• Finders Keepers

  • The Jane Barnaby Adventures, Book 1
  • By: J.J. DiBenedetto
  • Narrated by: Cait Frizzell
  • Length: 6 hrs and 27 mins
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (51 ratings)

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Finders Keepers  By  cover art

Finders Keepers

By: J.J. DiBenedetto
Narrated by: Cait Frizzell
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Publisher's summary

It should have been a simple job. All archaeology student Jane Barnaby had to do was pick up a box her professor needed and deliver it to him at his dig site, along with his new car. Yes, his office was in Oxfordshire, and his dig site was in Spain, a trip of 1,400 miles across three countries and two bodies of water. Still, it should have been simple.

And it was, until Jane discovered she picked up the wrong box by mistake. Not the one with boring pottery samples, but instead the one with priceless ancient Egyptian artifacts. The one that a team of international art thieves is after.

Now she's chasing - and being chased by - the thieves. And she's picked up a pair of passengers who claim they can help her outwit them, get her professor's pottery back and return the artifacts to their rightful owner. If only she could figure out which one of them is working with the thieves and which one she can trust in this high-stakes game of finders keepers.

©2016 James J DiBenedetto (P)2016 James J DiBenedetto

What listeners say about Finders Keepers

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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Good Book

If you could sum up Finders Keepers in three words, what would they be?

Good Enjoyable Book

What other book might you compare Finders Keepers to and why?

Hm, i'm not even sure.

Which scene was your favorite?

I didn't have a favorite scene from this book, I liked everything.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes, it was..

Any additional comments?

I received this book from the author in exchange for a fair review

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18 people found this helpful

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

A true delight!

Any additional comments?

Let me begin with my thoughts on the actual story starting with our main character, Jane Barnaby. I liked this girl – a lot. She is smart, witty and doesn’t back down from a challenge – willing to get the job done, no matter what. Jane is a university student studying archeology. When her professor asks her for a favor involving delivering a box of pottery shards, she jumped for the chance, willing to prove herself in her chosen field. It seemed like an easy job – all she had to do is drive her across three countries to a dig site in Spain. Easy Peasy, right? Well, not everything goes according to plan, when to start with, she has no idea how to drive a stick shift so she has to have a crash course (no pun intended) in order not to totally destroy her professor’s brand NEW Ranger Rover. She then quickly discovers that instead of the professors prized pottery shards, she has picked up a box of priceless Ancient Egyptian artifacts that some very determined thieves need to get back. This is where the action really picks up as Jane tries her best to get the correct package back to the professor and the Egyptian artifacts back to their rightful owner. In a game of cat and mouse, Jane must trust her instincts to determine which of her two new ‘assistants’ she can trust.

J.J. DiBenedetto has created the perfect combination of mystery, action and intrigue with the start of this series and I can’t wait to see where Jane’s adventures take the reader next. If book one is any indication, it’s going to be one crazy and delightful time! I really loved the fact that the author did not drown the story in romance, which would have worked, but was so much better without it as the reader gets to concentrate on the actual details. There is a hint of a love interest, but it never evolved in this installment. I look forward to see if anything comes of it but in all seriousness, it really is not necessary in this series.

The narration….
In my opinion, what really makes this story pop is the narration. Cait Frizzell did an AMAZING job narrating this book. Her different accents for each character brought this story to life and made an already great book, simply fantastic! Her voices are crisp and concise and the pacing was perfect. Ms. Frizzell’s performance drew me into the story and I did not want to stop listening for a second – in fact, this was the fastest 6 hours and 27 seconds I have ever encountered!

In conclusion....
There is always some level of apprehension on my part whenever I start a book that is written by a new to me author AND narrator, but my worries were for not with Finders Keepers. I was pleasantly surprised by just how amazing this combination was – not only was this a fantastic story, the narration was perfect! Overall, Finders Keepers was a true delight and I look forward to reading more from DiBenedetto and will be definitely be searching out more audio performances from Frizzell.

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4 people found this helpful

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

Mystery of great adventures.


J J DiBenedetto has done a great job with his first "Jane" book.
Jane Barnaby is an American student going to Oxford University. She is a lonely grieving the loss of her mom.
She's an anthropology student and her favorite professor is from her home the Bronx.
Jane's professor asks her for an unusual favor - to drive his brand new Hummer from Oxford to Mallorca in Spain and to bring with her a box of pottery shards he's been collecting for the past 20 years.
She takes the wrong box from room 16 and her adventure begins.
She can't be sure who to trust of the two men she meets on the way.
This audio book has it's funny moments.
You must get this book to find out how it ends.
I enjoyed the audio AR(L)C. Fun and well-written. Great work J. J. DiBenedetto!
bravo Cait Frizzell on a well read book.

