William jumps off a cliff and it all goes to hell.
Sergeant Barbara Havers and Inspector Lynley don’t quite come into the book until much later. Barbara is still on Detective Superintendent Ardery’s naughty list and Lynley has to really use his persuasive skills to keep her on the case with Detective Sergeant Winston Nkata. As in the previous book, George in in top form. The story is well-layered and built up convincingly. Descriptions are long and expansive, which I love. I also like the fact that she throws in lots of personal detail about the detectives themselves which really gets the reader invested.
This book is read by John Lee and he does an amazing job of bringing out each character’s personality, especially Caroline’s venom-laden tone. Lee also read “A Fine Balance”, where I had issue with this pronouncing Indian words. He does have a distinctive voice, and not as light a tone as say Simon Vance.
Audiobook Review : Then She Was Gone by Lisa Jewell
Written By: amodini
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Jul•
03•19
Title : Then She Was Gone
Author : Lisa Jewell
Narrators : Helen Duff
Genre : Mystery
Publisher : Dreamscape Media
Listening Length : 10 hours 12 minutes
Rating : 3/5
Narrator Rating : 4/5
Ellie Mack, a lovely teenager, the light of her mother’s life, disappears one day. The police believe that she has run away although the mother Laurel Mack is sure she hasn’t. Ellie is never found and the trail gets cold. Laurel stunned by Ellie’s disappearance, has retreated from life, from other relationships, her husband, her children, but now, post-divorce has begun to put her life together again. She meets Floyd, a handsome stranger, and the relationship quickly blossoms into love, almost. Then Laurel meets Poppy Floyd’s younger daughter, and is quite taken aback because Poppy has an uncanny similarity to Ellie . . .
I have no doubt that “Then She Was Gone” is a good book. When I started listening, I was initially surprised that the book was really as good as the reviews said it would be. I couldn’t listen fast enough. Jewell is a master at her craft. She builds up the story with pitch-perfect details and manages to sketch the characters just right. She portrays events and actions and also lays out what her characters are feeling, so there is a lot of emotional depth. Her words are nicely put together and have a “literary” feel for a mystery novel.
So, yes “Then She Was Gone” is the perfect package. Except that as I listened, and I got farther and farther into the book, the book got pretty disturbing. Ghoulish (not in the supernatural sense) and gruesome, and tragic. The events are so heartbreaking that for me it shrouded this immensely interesting book in a pall of gloom. I did finish the book because I had to know, but I am torn about it, and can’t quite fully recommend it.
I have read Gone Girl where the characters are fairly psychotic, but “Then She Was Gone” is more horrific because the crime is so depraved and against a minor. The story is told via first person accounts including that of the deranged perpetrator, so unless you are pretty stoic, and/or prepared to stomach the heart-wrenching account of the damage the perp inflicts, this book may not be for you.
Helen Duff is a very good narrator; I wish I’d heard her narrating a pleasanter book.
