Password to Larkspur Lane, By Carolyn Keene, Danica Reese, Narrator

Password to Larkspur Lane

Nancy Drew Mystery Book 10

By Carolyn Keene

Narrator: Danica Reese
Audio book
Phoenix Audio Books
Length: 3 hrs and 39 mins

Narrator Review of Danica Reese

Ear Busting Narrator

Narrator Rating 0/10

Not easy doing an Audio Book Review for Danica Reese. Cannot even imagine why Phoenix Books, hired her, unless it was because she is just slightly less awful than Jessie Birschbach. Ms. Reese reads like she's going comatose, it's flat and monotone. Conversations are stilted and unnatural sounding.

The men are shockingly bad and can chill the ears. Hannah, the loving and sweet housekeeper and stand in Mom, sounds harsh, even a little dimwitted. Mr. Drew is beyond awful, from the tone of voice, the inflection and even too not maintaining a masculine voice.

Reese did do a decent pigeon coo and she does a decent evil persons voice.

Everything is read pretty much in a drone and what isn't, is so godawful that it's difficult to follow the story. Everything about the dialogue is off, there's no appropriate intonation, no lilt. Save your credits or money and get it from a library if you absolutely must listen to The Password to Larkspur Lane. 

Audio Book Review for Password to Larkspur Lane

A Nancy Drew Mystery by Carolyn Keene.

An Injured Carrier Pigeon falls into Nancy Drew's Garden.

Pigeon eyeing Nancy's garden

Nancy and Hannah are cutting flowers when a plane passes over and a pigeon falls from it. The poor thing falls right into Nancy's garden. It's wing is injured and Nancy retrieves the number off the birds leg band, 2-21-12-12 and wires the association the number. There's also a message that makes no sense to Nancy.

Many seemingly unrelated things keep attracting Nancy's attention with the words larkspur and bluebells. Nancy Takes her flower arrangement to the garden show to enter in the contest but leaves early to hurry home to see if the National association of Carrier Pigeons wired back the name of the pigeons owner.

Nancy Takes a short cut home and passes a sedan parked on the side of the road. In her rear view mirror she notices the license plate is 2-21-1, the same numbers as the pigeons leg band. She can't help but wonder if there's a connection.



Things get even stranger when Dr. Spire passes her from the opposite direction, she slows down and pulls over when she sees him stop at the dark car on the side of the road. and to her surprise, he is pulled into the car.

A mysterious phone call
Hannah slips on the cellar steps and strains her back and Nancy drives her to Dr. Spires office. Dr. Spires is not back yet, and Mrs. Spires asks Nancy to answer the phone while she starts dinner. The phone rings and a muffled voice tells her to write down a message for Dr. Spires. "If you say bluebells, you will get in trouble, for they are no longer used here."  Nancy is mystified as she ponders the words.

Dr. Spires needs Nancy and Carson Drews' help.
Dr. Spires asks Nancy and her father to help him as he's concerned about the woman he was taken to tend to. He was told not to speak to her and she frantically tried to show her fear and stress via her eyes. She slips Dr. Spires a bracelet with a small coat of arms.

Nancy has enough clues to take aggressive steps to finding the old woman. She takes the bracelet to the jewelers to see if he has any way to research the coat of arms. He does know someone who is knowledgeable about such things and tells Nancy to give him a week or so.

Nancy Drew girl detective runs into her old friend Helen Corning, who invites her to solve yet another mystery. Helen's mystery has links to the mystery that Nancy is working on. It's a race to the finish line for the young detective if she has any hopes of rescuing the old woman.

This 1932 original movie differs in many details from this version of the Password to Larkspur Lane. I found this movie to be charming and well worth watching. "Bonita Granville plays the cute and inquisitive teen turned amateur sleuth"

Other Nancy Drew Books I've reviewed.

• The Secret of the Old Clock 
• The Hidden Staircase
• The Bungalow Mystery 
• The Mystery at Lilac Inn
• The Secret of Shadow Ranch 
• The Secret of Red Gate Farm
• The Clue in the Diary 
• Nancy's Mysterious Letter 
• The Sign of the Twisted Candles 

The Sign of The Twisted Candle, Carolyn Keene, Narrator, Danica Reese

The Sign of The Twisted Candle
Nancy Drew, Book 9
By Carolyn Keene
Narrated By Danica Reese
AUDIOBOOK

Length: 3 hrs and 35 mins
Phoenix Books

The Sign of the Twisted Candle
By Carolyn Keene
Nancy Drew Book 9.

Narrator Review: Danica ReeseAudiobook

Listening to Danica Reese is not quite as hard on the ears as was the equally terrible narration by Jessie Birschbach, reading Nancy's Mysterious Letter, Book # 8. There are a few parts that Reese did reasonably well, predominately in the first half of the book. Her voice is not bad and could be rather nice but she consistently over enunciates words, making it sound artificial and choppy. Most of the male characters are very bad as is Joan the sixteen year old adopted girl.

I confess there are so few well done parts that I recommend getting it from the library and not spending money or Audible Credits on it. Danica Reese's exaggerated acting out of the characters is terrible. This recording is from Phoenix Books which as I stated in my review of Book 8. has no Carolyn Keene books listed. I find no information for Danica Reese, no photos, nada.

Audio Book Review: Nancy Drew, The Sign of the Twisted Candle

Nancy Drew and her best friends Bess Marvin and George Fayne, venture off to The Twisted Candle to see if there is any truth in the gossip that Asa Sidney is practically a prisoner in a tower room of his mansion. Beth and George are related to the wealthy and very old Asa. It happens that it's his one hundredth birthday when they reach the mansion.

