Future Tense Audiobook By Kristen Painter cover art

Future Tense

Ellis McFadden Mysteries

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Future Tense

By: Kristen Painter
Narrated by: Robyn Maryke
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Step into the enigmatic world of the Athos—a vessel that blends the luxury of a cruise ship, the intrigue of a scientific research station, and the might of a military starship. Here, amidst the stars, you'll find Ellis McFadden, the ship’s head librarian, embarking on adventures she never anticipated this late in her career.

The plot thickens when the Athos comes to the aid of a stranded craft, taking aboard three mysterious sisters and their father. They offer a tantalizing trade: visions of the future for those eager to know their fate. The crew and guests are soon captivated by the predictions.

But Ellis senses something amiss. The price for these glimpses into tomorrow seems too steep. So she, boyfriend Frank, and her android cat investigate, uncovering dubious secrets, but her friends are already entranced by the charlatans' charms. Can Ellis break the spell and save the ship's crew from an ominous future?

©2025 Kristen Painter (P)2025 Kristen Painter Animals Cozy Mystery Science Fiction Women Sleuths Exciting
Clever Plot • Intriguing Characters • Lovable Crew • Stellar Worldbuilding • Suspenseful Mystery • Emotional Beats
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Future Tense by Kristen Painter
Ellis McFadden mystery series #3. Science fiction mystery, space opera, romance. Best read in series order.
The luxury space cruise ship is in its Fallow stage. A six week period where there are no planets or other points of interest for travels. Most of the vacationers have offloaded and the ship staff is running on a reduced service schedule. Ellis McFadden is happy to have a little more down time and she’s been spending more time with Frank and knitting a sweater for her compdroid cat Harry.
When an emergency beacon is received from a ship, the Athos rescues the family on board who say their planet has been destroyed and they are the only survivors. They are welcomed on board but Frank is suspicious. His gut says something is wrong. Frank and Ellis tour their ship and it’s like nothing they’ve seen before but photos show a genetic setup. Cruisers start to act strange and a couple disappears. Frank and Ellis won’t stand aside while friends go missing.

🎧 I started this via ecopy and finished by audiobook. The performance was done by Robyn Maryke who does the full series from Ellis’s POV. It’s a fantastic recording with lots of emotion and drama. I listened to this a bit slower than my usual as the narrator keeps a good pace.

So entertaining. I’m having so much fun following Ellis, Harry, Frank and Gracie in their interstellar adventures. A bit of drama, a bit of science, a smidge of closed door romance, and mysterious aliens that come and go in each episode. Favorites Harry and Gracie are pets that are pretty much perfect.
Love this series.

I received a copy of this from the author and purchased a copy to keep and reread.

Future Tense

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I liked everything and disliked nothing. I want a comdroid for my very own. I found parts disturbing, but in normal Ms Painter fashion, everything works out in the end. I hope that Ellis and Frank work together again..

I want more!!

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This is the 3rd book in the Ellis McFadden Mysteries series, which is definitely Painter’s best written series. I hope for more stories about Ellis the space librarian and her chubby android cat Harry.

Definitely worth listening to.

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4.5 stars
I am loving these mysteries so much!
They make an absolutely terrific and fun, easy read. I love the whole crew of characters, and they are giving me a bit of a cozy Star Trek vibe, which I love!!
The audio narration is spectacular, and I definitely recommend!!

If Star Trek was a cozy mystery!!

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I love the stories and hope to find more by this author in same story line

Good reading

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This is the 3rd book in the Ellis McFadden series. Ellis and Frank have some downtime, and they are enjoying it! I love Harry and Gracie! They remind me of Spider and Sugar from the Jayne Frost series. I really enjoy this series and can't wait for more to come! I also love the narrator, she’s great!!

Great story!

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This is by far my favorite Ellis McFadden book. The storyline was so fascinating and so intriguing. I never knew what would happen next. I was consumed with figuring it out. I couldn’t get enough of it. I’m kind of a space geek anyway so this was just truly right up my alley. I thoroughly enjoyed it , as a matter of fact I listened to it twice before I ever reviewed it and it will be one that I listen to multiple times. I highly recommend this entire series.

Fascinating!!!

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This story is a little bit harder to swallow than the previous ones. Ellis is becoming judgmental and almost bitter, bordering on elitist.

And I know it’s not for everyone, but authors and screenwriter really might consider doing research before claiming that psychic gifts are not real.
Due to the Freedom of Information Act, the CIA’s research on such things is out for the reading. All it requires is a simple Google search.

But I digress, this is a reality in which Elvis was friends with benevolent ETS, who gave humans their extremely progressive technology, helping them to become a deep space-faring people.
Perhaps it’s just another twist, setting this book a little further away from reality.

I’m having a hard time finishing this though. It’s gone from a very cozy and low stress series, to one that is now a bit stressful close minded, for me.

Big change in tone- Ellis has become very judgy

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This is the third book in this series and is just as good as the first. Great characters and plot make this another hit from Kristen Painter.

Wonderful next installment of this series

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Incorrect pronunciation irks me. Commissary is not co-misery. She pronounced petit four several different ways. I think one time was right.

Fun read!

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