"The Narrator steals the show - Amazing!"
This book is 9th in a series of amusing and interesting tales made addictive and outstanding by the narrator. Ms. Rosenblat has developed voices for the characters that are instantly recognizable and incredibly varied. I hear Emerson's 'Bah!' in my head when I'd like to say the word myself in conversation.
If you think ' how can the story hold up after 9 books?' think about how relationships change, how children become adults, how wars shape the world, how archeological finds kept happening all the time in the period of time these books take place, and you'll understand why the story doesn't go stale.
The characters are far more entertaining that the mystery in this story, but I recommend it highly, nonetheless.
"Racing in the Rain - Excellent"
I don't usually like books that anthropomorphosize animals. It's an eye-rolling premise. Normally. This is not a 'normal' book. This is a little piece of written artwork and the dog's narrative was perfect. No one else could have done it. This book is about a dog and his man, about racing cars, about how families support and betray each other, about success and failure, about living and dying, and mostly about love. This is a story told by a dog on the verge of human-hood.
"The Crocodile Bird-not Rendell's best, still good"
Ruth Rendell's books are time-released cleverness. All the time you're reading, your brain is storing information - without you realizing it - and for days, weeks, maybe years after you've finished the book, the stored bits will drop into your consciousness at the strangest moments. You will realize you didn't understand the full import of the book when you finished it. You will have a flash of insight, an eyebrow-raising or jaw-dropping AHA! moment as another hidden clue or bit of plot slips into its place or a layer is revealed. I'm still thinking about this book weeks after I finished it. Not because the Crocodile Bird was a gripping page-turner, though the story, told in Scheherazade-style chunks, is compelling: a young woman tells her boyfriend tales of her strange childhood with a murdering mother. It was beautifully written, of course, and the narration was good. I'm still thinking about it because the characters became real to me and I'd like to know what happens to them for the rest of their lives.
I'm glad I read (heard) it and I recommend it to the readers who enjoy storytelling that expects your brain to get involved.
"The Cart Before the Corpse"
Very entertaining, very educational, very worthwhile.
Having no experience of 'driving' horses, or even awareness that carts and carriages are driven, I painlessly learned a bit about the sport. This story is about a woman whose father dies before she gets a chance to complete a reconciliation. When she inherits his life's dream property and its headaches, her life gets more complicated. It doesn't bog in despair, but it allows time and space for real grief. It's a decent mystery, too. I recommend it and I will be reading more of this writer's work.
"The Test"
The only reason this book didn't get five stars from me was that it dragged and lagged a bit. It was a bit predictable, too. However, the characters were well-developed and their growth was believable. I kept turning the pages with interest.
"Twelve Clues is one of the best Lady G stories"
Lady Georgiana stories delight me. The concept is simple: a young royal (35th in line for the throne) without any money or much life experience tries to make it in the world on her own. It's after the 1st great war in England and Scotland and life is hard for everyone. In this story, Lady G's awful sister-in-law makes it impossible for her to stay in the Scottish family castle for the holidays, so she applies for a job assisting an English aristocrat with a classic English Christmas house party.
Bodies start piling up the day she arrives - one a day, made to appear accidental. Lady G determines she is 'noblesse oblige' to solve the murders before anyone else dies. Lord Darcy O'Mara, love of her life, shows up just in time to help her with enquiries and makes the season bright.
Highly recommended.
"Haunted on Bourbon Street - Not bad, not great"
I had a hard time getting through this and nearly gave up, but that's hard for me to do. There was just too much straining of my credulity and impatience with sex scenes to get over with so the story could go on. I finally finished reading the book on my kindle so I could get through the story faster and skip pages. If you like ghost stories, don't have a skeptical mind and get turned on by sexy scenes, you'll enjoy this book more than I did.
"Plum Island still holds up"
I read this book shortly after it was published. I didn't remember the story, but I remembered that I thought it was a good book. So I decided to listen to it. Good choice. DeMille could write a page-turning story, I knew. Scott Brick can tell his stories well, too.This is a good surprising mystery with an ending that makes you hope for a sequel.
"One of the best in the series!"
Oscar-rated narration, a wonderful, emotion-filled story, terrific character development and a wowee ending. This book has it all and I think it's one of the best in the series. Don't start reading the series with this one - it needs some backstory.
"The Emersons and the mummy case - a must listen"
Ms. Rosenblat's amazing narration of this series deserves some kind of award. An Oscar-of-audio books. She makes these already-great stories into masterpieces. She 'plays the roles' of the characters with a range from gruff manliness to sweet child and everything between.
The Mummy Case brings the Emersons back to Egypt, this time with precocious son Ramses along to enliven the tale. Their dig site is uninspiring, but the Master Criminal makes their lives interesting - and full of danger. And the Mummy Case comes and goes.
Amelia Peabody Emerson is hilarious and inspiring. Her stories are worth reading, and definitely worth listening to, if Ms. Rosenblat is doing the reading.