Fabulous!

In <strong>Murder on the Half Shelf</strong> by Lorna Barrett, Tricia Miles goes with her sister to a pre- opening weekend at the Sheer Comfort Inn with her sister, Angelica. When Angelica sneaks her terrier, Sergeant, into the B&B, Tricia ends up taking the little guy for a walk to use the bush, and Sergeant starts poking around the yard, only to discover the body of Pippa Comfort, the owner of the B&B. As Tricia's semi- boyfriend, Police Chief Grant Baker, starts to grill her about her having found her fourth body, Pippa's husband finally resurfaces after having taken off for a couple hours. Tricia is astonished to recognize a man who was supposed to be dead. Her first lover, best- selling author Harry Tyler, has come back from having disappeared in a boat wreck and being declared dead.

<strong>Murder on the Half Shelf</strong> is the sixth book in Barrett's Booktown series, and it seems that each book improves over the previous. I found myself gripped by the plot and the characters, but especially the community of Stoneham. The book kept me guessing about the identity of the murderer, and I found the solution satisfying. It also has plenty of vividly drawn scenes, such as Tricia's war with Pixie, the new ex(?)-hooker receptionist of Grace, who administers a charity. When Angelica appears in a cooking demonstration on a new local television station, I could smell the scents and hear the noises as well as see the scene.

However, what I love most about Barrett's writing, both in this series and in her Victoria Square series, published under the name of Lorraine Bartlett, is her gift for building up an entire community around the main character. Besides Tricia, we feel that we personally know such characters as Tricia's sister, Angelica; the elderly bookstore employee and his generous wife, Mr. Everett and Grace; and Angelica's sometime- boyfriend, Chamber of Commerce president Bob. The relationship between the sisters strikes us as genuine, showing real love between them but also the conflict of siblings. Stoneham feels that it has become our own hometown, a place of good as well as bad but where everyone knows each other.

The series breaks with convention for cozy mysteries in having the protagonists date unreliable men instead of creating a situation of the woman and good man being kept apart. In this book we find ourselves wanting the women to find better men, even though we don't identity the better men we want to root for.

<strong>Murder on the Half Shelf</strong> has a new narrator in the audio edition, switching from Cassandra Campbell to Karen White. There were a couple scenes with inconsistencies in some of the words, such as changing the name of Angelica to Angela and merging Tricia with Pixie to say Trixie. However, overall, I was pleased with the performance, as White brings the book to life in evoking the senses that Barrett writes so effectively.

I really enjoyed listening to <strong>Murder on the Half Shelf</strong> and visiting Stoneham again with Tricia and all the residents. The book seems very genuine and is full of lively incidents, some of which relate to the mystery, but others of which serve the purpose of making us connect to Stoneham. I heartily enjoyed this book and look forward to listening to the next one. I give this book five stars.

<strong>Disclaimer:</strong> I received this book for free for review purposes, but that had no effect on the content of my review.

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Murder on the Half Shelf

I listened to the first few books of this series and loved them. The narrator, Cassandra Campbell, brought Tricia and Alexis to life for me. I am not sure I will continue the series with the new narrator, Linda White. I felt the characters seemed older and grumpier in this book. I lost interest in the characters so after starting the book.

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Disappointed in the narrator.

The story as always was captivating and well written. I am disappointed with the change of narrator. The voices she used we not consistent and she used the wrong name more that a few times. Less professional produced.

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1 person found this helpful

Disappointing and inconsistent narration!

I’ve been listening to the Booktown series and though I wasn’t in love with the previous narrator she was at least acceptable. Unfortunately, they have changed narrators for this book and the new one is awful. She cannot seem to do passable accents and her choice of voice for characters are inconsistent even from chapter to chapter. She clearly is unsuited to being a narrator. I wish they would redo this book. I rarely return my audiobooks but I would definitely exchange this one for a new version with a different narrator!

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New narrator annoying

The new writer can’t seem to remember Angelica and periodically calls her Angela. And her voices for the different characters are rather rough.

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THIS MYSTERY IS GREAT

The town of Stoneham is a haven for bookstores, but it is sadly lacking in bed-and-breakfasts. Fortunately Pippa and Jon Comfort's Sheer Comfort Inn is about to open, and the couple has offered some locals a free night as a trial run. But it won't be so easy to sleep after Tricia makes two startling discoveries: Pippa's murdered body in the backyard, and the fact that Pippa's husband, Jon, is actually Harry Tyler, a man Tricia loved - and believed dead - for nearly 20 years. Though Harry is the prime suspect, Tricia doesn't believe him capable of murder, even though he's led a life of lies.

WHAT A GREAT LITTLE COZY BOOK. IT IS PART OF A SERIES OF A BOOKSELLER'S STORE, "HAVEN'T GOT A CLUE". FULL OF TWISTS AND TURNS THAT LEAVES YOU EVER READY TO GET BACK TO THE AUDIO. TRICIA, IS A GREAT PROTAGONIST, AND A DETECTIVE IN EVERY SENSE OF THE WORD....SHE BAFFLES ME, THE END OF THE BOOK OPENS WITH A NEW MYSTERY STARTING AS THE OLD ONE IS SOLVED. A WINNING WAY TO KEEP US COMING BACK TO THIS AUTHOR. WELL WORTH THE CREDIT. LORNA BARRETT IS A GREAT AUTHOR AND KAREN WHITE IS A GREAT NARRATOR. NICE WORK LADIES. WHAT A GREAT WEEKEND.

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3 people found this helpful

The Narrator is not very good.

I really like the book but the Narrator does not even read the names of the characters correctly.

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4 people found this helpful

Very Good

This is a well written and fast moving cozy mystery with twists and turns of the plot that will keep you guessing until the end. I truly enjoyed this latest installment of this series. Well worth the credit.

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4 people found this helpful

Narrator Change

There was a narrator change after five books. This was very distracting. Also, the voice change for some of the characters actually left me feeling that their personalities had changed. I was not pleased with this book.

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2 people found this helpful

Bring back the original narrator

The new narrator, Karen White, seemed to change the personalities of some of the characters by her narration. In particular Christopher, who sounds like a pompous jerk, whereas Cassandra Campbell's narration of the character portrayed a different (better!) personality all together. The narration of Mr. Everst was also awful, turned him into a stodgy unlikable character. Her narration of Antonio sounds like her voice for Angelica..with a really fake Italian accent. Overall, Karen White does a really poor job with male voices, just awful. I also do not like her narration of Tricia or Angelica, but it is the male voices where it is most irritating.
Love the books, brink back the original narrator.

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4 people found this helpful