• And Then You Dye

  • A Needlecraft Mystery, Book 16
  • By: Monica Ferris
  • Narrated by: Susan Boyce
  • Length: 7 hrs and 31 mins
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (451 ratings)

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And Then You Dye  By  cover art

And Then You Dye

By: Monica Ferris
Narrated by: Susan Boyce
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Publisher's summary

At Crewel World - the needlework shop in Excelsior, Minnesota, run by Betsy Devonshire - an array of beautifully hand-dyed yarns are supplied by Hailey Brent, an avid hand-dyer as well as a customer. But shortly after her most recent delivery of yarn, Hailey is found dead in her home, with a gunshot wound to the head.

Betsy can't imagine who might have killed Hailey, but she is determined to find out. Her investigation takes her into the world of dye stuffs and mordants and the plants that are grown to produce colors for all kinds of textiles. Fascinating stuff, indeed - except when it leads to murder.

©2012 Mary Monica Kuhfeld (P)2012 AudioGO

What listeners say about And Then You Dye

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

And Then You Dye

Great story - Monica Ferris has done it again! The performance left a lot to be desired in my estimation. Susan Boyce put emphasis on the wrong words - used inappropriate inflections, and was, in my opinion, hard to listen to.

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Stilted narration spoils an okay story

What disappointed you about And Then You Dye?

The mystery itself was okay, but Susan Boyce presented almost all the characters as prissy and stilted. It was as if she was reading to a kindergarten class.



I added "And Then You Dye" to my library when Audible offered it on a reduced price--and I had a $10 coupon. Why not try a mystery series I hadn't known about? If I liked it, I could start at the beginning. I knew going in that starting with # 16 in the Needlecraft Mystery series would mean I'd be getting a lot of shorthand on development of long standing characters, but I was willing to give Monica Ferris the benefit of the doubt

What was most disappointing about Monica Ferris’s story?

.

How could the performance have been better?

The story was reasonably well plotted and included a couple of digressions to flesh out secondary relationships such as those of Godwin and Rafael and Jill and Lars Larson--the sort of thing that readers of mystery series want--and miss if they're left out (like the family dinners in Donna Leon's Commissario Brunetti series).So. Points for keeping up with the major and minor characters.

What character would you cut from And Then You Dye?

And points also for incorporating a *lot* of information about handicraft dying into the plot without overloading her readers with too much detail. She uses a standard device--bring in an expert to explain the essential points about natural dyes but punctuate her delivery with additional conversation. Further, after setting us up to expect a murder based on poisonous dyes and mordants (see I paid attention), she switches to a plain old death by gunshot. But the dye-ing demonstrations are not irrelevant, as the conclusion makes clear.

Any additional comments?

However, if Susan Boyce represents the way Ferris wants her characters to sound, then I won't be going back to the beginning of the series. ]Boyce. articulates. every. single. word. and. every. sentence. on. a. falling. tone. no. matter. how. complex. it. may. be. And, although Boyce does modulate her voice in an attempt to distinguish the characters, the result is that she sounds like a sheltered first grade teacher reading to a Sunday school class. I will not be listening to any other books she narrates.Just a note: The only way I could get paragraph breaks was to type my comments into the separate boxes. As you can see, the headers don't fit the comments.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great Story - not so great reading

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

This is the third book in the whole series I've listend to. The others I've read as paperbacks. This show's how much I love this series.
I don't like the narrating of Susan Boyce. She speaks kind of 'choppy' and there is no 'live' in any of the characters. Sorry to say so, but I guess the followings I will read as paperbacks again.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Enjoyed as usual

This was another usually enjoyable story. There were some flaws in it but overall worth listening to. I did wonder what happened to Conner’s Irish accent, which occasionally disappeared. I did like that Annie was improving her life. This is the end of my free books from Prime so I will go on to another series. I will not buy a book from this series because the author uses profanity throughout her series at the same time implying that the characters regularly go to church and have a faith in God. Oh my God, Jesus Christ, and God damn are words of profanity. Is the author making some kind of statement against faith based people?

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Simply the best

This is the best book in the series. Betsy is clever and tenacious. The mystery is full of twists and turns that moves the plot at a nice pace. All of Betsy's friends are included and they add to the enjoyment of the story.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

My first by this author......and last....

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

I bought this book because I like "Who done its" and because I'm from Minneapolis, but I wouldn't recommend it to Mpls people, for the reader doesn't know how to pronounce the names of the suburbs. Also, beyond that, I am a knitter and thought is sounded fun. It turned out to be agony just listening to the whole thing. Her characters were incorrectly portrayed; ie.: One may have a head injury but they don't go through such a dramatic personality change. (I'm a physician). Character development was ....Where?? These people were no more intelligent enough, especially the oh so sweet protagonist, to solve a crime and it's very doubtful the police would have appreciated the woman taking over the case. Utter nonsense! I finally just skipped the second half, to the very predictable ending. Don't waste your time. Agatha Christie the author is NOT.

What was most disappointing about Monica Ferris’s story?

The plot

How could the performance have been better?

A different author

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Discust

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Terminology

It’s a chronic problems with these books. The reader mispronounces techniques and supplies, and the author gets technique issues wrong. If the “real spinning wheel” has a chair, then it is super unlikely it has a spindle. No, not impossible, but not at all likely. There should be a flyer and bobbin, and bobbins lying around as well as winders and niddy noddies. If she is processing her own fiber and blending, there should also be carders, and a drum carder or blending board there, too. These things missing would be like going into a wood worker’s shop and no sand paper and saws around, while a jig saw is being used to make a shaped chair leg, instead of a lathe.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

love this serie!

I think this is book 16 & I can't wait for the next one. I have even dug out an old needlework book that I haven't looked at in ages. It's also fascinating that it's not usually the person I might think it is. I don't see a pattern to be able to pick the guilty out quickly. A true delight! (Beginners - start with the first book. It's worth it!)

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

I am not old enough for this book

Adding together the robotic narration, extremely elderly (or elderly-coded) characters, and no clue who was the main character was, I had to DNF.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Fan

Really enjoying the books and look forward to the other books. So glad that the original narrator is back

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