While the girls are combing their hair in the ladies room they hear a confrontation between Carol Wipple the sixteen year old waitress at the Inn and  Frank Jemitt. Carol wants to take a nice tray of food to Asa and Jemitt forbids her to do it. Nancy seizes this opportunity to gain access to Asa and judge what is going on.



We know Nancy loves a mystery and this one turns out to be a huge one. With old Asa turning one hundred, relatives are converging on him to make sure he remembers them in his will. So we have the nasty relatives, the really mean Jemitts and an old rift between families that sends Nancy's friendship with Bess and George into oblivion. With just Carol to help her find all the hidden treasures that Asa hid around the mansion and time is running out for them.

Asa outwits them all by having Nancy's father the well known attorney, draw up a new will for him and making him executor of his estate. The will is solid but everyone left short changed in it are out to break it. I loved it when Mr. Drew kicks the Jemitt's out of the mansion. Even Ned, Nancy's illusive boyfriend has a small part in the story. As always with Nancy Drew, it's an excellent story that moves fast and is tightly written.

Other Nancy Drew Books:

The Secret of the Old Clock

The Hidden Staircase

The Bungalow Mystery

The Mystery at Lilac Inn 

The Secret at Shadow Ranch 

Nancy's Mysterious Letter

The Clue in the Diary

Dirty Little Murder By Traci Tyne Hilton Narrated by: Rebecca Roberts

Dirty Little Murder
A Plain Jane Mysteries, Book 2
Cozy Christian Collection
By Traci Tyne Hilton
Narrated by: Rebecca Roberts
Audiobook 6 hrs and 39 mins
Publisher: Proverbs 31 House LLC
Young Adult

Rebecca Roberts Narrator

Narrator Review: Rebecca Roberts

You can just tell that Rebecca Roberts puts her whole heart into her reading. This does make a book a lot more interesting and makes me want to continue listening to the end. She has a lot of style and is extremely good at emotional expression. It goes without saying that her voice is lovely and easy on the ears. Overall, Rebecca Roberts is a stellar narrator and you will be pleased with all her amazing narrations.

Audiobook Review: Dirty Little Murder By Traci Tyne Hilton

Traci Tyne Hilton

Jane is caught up in yet another murder, this time it is Douglas Swanson, face down in the hot tub. What a terrible shock for Jane. Douglas was a womanizer and she didn't like him but she certainly didn't wish him dead. While trying to dial 911 her cell slips from her fingers and lands in the hot tub on his body. 

After Jane Adler found her last client's dead, she needs another house cleaning job. she has to have housekeeping jobs in order to keep up with her living and school expenses. Isaac's mother recommends the Swanson's, their maid is on vacation, and Jane can fill in. What Jane doesn't expect is the amount of trouble they will cause her. 

Caramel Swanson thought her diamond ring went down a drain. Instead of calling a plumber she has Jane take a sink apart to look for it. When Jane doesn't find it she accuses her of stealing it. Certainly not a agreeable position for Jane. Caramel demands Jane return the next morning and look in all the other drains.

Jane asks her new trainee Holly, to go with her to the Swanson house the next morning. She doesn't want to deal with Caramel without some moral support. Unexpectedly Douglas Swanson happens to be home and shows himself to be a letch and makes passes at Jane and Holly.

I still am not sure how the missing ring situation was resolved but Caramel has a ring on her finger and implies it is the one lost and now found. Except, she tells Douglas that she bought a new one. There is a plumber there to look in the drains for whatever Caramel thinks fell down the drain.

In Good Clean Murder, Jane and Isaac seemed to be breaking up or at least cooling their relationship. Somehow, I didn't get it that they are a couple again and even talking marriage. Isaac, is bad news with the way he tries to lead Jane astray, not only with her aims to be a missionary but he compromises her as well. I've not forgotten that he let her take the fall for them getting caught kissing and she was the one expelled from school in book 1..

The basic story is good and moves at a steady pace. There's sufficient action to keep one interested. There are a couple other threads going through it, a hit and run, Jane's church meetings, for example. I just felt like some things were not resolved. Jane is still the same silly floormat, frets over foolish things and doesn't seem to really be in love with Isaac at all.

Good, Clean, Murder, Traci Tyne Hilton, Narrator Rebecca Roberts

A Plain Jane Mystery, Book 1
by Traci Tyne Hilton

Narrator Rebecca Roberts

Audiobook 6 hrs. 31 mins.

Publisher: Proverbs 31 House LLC

Narrator Review: Rebecca Roberts

Narrator Rebecca Roberts

Rebecca Roberts, the woman with a million voices. Charming, innocent, tempting, or self righteous, even boyish for Jake, or cunning like fox. Rebecca Roberts does them all. Lovely voice, excellent management of emotional content. Expresses characters accurately and has a nice tonal quality. Pacing is outstanding as is her reading of the text. I enjoyed this book more because of her accomplished reading. Definitely a case of the narrator making an all right book much better than it is.

Audio Book Review: Good, Clean MurderBy Traci Tyne Hilton

Author Traci Tyne Hilton

Jane Adler has ambitions to do overseas missionary work and against her parents better judgment she opts to go to a small but reputable church school that nets her a two year certificate. She believes this will open the way to a long term position. Her parents will support her in a college that is mainstream but not in a small Bible college. Jane doesn't think she needs a lot of extra curricular courses that are not related to missionary work.

