Dead, Bath and Beyond

Victoria Square Mystery Series, Book 4

By: Lorraine Bartlett, Laurie Cass

Narrated by: Jorjeana Marie

Length: 8 hrs and 44 mins

Publisher's summary

Katie Bonner feels like nothing can spoil her perfect day off, sailing Lake Ontario with her good friend, lawyer Seth Lander. Then she runs into her ex-boss, Jake, on the dock. It was never smooth sailing with Jake, and Katie is only too happy to get away from him as he makes a scene.

Unfortunately, the next day her unpleasant former employer is found drowned in a bathtub at a bed and breakfast in Victoria Square. Who would pull the plug on Jake? When an autopsy reveals lake water - not bath water - in his lungs, Katie quickly finds herself in over her head. She'll need to race to find the killer before her business and her freedom both go down the drain.

©2016 Lorraine Bartlett (P)2016 Tantor

Fun Read

Very Clever you want guess the ending Shows both the worst and the best and kindness of human kind

A Strange Drowning

In Dead, Bath, and Beyond by Lorraine Bartlett with Laurie Cass, Katie Bonner gets off a boat belonging to her close friend and lawyer Seth Landers and runs into Josh Kimper, her former boss, who was incredibly abrasive, almost verbally abusive, when she worked for Josh, and he has gotten no better in the year since she quit working for him. The next night Katie, owner of Artisans Alley, wakes up to the flashing lights of emergency vehicles and rushes to Sassy Sally’s Inn, the B&B Katie has long dreamed of opening but which two delightful men, Don and Nick, have instead purchased together to undergo as a venture. With two months to go until their grand opening, the partners have found a dead body in their bathtub. It is Josh, and he has drowned. But not in the bathtub. Instead, he has been drowned in Lake Ontario and transported to be left in Sassy Sally’s bathtub. Talk about strange!

Katie continues life managing Artisans’ Alley and trying to keep up her relationship with her boyfriend, Andy, owner of the local pizzeria, who is overworked and understaffed. The book continues bringing the world of Victoria Square to life, as we get to spend more time with Katie, Rose, Vance, Andy, Don, and Nick.

I enjoyed this book as much as the previous three. It builds up a whole community that we get to know as real people as they become so alive to our imagination. The mystery was fascinating while allowing time for attention to all the other details.

Jorjeana Marie reads the narration of the audiobook version of this book. She held my interest and gave me a lot of enjoyment as she performed. For a book that marries detection and local storytelling, Marie seems the perfect fit in doing both.

I recommend this series to people to enjoy the community along with the mystery. Since the community is involved, I strongly recommend that you start with A Crafty Killing. As a stand-alone book, I give this four stars, but I give the series as a whole five stars.

Not what I expected

I have always enjoyed this series. But since this author has become so political I will not be reading any more of her book.

I love this series

I love this series. It has a great cast of characters and a believable plot. Jorjeana Marie beings the characters alive. I highly recommend this book.

BORING! Total Fail

This book lost the story completely and took the total left turn on Katie's personality making her annoying. Andy's character was a side note and there were so many passages that were of no bearing to the storyline you forgot there was a murder to solve. So VERY DISAPPOINTED in a much anticipated book.

Cannot Listen to the Narration...

I really think this book could be good as I really like Laurie Cass's fun reads -- but I cannot finish this book due to the awful narration!