Nice quick listen

I enjoyed this short story/novelette. It had everything you need in it to make a good mystery. Obviously being a shorter story there is not much back story or involved detail but it did not detract from my enjoyment, enough was there to life to the characters without them feeling flat.

I am afraid though the choice of narrator did make it hard for me to listen to it. Nothing against R.E. Harter but his voice did not fit the character for me yet I can think of plenty of other books he would be fantastic reading. Although no age was given for the main character it was implied he was at most middle-aged but most likely younger and to me the narrator's voice made seem as if he was a man in his 6s/70s but I, of course, could have picked it up wrongly and maybe he is older than I assumed.

I would love to listen to more of Johns adventures as a PI but whether I will unless a new narrator is chosen for this series I am unsure. Would I be willing to buy another, maybe I will relisten now I have done so once and see if I can fit voice to the character better.

I was given this book by the author for free so I know I should not complain but to me, a review should be truthful no matter how the book was obtained.

So to sum up - I loved the authors work but to me, the narrator was the wrong choice.

1 person found this helpful

A short but engaging tale

This short detective tale felt like the pilot episode of a charming TV series. Interesting location, range of various characters, scenerios seemingly set up for the next week.

For fans of the kind of low key British police procedural this will feel right at home, and makes for a fun listen on that basis.

Unfortunately the production has its own problems which can really distract.For some reason the narrator cannot say quay right, which as much action takes place or, near or by a "kway" gets super annoying. There's a few other similar issues, which just don't inspire much confidence in the production and can take you out of the story.

The story itself also felt a little unsatisfactory. It's hard to explain without spoiling the mystery, but in my opinion it felt like the type of story that should be at least the third or fourth mystery in a series not the first, where we're expecting to be wowed by the main characters detection prowess, and instead I left underwhelmed.

However it was an entertaining tale, and I'll probably pick up some future stories for something a bit quick and light hearted to listen to. If you like a cosy mystery style piece, this does that job pretty well.

A great start

A promising first mystery to the series, with a wonderful twist at the end. Great

Blinded

This was an interesting short story. I liked the whole idea that the detective was never sure if it was murder or an accident. It reminds me of an old fashion murder mystery and very English (not sure when it was supposed to have been set). I don't think you got very much back ground story (I don't think you were ever told why he became a P.I. or if you did I missed it) but the plot wasn't very complicated, so it wouldn't have worked if it had been any longer. I liked all the big clues left so you could reach the same conclusion as John and with no twists it was easy to get there. A good start though to a new series.
John Handful has been called in to consult when a body is found on the beach. The dead man worked for John's finance and is quickly identify when she calls John worried about her visually impaired employee not turning up for work. She knew he liked to walk on the cliffs and he had never missed a day before. Was he pushed or was it an accident?
I didn't really like the narrator. He was to gruff and just didn't have enough range of voices for the characters, this meant they all tended to sound very similar.
I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Okay story

A decent enough story, this was an easy case to work out though.
I wasn’t drawn to the main character but some of this was down to the narrator, unfortunately his voice and delivery didn’t appeal to me added to that he mis pronounces several words, soco (scene of crime officer) vanilla and Peugeot.

mystery

A interesting and well written plot. The main character works well .
This book has good characters and a good plot. An old fashioned mystery who done it.

Good but not great

It is a good book, it is not perfectly written, but I still enjoyed it.
The narrator is horrible, he should not be allowed to narrate books

enjoyable book

Enjoyed this audio book very much from start to finish great story line too
I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audiobook by the author, narrator, or publisher.

Ok , I suppose, for a short story

The story is extremely basic and revolves around the bumbling buffoon DI Silvers of the Suffolk Constabulary and John Handful himself who is asked for assistance as soon as a body turns up on the beach.

The narration is dire. The american narrator gives all the characters pompous old fashioned voices and pronounces everything in the american way, 'booey' for 'buoy' being one of the worst sins, also 'Zoë' being pronounced 'Zo'!

I received a free review copy in exchange for an honest review.

Worth a listen but needs a better narrator

This short story is a good start to a series with an interesting and well written plot. The main character works well but he seems to do more work than the police, who called him in before they even tried to solve the mystery/crime themselves.

I solved the main mystery much quicker than John Handful though so I kept waiting for him to catch up. Also, there was too much description of the sky & sea than was necessary as well as the completely unnecessary cookery lesson detailing how to make breakfast. That seemed like nothing more than space filler and I half expected to be told about the pattern on the plates and how many mouthfuls of scrambled eggs they each ate.

I have to wonder why John's girlfriend is always introduced as Kimberley Ashlyn Gere. Is it ever normal to introduce people with all their first names? Surely just Kimberley Gere would be more natural. Nobody introduces the Black Widow actress as Scarlett Ingrid Johansson or the Game of Thrones star as Emilia Isobel Euphemia Rose Clarke do they? I actually thought it was a hyphenated surname at first.

I'm not too keen on the narration much as the performer often seems to be shouting his conversations for no apparent reason and while one character states he's not yet an octogenarian, the performer often sounds like exactly that. Also his pronunciation of some words made me cringe, such as Quay should be pronounced KEE not KWAY and Zoe is pronounced ZOH + EE not ZOH, at least in British english. Maybe it's a regional thing but it's not normal.

I'm still keen to try other books in the series as I've checked that other, hopefully better, narrators are used.

I received a free copy of this audiobook either from the author or a promotion or giveaway and am voluntarily writing an honest and unbiased review.