In order to pay her own tuition and living expenses she lives off campus in a one bedroom apartment with another girl, and cleans houses during the day and attends night classes. When Jane arrives at her first job of the day at the Crawford's she notices right away that things are not right. No coffee made, newspaper still outside, no note with special instructions and no money. It's laundry day and when she goes to strip the bed, Bob Crawford is still in it. 

When the first shock passes and he's not moving, she tries to find a pulse and there isn't one. She calls 911 then tries to call Phoebe the Crawfords daughter. Phoebe brushes her off and tells her to call when she knows what hospital he's taken too. She tries to call Pamela, Bob's wife but it goes to voicemail.

It's been a hectic day and not going well at all for Jane. The EMS team finds Pamela Crawford dead on the bathroom floor. Her employers both dead. How much can a girl take.

After the police finish taking her report and tell her she can go home, Jane goes to her pathetic little one room apartment that she shares with another girl. Just a futon to sleep on and a privacy screen between them. Sad, sad, sad. 

Unfortunately for Jane, Sam, has not been paying the rent and Jane only finds out when she goes home and finds her personal things are outside the door, with a note saying they are evicted. The key not working was a good tip off. It's late, it's chilly out and it's very dark and Jane has no place to go. Her backup credit card is in the apartment so she can't even rent a room.

Classified as a Christian mystery. It is that and I consider it Cozy Mystery. If you prefer no strong words, no sex and no violence you will enjoy this book. 

Inspector Specter By E.J. Copperman Narrator: Amanda Ronconi

Inspector Specter
Series: Haunted Guesthouse, Book 6
By E.J. Copperman

Inspector Specter

Narrated By Amanda Ronconi
Length: 9 hrs and 42 mins

Narrator Review of Amanda Ronconi

Imagine you are listening to a movie on the telly (without the commercials) and you're relaxed and laying back with your eyes closed. That just about describes what it is like listening to Amanda Ronconi narrate Inspector Specter. Ms. Ronconi does such a bang up job of reading and performing Inspector Specter it is like listening to a full cast play or movie. She really sinks her teeth into the story line as well as developing the characters maybe even more than the author had in mind when he wrote the book. You can't go wrong with Amanda Ronconi, always a delightful listen, always a top notch performance and you always will be sorry when the book is done. Outstanding and exceptional in every way, as an awesome narrator should be.

Narrator Amanda Ronconi

Audiobook Review of Inspector Specter

E.J. Copperman Author

Detective Anita McElone has played a significant role in every book in the Haunted Guesthouse Series. McElone and Alison have an ongoing relationship, not quite friends, yet. Alison has respect for McElone's professional abilities but, still calls her Lieutenant. McElone rhymes with macaroni, and macaroni is what I hear every time her name is mentioned. McElone thinks Alison's Guesthouse is creepy and refuses to go inside. She doesn't believe in ghosts, nonetheless, when her old partner Martin Ferry, from Seaside Heights is killed, McElone, turns to Alison, to contact Marty's ghost. McElone thinks Marty was murdered but the Seaside Heights police think it was an accident.

Paul loves nothing better than to have a case to work on, and he gets on the ghosternet to see if anyone knows about Marty or has seen his spirit. His contacts reveal some unpleasant news about Marty, they say he had mob connections, and was a "dirty cop". Alison puts Maxie, her other resident ghost on it. Maxie is the computer whiz a talent she discovered after she became a ghost.

No one has seen Marty on the other side so Alison and McElone go to Marty's apartment to see if his ghost is there, he is. McElone still is not sure Alison is talking to Marty, not until Marty tells Alison something that only he and McElone knew. McElone is stunned and begins to accept that Marty is in the room with them. Even so McElone will still have doubts creep in from time to time. Marty was investigating a gang or mob related case leading McElone and Alison into some very bizarre situations.



McElone takes a vacation week off from work to devote more time to finding Marty's killer. Alison is investigating from her end with Maxie and Paul's help when McElone gives Alison a thumb drive to keep in a safe place for her. The mobsters learn that Alison has that drive and stop at nothing to get it. Putting Alison in some life threatening situations.

Inspector Specter has a lot of characters to keep track of and the pace is fast. I did have to pay attention ad listen to it twice to keep the people and situations clear in my mind. It is even more convoluted after McElone disappears. Then we have Maxie acting strange to the point it begins to bother Alison. So she sets her spook Dad to tail her and report back. Where does Maxie goes all morning? Maxie does spend more time away from the Guesthouse since she learned how to leave the grounds.
.

The Thrill of the Haunt, A Haunted Guesthouse Mystery by E. J. Copperman Narrated By Amanda Ronconi

The Thrill of the Haunt
A Haunted Guesthouse Mystery
by E. J. CoppermanNarrated By Amanda Ronconi
Length: 9 hrs and 23 mins

Narrator Review of Amanda Ronconi

Narrator Amanda Ronconi

Amanda Ronconi, performs with perfection the fast changing scenes and characters without ever losing her high energy tone. Every character is unique and given diligent attention. Conversation are natural sounding and smooth, The text, is the skeleton of a book that pulls the story together, receives the same attention from Ronconi as the dialogue. Another outstanding narration by Amanda Ronconi. 

