• Down Home Murder

  • Laura Fleming, Book 1
  • By: Toni L. P. Kelner
  • Narrated by: Gayle Hendrix
  • Length: 8 hrs and 24 mins
  • 3.0 out of 5 stars (497 ratings)

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Down Home Murder  By  cover art

Down Home Murder

By: Toni L. P. Kelner
Narrated by: Gayle Hendrix
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Publisher's summary

When a tragic family accident brings Laura Fleming back home to Byerly, North Carolina, the sleuth discovers that her beloved grampaw's fatal fall from a ladder in the old mill was not an accident.

©1993 Toni L. P. Kelner (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

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What listeners say about Down Home Murder

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Overall
  • 3 out of 5 stars
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    55
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Performance
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Story
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  • 4 Stars
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  • 3 Stars
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  • 2 Stars
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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

ATROCIOUS!!

I suffered through three chapters of this story before I decided I could not take it anymore. At first, I thought it was the narrator who had the worst accent ever. Clearly, she had never been to NC. I am from NC and have never heard an accent like hers (not even sure where I would hear one like hers). But after suffering through another couple of chapters, I realized that I hated the story as well. It was far too negative and offensive for me. Never seen people so very back woods!!! Atrocious!

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9 people found this helpful

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

Surprisingly offensive

White authors writing about race in southern America often makes me uncomfortable, but I haven't been as uncomfortable as I was while listening to this book in a long time. The main character is, of course, a liberal ex-native of the Southern locality in question, and comments on her family's inappropriate generalizations frequently.

However, there is a certain sense that "this is just the way people talk" that leaves me cold. Coming to this book from Laura Lipman's Baltimore mysteries only made this distinction more clear. Lippman always manages to tread that line without verging into offensive territory. Kelner is either not as fine an author or not as cognizant of the issues with her topic matter. I couldn't get past the first few chapters.

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8 people found this helpful

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

Folksy overkill

My fault. Consider the title. If I weren't ready for home-fried folk cliches, I shouldn't have clicked on purchase. On the other hand, this would have been a much better book had an editor (remember editors, a nearly extinct species?) red-penciled through the worst cliches. Rode hard and put up wet. Dry as a bone. Sweet as honey.

There's a core of a pretty good mystery here, which is why I gave it a 3. Pretty good.

One more thing, as long as I'm complaining: The narrator's voice is too old for the character's. The latter is somewhere in her early 20s. The former might have daughters that age. The middle-aged young person was a distraction.

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7 people found this helpful

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

Did not enjoy

I like a cozy mystery as much as the next one, but this one wasn't worth the reduced price nor the time it took to listen. The main character is a 20 something computer programmer who returns to NC when the grandfather who raised her is critically injured in a mill. Her husband is a professor of literature who is constantly quoting The Bard. They do not make for exciting listening, especially since the narrator sounds like she's in her 50s and doesn't do the South or young voices justice.

The book was written 20 years ago, which is perhaps why the characters come off as such racists, but to me it was very disconcerting. I mean it was 1993, not 1953.

The only positive is that I didn't know who the murderer was until the last chapter.

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6 people found this helpful

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

Rednecks on Parade!

What disappointed you about Down Home Murder?

The poor overly-stereotypical characterization of small town southern culture.

Would you ever listen to anything by Toni L. P. Kelner again?

No!

What didn’t you like about Gayle Hendrix’s performance?

Her southern accent.

Any additional comments?

Seriously?? People actually LIKED this book? I can't even make it halfway through. I know...let's take every stereotype there ever was regarding small town southern culture, and write them into a story that reads more like a soap opera, with poorly developed, overly-stereotypical redneck characters! The whole storyline reads like something done for a high school English project back in the 1970's...not the 1990's. My husband is from a very small town in North Carolina and while his family definitely has a different culture than those from (eh-hem) The Big City, I found this book extraordinarily offensive and simple. Has Toni Kelner ever *been* to a small town in North Carolina? I see from her website she lives in Charlotte...CHARLOTTE! You know...a big city. Like I said, there's no way I can ever make it through the rest of this book. Glad I bought this on sale and didn't waste a whole credit on it.

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6 people found this helpful

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

My favorite cousin is a nice young boy in the KKK!

What disappointed you about Down Home Murder?

It was a listing of terribly unhealthy fast food consumed by a very large family. The narrator felt so very sympathetic towards her cousin, a new member of the KKK.

What was most disappointing about Toni L. P. Kelner’s story?

I will never fall for a "deal of the day" again without doing much more investigation. This "mystery" was a disaster for me. None of the characters had any character except a love for fast food. The narrator cum "detective" is mainly memorable because she loved sausage biscuits. Having moved to Boston, she evidently could find nary a sausage nor a biscuit. Is this book an advertisement for Hardee's and McDonald's?

What didn’t you like about Gayle Hendrix’s performance?

Too much Southern, too much lightness--I really did not like her drawls and wondered seriously if the speed on my iPod was off. It was not.

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

I was angry and disappointed. I did not like the trite treatment of race; I did not like the huge cast of greedy characters who cared more about the menu than the death among them.

Any additional comments?

I won't be fooled again. This is most certainly the worst "read" I have had on audible.com.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars
  • CL
  • 03-21-14

Horrible!

Believe the negative reviews. Interesting that the Amazon reviewers and Audible reviewers are so different.

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4 people found this helpful

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

Too many words too little plot

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

A lot less stereotyped characters
A lot less padding
A believable set of accents

What do you think your next listen will be?

Murder and Mendelsohn by Kerry Underwood

How did the narrator detract from the book?

Her accent was way off, too unbelievably "folksy".

What character would you cut from Down Home Murder?

Quit the book after two hours.

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3 people found this helpful

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

Only lasted a half our.

What disappointed you about Down Home Murder?

As noted, I didn't listen to very much of this, but there were uncomfortable statements regarding African American hospital patients and the narrator seemed like she was just trying to get the hang of narrating.

What do you think your next listen will be?

Naughty in Nice - the next book in the Royal Spyness Series.

What didn’t you like about Gayle Hendrix’s performance?

She was very hesitant in her reading. Like she was just reading it aloud for the first time. Sentences that were definitive weren't spoken definitively.

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3 people found this helpful

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

Simply awful

I rarely give up on a book. I struggled through four chapters of this stinker before finally throwing in the towel. The story is dull and the narration made me want to stick my fingers in my ears. I'm Southern by the grace of God and I've never heard accents like the one demonstrated by the narrator. Just. Bad.

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3 people found this helpful