Kathi

Oh dear…

Revisado: 06-10-25

Well, it was not horrible. But it was such a discouraging thing to listen to. I grimaced when the narrator mispronounced french words, but then even english ones. And she just had such exaggerated voices. But had the story been just a bit more, I don’t know—polished, maybe, a less than stellar narrator would be ok. The two together made it a tedious listen.

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A solid "4"

Revisado: 06-02-25

I liked this book, and it IS ready for prime-time. However, despite that the author sounds accomplished with previous books, this was just a little bit less than stellar. I genuinely enjoyed the setting and time within which the story is told, and I think the characters, who are well-fleshed-out, have a great deal of potential. The narrator did an adequate job, but her voice was soft and sometimes a bit muffled (or, it is just the recording, itself). I think, if this is a series, it is off to a good start--with Flora, a young woman trying to run a post WWII bookstore in England, who must solve the mysterious murder that occurred in her shop to restore people's confidence in coming there to buy. I very much liked the allusions to history and books, which kept it from being run-of-the mill. I plan to see if there is a sequel--because I think this has good possibilities. But I will just say the murderer was way too obvious, and that alone gives me pause. Aside from that, it is a lovely short listen, that left me feeling glad to have heard it. But I do not think either the narration nor the story/writing itself merited a full 5 stars--something I reserve for the very best.

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I don't know what happened...

Revisado: 05-26-25

Frankly, when this series began, I just loved it. I thought it was clever, and well-written, and well-narrated. I don't know what happened between then and now, but maybe the author just is running out of ideas or something. I tried--very hard--to listen to and enjoy this book, but it is too ridiculous and forced. The women just have too many unrealistic and frankly stupid encounters to even start to be believable. Sigh. I highly recommend the beginning of these, but maybe the author needs to spend a little R&R between writing the books or something.

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What a fun discovery!

Revisado: 08-08-24

I bought this book when it was on sale I believe, and I'm so glad I did! We really enjoyed it so much. The writing is quite good, Fiona Leitch has a well-balanced ability to meld description with conversation, mystery plot with relationships/romance, and the talent for leaving me always unwilling to turn it off (we listened straight through). I notice that Audible only has three of this author's books available (don't know why). But it appears to be a series that I think will have a lot of appeal if the writing/narration continue at this level. Azara Ramm is a very good narrator who brought the story to life--she is really very good. I just purchased the next in the series, and look forward to listening to it soon.

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Excellent

Revisado: 11-27-23

Loved this book, with both Bosch and Mickey Haller together. The narration was very good, the story was also an interesting listen. My only comment would be that the ending seemed a little abrupt, but didn’t take away from the story.

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Charming!

Revisado: 08-19-23

I read the first one in this series last year, and found it delightful. I had hoped that there would be another, and loved listening to this sequel almost as much as the first. It would easily be qualified as a “cozy” mystery, but truly a cut above. I just loved the narration. That is one of the best parts. I found the story itself fun, but there were a few tough stretches in it where it felt fairly forced, in order to explain how things occurred. I hesitated writing that, because while accurate, it’s not exactly the sort of story, or even mystery, that depends on a strictly realistic depiction of things, which is why we call them cozies. It doesn’t hurt the story or the mystery at all. Many cozies are sort of boiler-plate, but so far this series doesn’t feel that way. Lots of unexpected twists. Apologies to the author if this is not the description that fits in his mind, but I hope he hears that I loved it, despite my interpretation of its classification. I like all the characters, who are certainly well-drawn, and it was fun to listen to. I’ll be recommending it to my friends.

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Ghastly!

Revisado: 11-08-22

I am not surprised about the story--but the narration was just terrible. Mr. Garrett is not a bad narrator, has a pleasant enough voice. However, he insisted on doing something clown-like to try to sound like an old woman. Perhaps he thought it was amusing. As an old woman myself, I felt horribly insulted. I feel like he owes women, especially older women, an apology. Don't really recommend the book for itself, either--unless someone just likes tedious whodunnits.

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I like--not love--this series

Revisado: 10-05-22

I think this is a GOOD series, without being great. I enjoy all the characters, and think it is wonderful that the idea that aging people are clever, funny, full of energy and can achieve great things is being celebrated. I even feel tremendously grateful that the author includes a character (Steven) who has memory problems, and does a really wonderful job of letting Elizabeth, his wife, pause in her focused attempts at solving murder, to show her love and concern for his well-being, and the love between them. Honestly, I think in some ways, that is the best part of these books. It is very human, and a seldom focused on aspect of aging for some people.

But, I find the stories a bit scattered. It can be a little hard to keep up with different characters. I applaud Mr. Osman for his extremely good representation of the quirks of human beings. I find myself wanting to tell Joyce to hurry it up, to skip all her flights of thinking while writing her diary--except, it is very accurate. Many of us do think like she does. And so on--the characters are very true to how many of us operate. I simply find it hard to keep up with it all, and sometimes the distractions make it hard to focus on what they are actually trying to achieve. That's all. This is a GOOD series, and I will happily recommend it to anyone. Especially for the very touching portrayal of people who often get given short shrift in stories like this.

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Really, a mixed review

Revisado: 10-05-22

I'd like to say that pretty much all the stories seem to be fun to listen to, but except for the first one (that almost could have been written by Agatha, herself) they all fall just a little bit short of capturing the essence of Christie's portrayal of Miss Marple. Some reflect a character just a *little bit* too forward, or modern, or involved than Christie's Miss Marple (seemed to be--to me).

That said, I was not unhappy listening to them--they were mostly pretty good little short stories using a much-loved character. Nobody should expect this set of stories to exactly duplicate the original Miss Marple--and I didn't--but I had hoped that the authors would be more careful about not falling into the trap of using more modern points of views than Christie would have had. (For example, in one story, Miss Marple enters into a brief exchange about the sexual overtones of Freudian theory--something that the original probably would not have done. She would not have been shocked--but neither would she have commented). I am not disappointed. This collection is just about as good as could be done by an assortment of good mystery writers. It cannot be easy to get into someone else's mind or writing style to create something close to a century after the first were written. I applaud them for the stories they turned out. And for the most part, the narration was also quite good.

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Very clever story/Excellent narration

Revisado: 09-18-22

This was a very clever story, featuring three women who become friends working together to solve a murder. During the course of the story, I think they unexpectedly solve puzzles about themselves as well. While I quite liked the story, it was the narration that was really good. I think a different narrator might not have brought out all the nuances of character that Nicolette McKenzie was able to do. She took a very good book, and made it excellent.

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