Audiobook Review of The Thrill of the Haunt by E.J. Copperman

E.J. Copperman

The Thrill of the Haunt, has two investigations for Alison to solve. With her reputation

growing as being the ghost lady, her guesthouse business is becoming more popular,

booked full of people wanting the ghostly experience or a bit of the paranormal. She tells people it is just an advertising ploy and for her Senior Plus Tour guests she encourages the haunted title which Maxie and Paul put on two shows or events a day. She wants to deny the title of ghost lady and Paul and Maxie have hurt feelings over her denial of them. 

Everett a long time local homeless man approaches Alison to help him get rid of the ghosts that pester him. Alison doesn't see how she can be of any help and it's not until he is murdered that she gets involved in solving the crime that she really knows anything about him.  Kerin an old adversary prods and finally hires Alison to find his murderer The scuttlebutt is a ghost killed him. Alison swears that's nonsense that a living person killed him.

Nothing has come over the ghosternet for some time and Paul is getting bored and restless for lack of a crime to solve. Luckily for Paul, Helen Bonifico hires Alison to follow her husband. Helen is sure he is cheating on her and she wants proof of it, she even knows the woman he's seeing. Paul is clicking his heels to finally have some cases to work on. Apparently being a ghost can become very boring. Alison is surprised that Helen doesn't want to divorce him, but use it for leverage (her word) or blackmail (Alison's word) to make him toe the line, and control him.  

It is a surprise ending and with everyone gathered in the library, actually Alison had a party with all the suspects invited to flush out the murderer. The Thrill of the Haunt is Book 5, in the series and is just as funny as the first four. Each book has many twists and turns and many surprises that add to the playfulness and lighthearted coziness of this series. It is a guaranteed laugh out loud experience reading any of the Haunted House Series.

Night of the Living Deed
 E. J. Copperman Author

An Uninvited Guest  
E. J. Copperman Author

Old Haunts  
E.J. Copperman  Author

Chance of a Ghost
E. J. Copperman Author

     

Chance of a Ghost By E. J. Copperman Narrated by Amanda Ronconi

Chance of a Ghost
Haunted Guesthouse, Book 4
By: E. J. Copperman
Narrated by: Amanda Ronconi
Length: 9 hrs and 29 mins
Publisher: Audible Studios

Narrator Review: Amanda Ronconi

Amanda Ronconi, does another outstanding performance in Chance of a Ghost the fourth in the Haunted Guesthouse Series. She really brings out the personalities of the characters as well as reading the text parts so well they blend right in. She never, and I mean never, fails to to deliver a first class performance. I lose myself completely when listening to her. Some (a few) narrators do a good performance and fail on reading the text parts, so they sound just like that, something being read. I have had nothing but a great listening experience with Amanda Ronconi. 

Narrator Amanda Ronconi

Audiobook Review: Chance of a Ghost by E.J. Copperman

Author E.J. Copperman

Alison Kerby, and her resident ghosts take us on a hilarious ride of a lifetime.
If you read/listened to the first three in the Haunted Guesthouse Series, you know now that the testy and mercurial Maxie Malone, has managed to leave the house and pops into Alison's car or just really anywhere Alison is when outside the house. Maxie doesn't know exactly how she achieved this ability but, she's pretty happy about it. Poor Paul is just getting better at moving material objects. Both ghosts would like to move on in the spirit world and sadly as Paul puts it, "being dead did not come with manual".  Alison, is not thrilled having Maxie popping in an out.

After (Book 1, Night of the Living Deed) Maxie pushed a heavy can of spackle onto Alison's head giving her a  concussion, and the ability to see ghosts. In Book 4, Alison knows her daughter Melissa, and her mother can also see ghosts. This provides some very entertaining dialogue between the ghosts and the gals, especially when there are "civilians" in hearing distance. The guests from the Senior Tour, are there just for that ghostly experience which Maxie and Paul provide twice a day and are a bit smug about being in on the ghosts whereas the normal guests have no idea about the hauntings.

Alison, accidently discovers her mother Loretta is seeing another man, or another ghost actually. She had been connecting with her husband every Tuesday since his death but, for the last three weeks he has not shown up and she is very worried about him. When Alison finally gets to the bottom of what her mother is up too, she meets with the ghost of Lawrence Laurentz a small time actor. Lawrence goes about things backwards when he tries to convince Loretta, that he knows where her husband is and he can help him. Lawrence, is a rather pathetic guy with personality issues. Like, no one likes him. 

When it gets down to the nitty gritty, Lawrence wants Alison to find out who killed him. His death certificate indicates death from a heart attack, but he swears someone killed him by dropping a toaster in the tub while he was bathing. Even though neither EMS nor the police found a toaster in his bath, he is adamant that an unseen person did drop a toaster in his bath water. Alison, gets deeply involved trying to uncover who the culprit is. It is during a production by some senior citizens doing Peter Pan that Alison has an inspired idea of how someone could have dropped a toaster in Lawrence's bath, resulting in Lawrence seeing the toaster but not the perpetrator. Now to find out who did this and why, is what Alison has to piece together.

Old Haunts, A Haunted Guesthouse Mystery: By: E. J. Copperman Narrator: Amanda Ronconi

Old Haunts
Haunted Guesthouse Series:Book 3
By: E. J. Copperman
Narrator: Amanda Ronconi

Length: 10 hrs and 1 min
Publisher: Audible Studios

Amanda Ronconi Narrator

Narrator Review Amanda Ronconi

Amanda Ronconi adds a bit of spice and a dash of tabasco to Maxie Malone, not that Maxie needs more snark but Ms. Ronconi brings out her very worse traits and Maxie has so many to choose from. Her performance of The Haunted Guesthouse Mysteries is brilliant. Her voice and interpretation of each character is simply dazzling, Amanda Ronconi is one of the superstars among the most talented narrators.

