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Cruel Winter

A County Cork Mystery

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About this listen

Snow is a rarity in Maura Donovan's small village in County Cork, Ireland, so she wasn't sure what to expect when a major snowstorm rolled in around Sullivan's pub. But now she's stranded in a bar full of patrons - and a suspected killer in a long-ago murder.

Maura's been in Ireland less than a year and hasn't heard about the decades-old unsolved crime that took place nearby, let alone the infamous suspect, Diane Caldwell. But the locals have, and they're not happy to be trapped with her. Diane, meanwhile, seeks to set the record straight, asserting her innocence after all this time. And since no one is going anywhere in the storm, Maura encourages Diane to share her side of the story, which she'd never had a chance to do in court.

Over the next few hours, the informal court in Sullivan's reviews the facts and theories about the case - and comes to some surprising conclusions. But is it enough to convince the police to take a new look at an old case?

A clever spin on the classic locked-room mystery, Cruel Winter, the fifth in New York Times best-selling author Sheila Connolly's series, will delight fans of the Emerald Isle.

©2017 Sheila Connolly (P)2017 Blackstone Audio, Inc. Amateur Sleuths Cosy Detective Fiction International Mystery & Crime Mystery Traditional Detectives Women Sleuths Women's Fiction Crime Exciting
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The story is a perfectly acceptable easy crime story with a requisite cosy setting. The main character, Maura is well narrated, she’s American so the American narrator obviously did well there. The rest of the characters are a dreadful stew of mangled ‘Oirish’. Think Dick Van Dyke’s attempt at cockney. This one was free on Plus, sadly don’t think I would pay for another in the series without a change of narrator.


An issue with Irish accents

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Weak story and dreadful narration left my ears hurting, I hate not getting to the end and persevered, a decision I regret

Just about managed to listen

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The research done wasn’t great if you pick Cork as venue you should more about that part of Ireland. Same with the accent not an easy one to present and it was off the mark. Have heard worse though so still enjoyed the book more than I thought I would.

A bit too American

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15 minutes in and just couldn't bear the accent attempted by the narrator any longer, switched it off.

disappointing.

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I started but I can’t continue. If the book is set in Ireland why couldn’t you find an Irish narrator? They do exist, I’ve heard them. This american woman who can’t do accents is just not an acceptable choice. I wish publishers would actually think about their choice of narrator as it either makes or breaks an audiobook.

Nope.

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