Blackmail to Murder

Mark Banning, PI Series, Book 3

By: Stephen L. Brooks

Narrated by: Tim Lundeen

Length: 4 hrs and 17 mins

Publisher's summary

Mark banning encounters a very different and very differently deadly case.

Ryan Morgan, a married man, comes to Banning in a panic. He is being blackmailed with incriminating photos of Ryan with an attractive coworker. To Banning, with years of experience as a private eye, there is nothing unusual about that. What is unusual is that the photos show the pair in places where they have never been.

Hooked by the questions the photos raise and the challenge the case presents, Banning and his assistant Betsy begin investigating. Clues, soon, suggest the photos may have been sent from the home of Paul Reynolds, Ryan Morgan's business partner, and his wife Ellen.

But when Betsy arrives at the Morgan residence, she finds someone has beat her there, and Ellen Morgan has been shot dead.

What Mark Banning wants to know is did his client, his client's wife, or the "other woman" decide Ellen Reynolds was the blackmailer? Or is something entirely different going on?

What Banning doesn't know is that a desperate killer will do anything to stop him from learning the truth...

©2019 Stephen L. Brooks (P)2020 Stephen L. Brooks

I love Mark Banning!💜

This book was so good. It’s not just another mystery with PI Mark Banning on the job. He is such a fun character. I love his wit and banter with other characters.
The narration was fantastic.
This book has an HEA and can be read as a standalone.
I recommend this book.

Sisters Spotlight 💜

Good plot, decent performance

Note: I was presented with a free copy of this audiobook, in exchange for an unbiased review.

Performance: The narration was good. Lundeen's voice is easy to listen to, with good tone, variation and cadence. The voices of the different characters was also relatively easy to distinguish. To me the real test of a narrator is how well they do the voices of the opsitte sex. Lundeen does female voices quite well, he even manages to differentiate his voice between different female characters. There are two reason for not giving the narration five stars. First is that when the characters become agitated, excited or emotional, the male characters all sound alike. The second reason is that all his male characters sounded very similar and his female characters also sounded similar.

Story: I did not read / listen to earlier titles in the series. That may affect my experience, so so please keep that in mind. The detective and his assistant are clearly recurring characters. Even though most readers would already know these characters, Even so, Brooks manage to introduce them, establish their personalities and their relationship in just a few paragraphs. The plot is very cleverly thought out and Brooks manages to keep the listener guessing right up to the end. To my mind, that is one of the biggest requirements for a murder mystery. Where I struggled was in keeping the characters separated in my mind. The cast is quite big for a short novel - four male and five female characters feature prominently. The men especially are sometimes referred to by their surnames and sometimes by their first names. Brooks did spend the time to introduce the characters, but somehow I still had trouble keeping them separated in my mind. I often find myself wondering who is speaking, or who are they talking about. As mentioned, this might be because I am not familiar with the prior novels in the series.

Is it a good murder mystery - yup. Will I recommend it to a friend - indeed, provided I know that they enjoy the genre. It is a good listen, but not outstanding.

Great detective story!

Blackmail to Murder by Steven L. Brooks is a very engaging detective story with twists and turns to the end. Ryan Morgan gets a packet of faked up photos of him and a coworker in compromising situations. Ryan turns to Private Investigator Mark Banning for help figuring out who is trying to blackmail him. The action packed story takes twists and turns that keep the reader guessing. I enjoyed the book even more because I once lived near Towson (TAU-son, not TOE-son) Maryland so I knew all the streets and towns in the story. The narration by Tim Lundeen was wonderful and he brought the characters and story to life.

Reminds me of the falcon detective.

I love the narrator he did a good job reading this novel. The storyline is good, full of actions and quick paste. It’s a clean detective story. I definitely will read more books from this series.

A great murder mystery!

The story line was great and so was the pace. As I was reading I continued to find myself trying to figure out whodunit. Worth listening too.

good

Twisted path for betrayals. How I didn't see this coming I'll never know. I voluntarily listened to a free copy of this and am giving an honest review. The narrator was good.

good mystery

I enjoyed this storyline and there were some twists and turns that I didn't expect. Not very long, but you could finish it in 1 or 2 days if you like detective stories. Good narration

Blackmail

I enjoyed this mystery from start to finish, kept me guessing all the way
Well narrated

Suspenseful

This is the first book I have read in the series. I enjoy murder mysteries because of the twists and turns while I think who the killer could be.

Narrator, Tim Lundeen did a fabulous job of voicing these characters and with keeping my interest throughout the entire book.

fair quick listen

although it was short it was quick and easy. it lacked a little character development for my taste. In my opinion the narrator read the story rather than performed it.