Audiobook Review: Old Haunts By E.J. Copperman

Author E.J. Copperman

Alison Kerby a thirty year old divorcee and mom to a precocious ten year old. Had the previous year returned to her childhood hometown on the Jersey Shore, bought a Victorian home to renovate and turn into a guesthouse. During the renovations through a set of bizarre events she learns that the old house has two resident ghosts, Maxie Malone the previous owner of the house and Paul Harrison the Private Investigator she'd hired as a bodyguard. Unfortunately Maxie and Paul were murdered in the house, now they are ghosts, and fated it seems to never leave the house.

Maxie Malone has a more center stage role in Old Haunts when she happens to
see a newspaper article about her ex-husband's body being found under a boardwalk at Seaside Heights, a victim of foul play. Big Bob (as his friends call him), Maxie's ex, was actually a very short Las Vegas marriage barely a weekend, when they sobered up, they had it annulled. Thereafter, in fun, they continued, referring to one another as husband and wife.

Maxie's mother absolutely hated Big Bob and is glad he is dead. Maxie wants Alison to find out who murdered him. Alison wisely does not want to track down a killer that could put her and Melissa in yet another dangerous situation.



Paul, asks her to find Julia McKenzie, who he was going to ask to marry him before he was murdered. Now he wants to know how she is and if she is doing well after his death. Paul wants the solace of knowing she has moved on with her life and maybe even found someone new.

Alison is reluctant to accommodate either Maxie or Paul especially with a full house of guests from the Senior Plus Tours. What with being Supermom to Melissa and still doing some renovation work. The 'Swine' as she refers to her ex-husband Steven, unexpectedly shows up at her door. According to the ''Swine" he has come to see his daughter Melissa. Alison isn't buying this story and as it turns out, she is wise to be suspicious of what he is doing there.

Alison juggles all these obligations skillfully and often feeling a bit frazzled. Things start looking like neither case is going anywhere  Julia, is like she vanished off the face of the earth. Big Bob is stalled and it's looking like there are no leads to follow. Alison gets a text message warning her off of looking into Big Bob's death. Scared and also encouraged that perhaps she had hit on something that the murderer feels is getting too close.

This is a fun and light hearted series best started with Book 1, Night of the Living Deed that introduces all the key characters and how Alison meets the ghosts. Book 2, An Uninvited Ghost, Alison has earned a reputation of having a haunted house which brings an offer from Senior Plus Tours, that for two ghostly activities a day he will book seniors looking for a unique vacation experience.

An Uninvited Ghost, A Haunted Guesthouse, Book 2 by: E. J. Copperman Narrator: Amanda Ronconi

An Uninvited Ghost
A Haunted Guesthouse, Book 2
by: E. J. Copperman
Narrator: Amanda Ronconi
Length: 9 hrs and 31 mins
Publisher: Audible Studios

Amanda Ronconi Narrator

Narrator Review, Amanda Ronconi

Amanda Ronconi, skillfully carries through the personalities and voices from all the characters in An Uninvited Ghost, exactly the way she created them in The Night of the Living Deed. It is remarkable how she manages to instill each person with their own unique personalities.You will always know who is speaking when Ms. Ronconi narrates. Her reading is smooth and read at a normal conversational pace, making it a pleasure to listen to. It sounds very effortless, but in reality it takes a great deal of competency to make it all sound so artful.

Audiobook Review: An Uninvited Ghost By E. J. Copperman

E.J. Copperman author

Things are looking up for Alison now that she has a guaranteed full house thanks to Edmund Rance offering her a contract to provide two daily ghost events for his senior clientele who were looking for a fun and one of a kind vacation experience. Paul and Maxie, her resident ghosts agree, but Paul wants something in return. Paul wants Alison to get a Private Investigator's license and be his eyes in the outer world, since he cannot leave the house. 

Paul was just starting out as a private investigator and Maxie was one of his first cases. Unfortunately, someone murdered both of them and they seem to be trapped together in Maxie's house (now Alison's guesthouse) for all eternity. Paul seems to be able to talk with other dead people but not all. He relies on what he calls his 'ghoster net' and some of them have questions about their deaths. With  Alison's help he can still solve crimes and hone his detective skills. Alison isn't thrilled with the idea and doubts Paul will have many cases for her to work on.

With the ghost shows now successfully going full swing and entertaining the guests Paul wants Alison to look into Scott McFarlane's prank of scaring an old lady, he is worried that the prank had gone wrong and he fears he may have killed Arlice Crosby the old woman. Not unexpectedly Alison doesn't want to do it, but a gentle threat of not doing any more 'vaudeville' shows for her guests and Alison quickly changes her mind.

Multitasking Alison was offered a tidy sum of money to allow a reality television show to use her house for the next season's show, a full house from the Senior Plus Tours, measuring and eyeing the attic to turn into a an exclusive and more private room, tracking down the Arlice Crosby situation for Scott McFarlane. Doing a seance which the reality show wants to film, dealing gracefully with Dolores Santiago, a disgruntled and constantly complaining guest. Add a murder during the seance for another layer of burdens and situations to Alison's burgeoning schedule. Can Alison handle this level of obligations without breaking while still acting as a good mother to Melissa and maintaining privacy for her seniors.

