Elaine

Once again, bad news comes to Fairlawn. This one brings sadness to even me, the reader/listener.

Gerald's daughter and granddaughter come to Fairlawn. His daughter is hoping for some easy money. A funeral business conglomerate seeks to be number one and one of its sales people is looking to purchase Fairlawn. The salesman sees Gerald's daughter outside the business and automatically thinks she is the owner and tries to bargain with her.

Jen takes her exam.

Oh brother! They hear a noise coming from the prep room and spend so much time discussing what to do and answering "Is there a burglar in the house?" that if there is a burglar in the house, they would have enough time to get what they want and leave. Probably have a snack too.

I love this novel. This is different than the normal reading fare but I do have to say I've enjoyed it. The narration is well-done in this unabridged edition.

Jennifer's ex-husband cheats on her and then files for divorce. Since they both work in politics and he is the favored one, she is having a difficult time landing a job. She along with her 13-year old son and 5-year old son are living with her mother when they get a call from an out-of-town lawyer telling her (Jen) that she had inherited a funeral home.

They travel to Florida to see the home and to get it ready for sale. They are forced to stay there overnight since there are no available hotels or motels in the area. The place has a resident embalmer -- an old man who has living quarters in the old Victorian. When she tells him of her plans to fix up the home and sell it, he requests that he be allowed, in the meantime, to resume the business. To make the many costly but necessary repairs to Fairlawn, Jennifer comes up with the idea to turn the home into a temporary bed and breakfast, much to Gerald's dismay.

I like this part: When the realtor comes with a doctor and his wife for a house showing, Clay stays behind. Okay, so you'll have to read it, to find out what happens.

In "Doesn't She Looks Natural," we learn some about the funeral business, how the bodies are prepared for viewing. In this setting, many of the clients are long-time friends and neighbors of Fairlawn's residents. As Gerald says "Funerals aren't for the dead; They're for the living."

I love this series!

Unsettling news abounds.

In this, the sequel to "Doesn't She Look Natural," we learn some about anatomy and the embalming process. Don't you just love science? Jen is becoming more and more at ease in the process of preparing the remains of the deceased for viewing. She attends school now in order to become an embalmer. At present, she is under the tutelage of Gerald as his assistant. She discovers some more unwelcoming news and wonders how she's going to break this to her sons and mom. Especially her mom.

Clay may be headed for trouble with youngsters he's been hanging around with. He goes along with them in their search for catacombs. He begins to wonder whether they like him for him or for what he can provide for them. Well, if he doesn't wonder it, I sure do.

A man is looking for his own twenty something-year old daughter and somehow thinks she's going to go willingly back home with him. By the time he becomes aware of her location, he discovers she is now married and with child although her husband is currently deployed in the Mideast.

John McDonough is wonderful in his narration of this series! Thank you, John. I'm rating the narration here a 5.

and the title says it all...

This portion of the audiobook isn't bad.

A rich dot commer becomes ill and after visiting his doctor who tells him the possible causes of his enlarged heart could be poisoning among other things, Ryan quickly becomes suspicious of people, preferring to eat out of vacuum-sealed containers as a little-to-late precaution. His suspicions include watching other drivers on the road - don't know what he expects in this latter suspicion.

This story has been more than enough in substance to hold my interest and that of my husband on a long road trip. Still have over 3 hours left out of about 8.5 hours of narration.

This story's theme had a lot of potential but things just didn't fit. I didn't find the ending to be neatly-wrapped. Even the psychological threats the protagonist received weren't frightening - just weird and we're expected to believe that the way they happened were plausible.

What could have worked - just fizzled.