My First Audio Book Review

Death of a Maid (Hamish Macbeth Mystery #23) 

by M.C. Beaton

Product Description:
Armed with a bucket and mop, Mrs. Gillespie brings misery into the quiet life of Hamish Macbeth when he wins her maid services in a church raffle. He fears she's more likely to snoop than clean, since rumor has it that she damages more items than she dusts.

Yet Macbeth has more upsetting issues to ponder-his former girlfriend, reporter Elspeth Grant, is back in the village for a holiday with her new boyfriend. Then he gets notice that a TV crew plans a documentary on him. Its airing is sure to get him a promotion and transfer to the city-and Hamish Macbeth would rather be boiled in oil than leave the serenity of Lochdubh.

Though lately Macbeth's seeing the squabbling of seagulls and feeling an ill wind coming. Sure enough, Mrs. Gillespie is soon found dead under suspicious circumstances. And as he investigates the case, Elspeth's presence torments the red-haired bobby and drives him to foolish antics. But what should really preoccupy Macbeth are the town's hidden secrets-ones that will force a killer to lash out in deadly, irrevocable acts.

My Review:

This was my first experience with Audio Books, and I'm so delighted!  The narrator, Graeme Malcolm, provides a Scottish brogue that just brings this novel to life that would otherwise be lost in reading!  As we join Hamish Macbeth on his search for clues in the murder of  Mrs. Gillespie, we're taken on a journey through the Scottish Highlands filled with unexpected twists and turns.  The Death of a Maid has a very well-developed plot and one that is not so easy to predict...a plus in any mystery!  This has been a truly enjoyable experience and I look forward to listening to more audio books soon.  My overall rating for this is a FOUR.  Stop by your library today and grab an audio copy today!

Loading...

Loading...

WATCH FOR MY M.C. BEATON GIVEAWAY COMING SOON!
For more great reviews, click the link below:

Book Review: The Radleys By Matt Haig

 

Title: The Radleys
Author: Matt Haig
Imprint: Free Press
Publication Date: December 28, 2010
ISBN: 9-7814-3919-401-0
E-Book: ISBN: 9-7814-3919-464-5

Website:  www.radleysbook.com

 

 

Product Description

Just about everyone knows a family like the Radleys. Many of us grew up next door to one. They are a modern family, averagely content, averagely dysfunctional, living in a staid and quiet suburban English town. Peter is an overworked doctor whose wife, Helen, has become increasingly remote and uncommunicative. Rowan, their teenage son, is being bullied at school, and their anemic daughter, Clara, has recently become a vegan. They are typical, that is, save for one devastating exception: Peter and Helen are vampires and have—for seventeen years—been abstaining by choice from a life of chasing blood in the hope that their children could live normal lives.

 One night, Clara finds herself driven to commit a shocking—and disturbingly satisfying—act of violence, and her parents are forced to explain their history of shadows and lies. A police investigation is launched that uncovers a richness of vampire history heretofore unknown to the general public. And when the malevolent and alluring Uncle Will, a practicing vampire, arrives to throw the police off Clara’s trail, he winds up throwing the whole house into temptation and turmoil and unleashing a host of dark secrets that threaten the Radleys’ marriage.

The Radleys is a moving, thrilling, and radiant domestic novel that explores with daring the lengths a parent will go to protect a child, what it costs you to deny your identity, the undeniable appeal of sin, and the everlasting, iridescent bonds of family love. Read it and ask what we grow into when we grow up, and what we gain—and lose—when we deny our appetites. 

My Review:
It's only fair to say, that I have not read any of the recent vampire novels that have flooded the market in recent months.   In fact, this is my first "Vampire Novel" per se and I was quite surprised at how quickly I was captivated by Matt Haig's storytelling abilities.  The Radleys is anything but another teen-age vampire story. In essence, it's the story of one family's struggle to conform to the established norms of society by denying themselves the addiction that defines their very being.  Dark secrets and dysfunctional twists abound within the The Radley family, making it difficult to put this book down.  And, Matt Haig's sense of British humor radiates throughout the novel adding even more to it's appeal.  Overall, I enjoyed The Radleys much to my surprise and I would certainly recommend it. I'm not sure I would classify this as a novel for young adults (high school students), only because I believe in order to fully appreciate the scope of Haig's humor and historical references, the reader should have a certain level of  historical and literary knowlege.

With that being said, my rating for the novel is a 4