Night of the Living Deed By E.J. Copperman Narrated by: Amanda Ronconi

Night of the Living Deed
A Haunted Guesthouse Mystery
Book 1.
Written by: E.J. Copperman
Narrated by: Amanda Ronconi

Length: 10 hrs and 3 mins
Series: Haunted Guesthouse, Book 1
Publisher: Audible Studios

Narrator Review of Amanda Ronconi

Amanda Ronconi was a fairly new to me narrator and I am really pleased that she is an excellent narrator giving so much presence to each individual in Night of the Living Deed. She really excels at mastering a variety of voices. The whining and vindictive Maxie is dripping with venom under Ms. Ronconi's interpretation and even nine year old Melisa gets a very special voice of just how a child would sound. Amanda Ronconi has style, talent, and makes the book she's reading blossom like it is her own beloved creation. 

Amanda Ronconi Narrator

Audiobook Review: Night of the Living Deed by E. J. Copperman

Author E.J. Copperman

Alison Kerby, is recently divorced from Steven 'The Swine' as she unfondly refers to her ex-husband. She buys an old Victorian house in her hometown of Harbor Haven, New Jersey, with plans on renovating the old Victorian beauty and turning it into a guesthouse, providing her and her daughter Melissa with a long term income. Alison learned from her father how to do many home repairs herself and how to wield tools, making her confident that she can do much of the renovation herself.

What Alison is not aware of is it's two resident ghost, Paul Harrison and Maxie Malone. Maxie is beautiful, but has a selfish and mean disposition and fellow ghost Paul, is more introspective and thoughtful. When Alison is working on filling a hole in a wall, spiteful Maxie  pushes a fifty pound container of  joint compound off the ladder right onto Alison's head. When she comes around she sees Paul and Maxie and also can see right through them. Alison ends up in the hospital with a concussion and a huge headache and has not forgotten about the two ghosts.



Alison dreads returning home for fear the ghosts will still be there. They are, and finally no amount of denial or ignoring them is going to make them go away. Paul and Maxie are unrelenting pests in trying to persuade Alison to find out who killed them. Maxie was the previous owner of the house and sort of an interior decorator and was getting death threats if she didn't move out of the house, she'd hired Paul a fairly new Private Detective as a body guard. They both knew they were murdered, but not who killed them or why and were trapped in the house for what was looking like forever. They thought if they solved the who and why of their deaths they might be able to move on to whatever came next in the spirit world.

Alison has no idea how to solve the mystery of their deaths, but with help from Paul, she makes some headway. When she starts getting death threats herself, the game plan changes. As the death threats and demands for something that's in the house escalate Alison becomes more frantic in trying to figure out what that something is. The only thing she is sure of is it is worth a lot of money. When Melissa's life is threatened and time is running out and still with no idea what she is looking for it seems impossible for her to save either Melissa or herself.

kittlingbooks.com has a interview with E. J. Copperman, that is worth reading and highly entertaining.
Another interesting piece you may like from USA Today is: Interviews: Audiobook narrators Amanda Ronconi and Percy O'Hara

Fundraising the Dead A Museum Mystery, Book 1 By Sheila Connolly Narrator Robin Miles

Fundraising the Dead

By Sheila Connolly A Museum Mystery, Book 1

Narrator Robin Miles10 hrs and 38 mins.

Audible Studio's

Narrator Review of Robin Miles

Robin Miles seems more in sync with Nell Pratt than with Meg Corey in the Orchard Mysteries. Nell is likeable, intelligent, and classy with few personality flaws. She does not waste time with self doubts. Ms. Miles with her own classy voice and educated tones establishes Nell's temperament and identity. A very pleasurable listen when graced by the talented Robin Miles.

 Robin Miles 

Audio Book Review: Fundraising the Dead by Sheila Connolly A museum Mystery Book 1.

I downloaded the Ebook version of Fundraising the Dead. It didn't work out very well. I haven't turned the pages of an actual book for many years and about four years since reading an Ebook and it was a short one.

It was flat and tasteless without a narrator reading it. It loses so much impact and dimension. Nuances are missing, intonations are zero, and my eyes are moving faster than my brain can create a visual.

I turned on the audio book and followed along with the lovely reading by Robin Miles. What I was hearing was intent, emotions, dramatizations and flavor that only comes with an audio book and a great narrator. I heard fifty shades of sound that just are lacking in flat one dimensional text. It's unimaginable to me to read a book, unless there were no other alternative.

 Sheila Connolly 

Nell Pratt, is a professional beggar of funds for the Pennsylvania Antiquarian Society, and she is good at it. She has organized a gala event to celebrate the 125th anniversary of the society, with two hundred of the crème de la crème of Philadelphia's richest and most influential people invited.

Nell is frantic with the long list of things that still need attending to before the party starts in just a few hours, when an enraged Marty Terwilliger, storms into Nell's office demanding immediate attention. Marty Terwilliger, member of the board, and contributor of the vast and important donation of the Terwilliger papers, is not someone to be casually dismissed. Some valuable Washington letters are missing from the collection and she knows she saw them very recently, and she wants to know where they are.

Nell's not sure why Marty had come to her with this and not Latoya Anderson, vice president of collections or even Charles Worthington, president of the Society. After promising to see what she can do while easing her out the door, she hurries to Alfred Findley's, cubicle. Alfred knows more about the collections than anyone else at the foundation and has been entering everything into a computer database for the entire fifteen years that he's worked there.

Alfred reveals that he had for some time thought items have gone missing from the collections, and although he's given monthly accounts to Latoya every month, nothing has been done about it. Meg is shocked and upset and vows to herself that she will look into it and ask Alfred to make a list of everything he thinks has gone missing. Alfred says he'll stay overtime and leave a copy on her desk so she can have it the next day.