I was gifted this audio ARC for a honest and unbiased review.

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2 people found this helpful

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

Sadly this story line doesn't work

Any additional comments?

I do not even know where to start with this review. I have listen or read other books from this author and have really enjoyed them. This one I spent a lot of time saying What, Why and that just doesn’t work. There is a lot of filler here that really isn’t needed and has nothing to do with the story. I am clueless to the reasoning of why Jane did the things she did. My first thought would have been police not going after the art work or doing high speed to out run the bad guy. Unlike other works by this author this story just didn’t work for me. I am at a lost whether to rate it at 2.5 or a 3 so we will round it up. It has some interesting action but it is out of place for the character that Jane truly is without these things you would not have a story….I know it worked for some sadly just not for me.

Ms. Fizzell as narrator I thought did a good job I loved her many accents as she bought the characters to life. You had no trouble knowing who was talking or what they were feeling. I hear no background noise just a clean, clear audio. I didn’t like the music at the ending at first I thought it was noise from the mic but it was not. I thought it took away from the ending and was out of place. I did think some of her character voices were close to others but it doesn’t take away from the listen. I found her male voices to be just as pleasant as her female ones. She really did bring the characters to life giving them feeling and meaning. If any breaks were taken you could not tell. There were not any places where the volume changes or any high/ low places. I really did enjoy her narration.

What worked for me was how Jane came up with what to do with the box I thought that was outstanding. I believe one characters name was John who lost the box but him went after that works. It was easy to understand why Jane took on the easy task of getting the professor work and car to him. Jane was a likeable character really for the most part most of them were. Alex worked up to a point but he was just out of character most of the time.

What didn’t work for me was the touch and go on the romance. Alex on his wishy washy ways along with Jane touch and go romance feelings. If I thought someone was giving me a line to get the box I had there is no way I would think oh my if he does this I am lost. Yes being taken in from the start works great just not when she knew he wasn’t on the up and up. I just do not see her following him down a long dark road she is a smart lady and should know better than to do most of what she did. Jane not going to the police when she found out the boxes wasn’t right that she decided to take on bad men to get it back. The reference to movies and characters in them I thought that took away from what the author was trying to get across. Her going Barney Bad a^^ was so out of her character. For what the author wanted to bring out the characters just didn’t have reasoning or the strength they needed to carry off the story. This is just not a believable story after the first few pages. There is no way that art work that is worth millions would have been left like it was. Jane’s action was just to over the top. Other works of this author I have loved just not this one. I wonder how many unhelpful marks I will get for this review. I am sorry I tried to really like the story but the truth is this isn’t the authors best work.

There are so many that have loved this story please do not let my review stop you from giving it a listen. I know a lot of people will love the action, thrills and the touch of romance but for me it was just out of place leaving me shaking my head. Please pick it up and give it a try and let me know what you think.

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2 people found this helpful

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

Entertaining Adventure for the College Set

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

Yes. I enjoyed it. It was like a fun ride

What did you like best about this story?

While it may have started slow, it turned into an amusing, fun little caper and I'll definitely be back for the second novel

Which character – as performed by Cait Frizzell – was your favorite?

The main character, Jane Barnaby, Cait Frizzell did Great Job

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

The Jane Barnaby Adventures

Any additional comments?

I received a copy of this audio in exchange for an unbiased review

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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

Exciting and Refreshing

5★ Audiobook⎮ I chose Finders Keepers to round out my July listening schedule because it was intriguing and under six hours long. I thought, “I’ll speed through this!” and, to begin with, I did. But towards the end, I noticed myself prolonging the listening process; 15 minutes here, 30 minutes there. Not because I wasn’t enjoying it, but because I didn’t want it to end!

This story is hard to categorize. It is pitched as a suspense/thriller tale. Although there are suspenseful and thrilling elements to it, I may not have immediately recognized the story as suspense/thriller if I hadn’t been introduced to it that way. I could see it more as a “light” suspense/thriller story. It wasn’t heart stopping-ly thrilling or suspenseful, but it was still more than enough to keep my interest.


