N. J. Miin

Excellent listen, though one narrator felt dull

Revisado: 03-20-25

I really enjoyed this adaptation of Jane Austen’s work. The actors were wonderful! They really brought the characters to life.

As for narrators, most were wonderful too, especially Emma Thompson. It was incredibly great to have her narrating two books. Her reading of Northanger Abbey was extremely captivating!

The only narrator I had an issue with was Florence Pugh’s reading of Persuasion. Why did she sound so uninterested and bored? This was also pointed out by a few earlier reviewers. One mentioned ‘sullen’ tone, I totally agree. She read too fast in the beginning, and while she did slow down a little towards and sounded more involved in the later section, the audio experience was marred.

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Long winded, repetitive, and not smart characters

Revisado: 03-15-25

Let’s start with the good part :
Excellent narrator. I have listened to Zara Rimm on another series, and she was equally good in this series. Clear voice narration, and excellent portrayal of different characters, male and female.
The plot itself was actually very interesting and good, the use of dominos and it kept me guessing till the end the actual killer.

Now to the negative part:
The story was sooooooo long winded. I felt the author was dragging the story by using a writing style more like composition trying to make it to a certain number of words. Phrases could have been more straight forward but was chosen to be poetic/flowey instead. Description of situations or feelings were repetitive.
The main characters did not come across as smart. They were often reckless in thoughts and actions , jumped to conclusion easily, and just seemed to be blundering around spoiling actual investigation. The police in this story was just as boring and clueless. I rolled my eyes so many times throughout the story. The attempts at being witty and funny just fell flat too.
It is common for a first book in a series to be a bit weak and stumbling, and as series progresses it gets better. I have yet to decide if I may get the 2nd book. Reviews seem to be positive for later books, but looking at the length of the audio I do kind of dread I will get the same issues with book 1.

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What a great find!

Revisado: 03-02-25

There are many cosy crime books with typical setting : lovely English village, strong clever female lead, handsome love interest, funny and lovable supporting characters.
Based on reviews, I decided to give this book a try thinking it is probably a not too bad one. Oh boy was I wrong, this book wasn’t just “not too bad”, it was blimey GOOD!
The plot was good and I couldn’t guess what happened till the show down. However, it was the people who stole the story.
The female lead was such a clever and likeable woman, who can handle situation brilliantly - breaking up fights, standing up for herself, giving in to her friends in exasperation, pretending innocence in front of police etc. I really enjoy her musings and humour. Her mother was another funny lovable lady, all the eagerness to get Jodie attached again and all her gossips. The friends around were just an interesting bunch, I hope they would stick around in book 2. Of course I am looking forward to see how Jodie’s love life would develop in book 2.
I sincerely hope the next few books would be just as good.

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Great production

Revisado: 11-20-24

So excited to see another Agatha Christie adaptation and this did not disappointed.
Though there were times when I got confused with so many characters in one scene, it was overall a very good production. I personally like the Evie actress, I thought she gave a wonderful performance. I was surprised at how young Hastings sounded, perhaps I was too used to Hugh Fraser!
Hopefully there will be another adaptation of another Agatha Christie’s work by Audible soon.

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Great narration

Revisado: 11-16-24

Enjoyed this book as with the previous books in the same series. Good story, with a great narrator. The ending scene left a cliffhanger, and I cannot wait for the next book.

P/s is Inspector Lovebrooke getting his own series? The author seemed to be hinting that Inspector had a complicated background, and through this series been dropping info bits about him. I do hope to see one with Valentine Lovebrooke as main character.

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Struggle to listen

Revisado: 11-12-24

I have listened to many cosy crime mysteries, and since this came free with my membership, I thought to give it a try. Who knows, it may be a great new series. Sadly it wasn’t the case.

The story seemed promising, but the goings on a little long winded and repetitive as the main lead Hazel pondered over the various suspects (always dwelling on the old lady’s forgetfulness, the poor niece issue etc etc). In one scene Hazel would just ask herself could this be due to blah blah blah, tangent off to something, then came back with the blah blah blah again.

My main issue was with the narrator. While she had a beautiful and clear voice, she just could not bring the characters to life or inject some suspense and thrills into the plot reading. The characters spoke with the posh accent, and even when discussing the case it seemed like they were making polite weather discussions. A scene when there was a quarrel between husband and wife in a cottage was just awful - the narrator injected some anger for the husband but the wife was like no emotions! I have listened to more interesting weather reports than the so called “argument”.

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Another wonderful sequel

Revisado: 11-10-24

I thoroughly enjoyed this production of Mistletoe Murders. The actors were stellar! I had to listen to book 1 and 2 again to familiarise myself with the supporting casts again, and it added on to the excitement and joy of listening.
Like the previous books, there was a little cliffhanger at the end. I only wish one does not have to wait once a year for the next book…the wait is agonising!

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Still good, but…..

Revisado: 11-02-24

As before, narration was very good.
Plot wise, I found this to be less interesting than the previous books. There weren’t much of other characters to add humour, and not much character development to the main leads too.
A main gripe with the whole book was how the end confrontation scene was so DRAGGED. An action scene which could be described in a minute or two took 5 or more minutes as every thought in Trudy’s mind was described, with no action at all. It went on and on until she finally snapped out to do something.
I also noticed that since from book 3, the author always had Trudy or other characters sighing non stop. One conversation would see Trudy sighing 5 times. It was as if the author could not find other way to describe Trudy’s frustration.

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Gets better and better

Revisado: 10-30-24

This is the 3rd book of this series, and I like it the most. Characters are well developed, interesting background for the plot, and quite a few funny moments with WPC. She really was a very likeable female lead.
At times, the story can be dragging, with too much going on in the mind of characters being told by author. However, it was an overall engaging book.
Narration was wonderfully done.

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Complicated, engaging plot

Revisado: 10-28-24

This was a rather complicated plot due to the many characters involved. It took me awhile to remember all of them when they were being introduced one by one. The story was good and kept me listening and guessing. The final reveal of whodunit was a bit abrupt and lacked the ‘tadah’ or ‘omg it’s you!’ element though.

I have listened to the narrator Anthony Ferguson on another series and enjoyed his reading then, hence I was surprised to read that other reviewers had issues with his reading. Personally, I find his accent and voice clear and pleasant. I have to admit that doing female voices wasn’t his best skill, as the ladies all sounded similar, with too upper class snobbish way of talking. Given the many characters involved in this book, the male voices were limited too and sometimes can be difficult to differentiate. The trick is to focus on the scene you are listening to at the point, so it will confusing.

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