Good to his word Alfred creates the list and Nell later catches sight of him at the party and knows he must want a few words with her but she can't talk to him while schmoozing with the guests. Later she notices Alfred is gone and she doesn't see him again till the following morning, dead in a pool of blood. Horrified, Nell, calls 911 and the wheels of justice begin to turn.

Nell's missing items list is on her desk as promised, it's long and all are very desirable and priceless items. She recognizes their value, but not to their full amount she goes on the internet to research them. The round figure she gleans from her research is alarming, Nell gets an unsettling feeling that Alfred's death is suspiciously related to the missing items. Although the police have deemed it an accidental death.

My favorite part of the book is when Nell, Marty and Marty's friend Elizabeth Farnsworth, (Libby to her friends,) conspire to trap the thief with a very devious and amusing plan. I had to laugh out loud when this trio of crafty and foxy women get together to lay out the groundwork for their cunning plot. Alfred's death, and the missing Washington letters, lead to major changes in Nell's life and a new romance with the dashing cousin of Marty's, a special agent for the F.B.I., James Morrison (Jimmy).

Sour Apples by Sheila Connolly Book 6 of An Orchard Series, Narrator Robin Miles

Sour Apples
An Orchard Mystery. Book 6.
Sheila Connolly

Length: 8 hrs and 53 mins
Audible Studios

As expected Robin Miles gives a riveting rendition of Sour Apples. She gives the appropriate amount of emotion making for an enjoyable listen. She even gives Lolly, Meg's cat, Max, Seth's dog and Dorcas and Isabel Meg's two goats a sense of personality and charm. Her male voices are also very good and distinctive from the ladies. Lydia, Seth's mother sounded just right, not to old nor too young. Overall a most pleasing listen thanks to Robin Miles.

Narrator, Robin Miles

Audio Book Review: Sour Apples by Sheila Connolly
Book 6. of An Orchard Series.

Seth and Meg go to the Spring Fling a local dance put on every year to raise funds for Granford. To Meg's surprise she see's her old friend and past co-worker Lauren. Last she'd heard Lauren was still working at a bank in Boston. Now Lauren is campaign manager for Rick Sainsbury. 

Rick grew up in Granford but hadn't been seen much of if at all after graduating from high school. Now he's back glad handing, looking for supporters and donations for his campaign. It's obvious to Meg that Seth has no liking for Rick which surprises her as Seth likes everyone. Seth evades Meg's questioning and won't say why he doesn't like Rick.

Sheila Connolly Author

Meg invites Lauren to stay with her while she's in Granford so they catch up on what they've been doing since they last talked. Everyone is not happy with having Lauren around, Bree, Meg's housemate and orchard manager being one of them. Lauren is constantly on the go and very aggressive in her enthusiasms making Bree uncomfortable around her. Even Seth makes himself scarce not wanting to run into Rick Sainsbury.

Joyce Truesdale a local dairy farmer had approached Seth to look up the past paperwork on the land she leased from the city. She thought maybe there was something overlooked on the past reports. Her cows were getting sick from lead poisoning and a couple had died after allowing them to graze on it. She'd sent in soil samples to have analyzed that weren't back yet.

A tragic accident leaves Joyce dead, at first it seems her favorite cow Cyndi kicked her in the head and killed her. Art Preston, local policeman and friend, show's up at Seth's, with a verdict of murder according to the autopsy report, stunning both Seth and Meg. No one can figure out a reason for killing a law abiding dairy farmer. Joyce's husband Ethan found her when he got home from an out of town business trip. Now he's the prime suspect.

A few days later, Nathan is found hanging in his barn, at first it looks like suicide but the police think it was murder. Soil sample reports come back and they don't all match up, Meg discovers that a paint company had been on the land decades before, and Sainsbury Industry was the original company that cleaned the land. Meg isn't sure how, but she's sure Rick Sainsbury has something to do with it.

Meg aged a few years.Between Book 1. One Bad Apple and Sour Apples Book 6. she went from "about ten years older than Bree".... who is about twenty, making Meg thirty. In Book 6, Meg is "closer in age to forty than thirty"..... that's a big leap since the time span between the the six books is about one year. Meg is less testy and even Bree is not as surly in Sour Apples. It's Seth who is more bearish. It's Meg who is putting the clues together and Seth who argues and doesn't see it.

Sour Apples, An Orchard Mystery Book 6.

Bitter Harvest Book 5, An Orchard Mystery By Sheila Connolly Narrator Robin Miles

Bitter Harvest: Orchard, Book 5
By Sheila Connolly
Narrated By Robin Miles
Length: 10 hrs and 17 minutes

With each new book in the Orchard series, Robin Miles outshines herself. She adds so much vibrancy to the story that without her amazing narration it would lack a special ingredient that only she brings to it. Her voice is clear and pleasing, drawing you along, and smoothly enticing you into Meg and Seth's world. Robin Miles makes everything vivid with her elegant and cultured narration. She's expressive without being overly dramatic, and always captures the personality of each character.

 Robin Miles, Narrator

Book Review: Bitter Harvest by Sheila Connolly

Sheila Connolly, Author

Meg has finally gotten through her first apple harvest. Getting Bree, her surly young orchard manager to do the bookkeeping for the results, has been a challenge. Meg can't be sure if it was successful and made a profit, or failed. 