I fell for the main character, Jane Barnaby, almost immediately. The thing I liked most about her was her maturity. Finders Keepers is not a YA novel, but the main character is still a young, college-aged woman. For the most part, I much prefer reading about college-aged protagonists than their teenaged counterparts. Writers tend to portray teenaged and college-aged characters very differently, even if there is only a couple of years difference in age.

The way DiBenedetto wrote Jane and his general writing style suited my tastes very well. The story takes place in 1990 and the multitude of pop culture references scattered throughout provided constant amusement. At one point, I stopped listening just to call my dad and tell him about all of the references to one of his favorite childhood movies, Smokey and the Bandit.

All the ingredients for a love triangle were present in this novel, but (thankfully) there was barely any hint of a serious romance. I absolutely loathe rushed or unnecessary romances. Repeat after me: Every protagonist does not need a love interest!

With that said, I’ll be totally fine if Jane has a love interest in forthcoming installments. Why? Because DiBenedetto has already proven that he can weave a wonderful story without using romance as a crutch. I would trust him to create an organically developing romance for Jane.

Knowing that this is only the first installment in The Jane Barnaby Adventures series, I’m really glad DiBenedetto played things out the way he did. It was obvious in this installment that he has a clear plan for where he wants the story to go and he’s pacing the series accordingly. This fast-paced adventure novel had plenty of action. Yet, I feel like there is so much more to come. The ending was absolutely tantalizing and left me primed for the next installment!

Narration review: Cait Frizzell’s voice was quite appropriate for Finders Keepers. It had a quality of indiscernible age, which allowed me to buy into Jane as a young, but also mature character. Frizzell’s accent ability initially bothered me a little. I’m not sure if it got better as the story went along, or if I just got used to it. Either way, it wasn’t a huge deal to me and it provided very effective characterization.

What was a huge deal, however, were the sound effects. There were sound effects! They were few and far between, but they were in there. Even if it was something as simple as adding an echo to the other end of a phone conversation, it still enhanced my listening experience. Aside from an good narrator, sound effects are the surest way for an audiobook to win my approval! ♣︎

➜ This audiobook was graciously gifted to me by its author, James J. DiBenedetto, in exchange for a review containing my honest thoughts and opinions. Thanks, James!

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

A box full of trouble

Any additional comments?

Enjoyable fun listen.

While the plot is mostly predictable the story is an entertaining, interesting, fun and enjoyable story. Tasked by her professor to deliver a box of pottery to him, Jane unwittingly takes the wrong box and is being pursued by thief's trying to steal the package. Jane is not going to let them get away with it if she can help it. Following Jane through her very eventful adventure filled 1400 mile drive is a fun way to spend an afternoon. It's amazing how one little box can cause so much trouble. Jane, Tom and Alex are all great characters. The book is listed under Thriller, I would classify it as a light-hearted mystery thriller.

Cait Frizzell did an good job with the narration. She has a young sounding voice that is great for this book. Her voice is really soft and there is not a lot of emotion that comes through the narration. British accent for Tom was good. But Alex didn't sound Scottish. There are other books she has narrated that show her range of voices and accents, they just didn’t come through in this story.

This book was provided by the author, narrator or publisher at no cost in exchange for an honest review.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Great new read!

Imagine being the prey in a car chase and having to drive on what you perceive as the "wrong" side of the road, in a totally unfamiliar car, and the directions are wanting. That's all the spoiler you get, so I don't insult the author. The publisher's blurb is fair at hinting the plot, but doesn't tell you what a great imagination wrote this, or how totally interesting he makes it. The writing draws you in and holds your attention (good thing it is not awfully long, or there would be no sleeping), the characters are all too realistic. I am looking forward to more!
Cait Frizzell is excellent as the audio performer for this book, and she seems to enjoy doing it--and it shows!
This audiobook was provided by the author, narrator, or publisher at no cost in exchange for an unbiased review courtesy of AudiobookBOOM.

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Listener received this title free

The feel of the 1940s set in the modern day.

The narrator of this was fabulous. She handled the different voices, the action, the romance, and all of the complexities of the plot making it super easy to follow and feel like a part of the story. Speaking of the story, it was a delightful romp through England, France, and Spain with car chases, thieves, priceless artifacts, college life, and romance. Yet at the same time it had the feel of a simpler time. I fell instantly in love with Jane Barnaby and felt that she was someone who faced life head on and didn't let anything stand in her way - all while being a lady of course.

Read/listen to this book - totally worth the time.

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Finders Keepers

I loved this book. Jane is smart and sassy! the narrator does a great job. Very much looking forward to the rest of the series!

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