Down Home Murder

Laura Fleming, Book 1

By: Toni L. P. Kelner

Narrated by: Gayle Hendrix

Length: 8 hrs and 24 mins

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.

An RC Cola and Moonpie Wrapped in a Lite Mystery

No dirty language or porn, oops, I think they call it romance nowadays. Sort of a young married Mrs. Marple mystery. A great book for the beach. All set in a pecan pie of the South.

Written like in the '60's - which was not good

Would you try another book from Toni L. P. Kelner and/or Gayle Hendrix?

If all her books are full of the Klan, no. It was a very prejudiced view of the South I NEVER saw when living in Texas and visiting...

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

The Southern people being so prejudiced. I LIKE the characters, until they opened their mouths and spewed.

Did the narration match the pace of the story?

It was okay. Nothing horrible but nothing great either.

Any additional comments?

Also very poorly translated from a CD. There were a couple of duplicate lines, which was no big deal, but the hiccups in the many places were ridiculous - they either had a bad machine or a bad copy. I read where this book was written in 1993 - I left the South in my Freshman year in college in 1977 - I would have given a kinder review if it had been written in the 1960's. I bought this as a Daily Deal and just listened. I still buy cozy mysteries and sometimes I'm quite surprised by the treasures! Not this time.

Laura Fleming is no Stephanie Plum

I thought I would give a try to a new series of books with a heroine detective since I liked the Stephanie Plum series of books. Upon completion of this book, all I can conclude is Laura Fleming is no Stephanie Plum.

The book starts with Laura's grandfather in the hospital and the writer entices the reader by having him whisper to Laura that his accident wasn't an accident. The problem is the first half of the book is Laura dealing with her family and all of their quirks. Once she and her husband, Richard, start investigating into the grandfathers accident and the disappearance of a local girl. While following the story, I felt like the clues were a bit obvious and I had no problem figuring out what happened.

I also had a problem with the audio, as the tracks jumped or repeated a sentence every so often. It was an okay read and if one of the other books in this series went on sale I might be tempted to give them a listen.

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.

I wanted to like it

Any additional comments?

There were several problems with this book, beginning with the production. About 10 times poor editing made its jarring presence known as the words jumped, skipped and settled back into the rhythm of the story. Ouch.

The reader, well, let's just say that she couldn't keep a-hold of her Southern. The protagonist kept losing her Southern accent. Not good. And for the love all that's foothills, it's Hick-ry, not Hick-o-ry. That took me out of the story several times.

As for the author, I appreciate -- maybe -- what she is trying to do, but the southern stereotypes. Help me. I'm from North Carolina (not that far from Hickory, actually) and she just slams them all full force. I know that in the end we are supposed to appreciate community, family, etc. But she sure has to drag us through the racism/sexism/small town/small mind thing, doesn't she? I fail to see why that was necessary.

All that said, the mystery itself was interesting and held my interest the entire time. I'm mildly curious as to whether the author matures over the rest of the series; but not really interested enough to listen again. Especially if the reader isn't going to pronounce Hickory right.

Just About Every Southern Stereotype

Would you try another book from Toni L. P. Kelner and/or Gayle Hendrix?

No

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

No

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

The accent was awful.

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

Disappointment. The book was light on story and heavy on stereotype.

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.

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.

I really didn't love this book...

Would you try another book from Toni L. P. Kelner and/or Gayle Hendrix?

Nope:(

Would you recommend Down Home Murder to your friends? Why or why not?

No, because the story is a mess. Rather than being a smart mystery, and a tight plot, the story just wanders all over the place. Dumping loads of useless information in what I believe is an attempt to "hide" the blatant obvious "clues" the main character uses to "solve the mystery." This makes the story feel so schizophrenic it was almost unenjoyable.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

Yes. MORE THAN THE STORY! Her reading was so monotone, and the inflections of her voice seemed robotic and random. Pausing strangely during almost every sentence. Worst reading I have ever experienced on Audible.com :(

Was Down Home Murder worth the listening time?

No, unfortunately :(

Any additional comments?

The location in the south was interesting as was all the details that didn't really pertain to the plot of the story.

Exactly what I expected....and that's ok!

This book turned out to be pretty formulaic, and quite predictable, but I really did enjoy it. I had figured out "whodunit" about half way through the book, but the storyline really did keep me engaged throughout the entire book! I really liked the lead character, Laura. And even though some of the supporting characters were not quite as believable, I found myself interested enough in how Laura was going to come through in the plot that the weaker characters did not distract me much.

I wasn't in love with the narrator. She had a lot of different voices to come up with, most of them with southern accents, and that is no small feat. I just didn't like a few of them. Very stereotypical, and not much originality. I think some of the good lines in the book got a little lost in the narration as well...but that is more personal opinion and preference than anything.

Good book, and I think I will take another step into the series!