With the storm of the century heading right to Granford, Meg's furnace dies and temperatures will be dipping into the twenties making for very bad timing. Seth wants her to go to his house where it's warm but Meg is stubborn and wants to stay home.

After all she surmises, her ancestors survived in the house for a century so, she should be able to do so too. Of course the always helpful and handy Seth knows Meg will need his help so he spends the night with her.

Seth and Meg are getting more open and serious about their relationship, although Meg is still reluctant to make a commitment. Seth is a patient guy and gives Meg all the space she needs to come to terms with her own jumbled emotions. A couple of very cold nights bunked before a roaring fireplace leads to a closer connection and understanding between them.

Bitter Harvest by Sheila Connolly

Odd things begin to happen that at first seem to be malicious pranks, until they turn sinister. Meg is puzzled, who would be doing these spiteful things to her. She can't think of anyone that angry with her. After being locked in her barn all night with only her two goats Dorcas and Isabel for warmth, she's now angry, but it's the bullet through the kitchen window that makes her determined to set a trap for the culprit.


With the help of Bree and Seth, Meg puts her plan into action and when they catch the person behind the vicious attacks, it is a complete and unexpected surprise. There is no murder in this book but a mystery that Meg unravels with the help of her new found interest in genealogy and history and her friends determination to put an end to the continual assaults.

A Killer Crop An Orchard Mystery By Sheila Connolly, Narrated by Robin Miles

A Killer Crop
An Orchard Mystery Book 4
By Sheila Connolly
Narrated By Robin Miles
Length: 10 hrs and 3 mins
Audible Studios

Narrator Robin MIles

Great narration by Robin Miles.  In every book of the Orchard Series  Ms. Miles gives such wonderful definition to each character. She does Meg so well that it's like listening to a friend or neighbor talking. Meg is stressing somewhat now from new problems and the work load of the orchard, and Robin Miles's inflections right down to the very breathing one might have when stressed or upset are perfect. Listening to Miles is poetry in motion.

Author Sheila Connolly

Book Review: A Killer Crop by Sheila Connolly

When Meg's mother turns up unexpectedly at Meg's, Meg is miffed that her mother has already been in town for a couple of days and not called her. When State Policeman Markus makes an early morning call at Meg's, looking for Elizabeth Corley, is when Meg finds out her mother was visiting an old college friend in town. Elizabeth is the last person he called before he died. Markus has not said it's a murder and there's no outward signs of a suspicious death, Yet, Meg is off and running assuming that it's murder. 

I don't always like Meg and in A Killer Crop I like her less than earlier books. She's sounding very spiteful with her mother. I would have felt unwelcome if someone talked to me like she did to her mother. Her mother sounded pretty normal to me. Meg takes offense at nearly everything her mother says, and seems to have to control her temper an awful lot when talking with her.



How Meg can even for one moment suspect her mother of killing the professor is unforgivable. Even though she scolds herself for letting such thoughts cross her mind, she does contemplate it numerous times. The road is long getting to who the killer is. We learn even more about apples and orchards, maybe more than some people want to know. Genealogy plays a big part in the story and even Meg becomes interested in it. It will all tie together in the end. I personally enjoyed the genealogy but some people may not find it interesting. I thought it was a great twist and different for a murder mystery.

Robin Miles Narrator for, Red Delicious Death, An Orchard Mystery Book 3. by Sheila Connolly

Red Delicious Death
Orchard, Book 3.
By: Sheila Connolly
Narrator: Robin Miles
Length: 9 hrs and 36 mins
Audible Studios

Red Delicious Death by Sheila Connolly

Robin Miles Narrator

Narrator Robin Miles is the voice extraordinaire behind the cast of characters in the Orchard mysteries. Without Ms. Miles remarkable presentation giving voice, semblance and shape to each person, Red Delicious Death would have less vigor and style. She is the driving force behind each story. 

Sheila Connolly Author

Audio Book Review of: Red Delicious Death Book 3. by Sheila Connolly.

Red Delicious Death, does not begin right away with a death or murder, there's no corpse in Meg's orchard. Instead it starts out with a well plotted path leading up to a rather bizarre murder. When Meg's friend at the bank she use to also work at calls her to ask if she knows of any affordable places where a friend of a friends optimistic young chefs can start a restaurant Meg thinks of her Realtor friend Frances Clark, and gives her a call. 

Meg doesn't know what to think when she meets them, they seem so young an inexperienced. But Brian and Nicole Czarnecki did have financial backing, had a couple years experience working in a restaurant and both had graduated from a prestigious culinary school, and they have a qualified sou chef that will work with them. Although they seem young and naive, they actually have a well thought out business plan and Nicole's father has given them a hefty check to help them get started.

They find the perfect location in Granford, it's in their price range and they're excited to get started. Nicole the perky happy go lucky gal is a wiz at cooking, Brian her husband is an expert at finances and planning, and their friend Sam is good with prep work and dealing with vendors. Everyone pitches in and soon it's looking like they will open in the Fall as planned. Sam daily goes to meet with farmers to secure sources for fresh produce and meat. However, some townspeople are not as thrilled to have them open and maliciously plan on stopping them.

Will their dreams crash down on them when Art Preston, Granford's police detective calls and tells them Sam has been found dead face down in a pig wallow, and someone needs to identify the body. A horrible way to die for sure and Meg is as perplexed as everyone else that anyone would kill Sam. Once again Meg puts her mind too discovering who the murderer is. In her own poking around ways serendipity steps in and with a cold chill down her back she knows who did it.