Loose Ends

A Mary O'Reilly Paranormal Mystery, Book One

By: Terri Reid

Narrated by: Erin Spencer

Length: 7 hrs and 8 mins

Publisher's summary

Dying is what changed Mary O'Reilly's life. Well, actually, coming back from the dead and having the ability to communicate with ghosts is really what did it.

Now, a private investigator in rural Freeport, Illinois, Mary's trying to learn how to incorporate her experience as a Chicago cop and new-found talent into a real job. Her challenge is to solve the mysteries, get real evidence (a ghost's word just doesn't hold up in court), and be sure the folks in town, especially the handsome new police chief, don't think she's nuts.

Twenty-four years ago, a young woman drowned in the swimming pool of a newly elected state senator. It was ruled an accident. But now, as the senator prepares to move on to higher positions, the ghost of the woman is appearing to the Senator's wife.

Mary is hired to discover the truth behind the death. She unearths a connection between the murder and the disappearance of five little girls whose cases, 24 years later, are still all unsolved. As she digs further, she becomes the next target for the serial killers' quest to tie up all his loose ends.

©2010 Terri Reid (P)2013 Terri Reid

A most enjoyable read

I have ha all of these books in kindle since 2014. Now with the problem with migraines I bought them all in audible. I found I really loved this book and can't wait to read the next 19. This will be a tremendously enjoyable series.

Great read a modern day ghost buster

I was surprised by this story. It had lots of twists & turns, performance was excellent knew who was talking by reader change of voice.

More thrilling than I thought!

Pleasantly surprised as I got in to the story. While I enjoy murders, mysteries and mayhem, I tend to not get in to reading much paranormal writings. By the third chapter I was hooked and now look forward to more Terri Reid books.

Easy to follow, lots of humor and trying to figure out the "who done it" was great! I was wrong on my guess until she actually revealed the culprit! And I cottoned to the fact that "talking to those from the other side" manner she employed made it sound plausible.

Great job, Terri Reid! I love Mary O !

Great ghost mystery! Wrong narrator

What did you love best about Loose Ends?

This was an easy story to get into and was not emotionally draining. Light-hearted ghostie mystery.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Loose Ends?

I enjoyed the historical and paranormal aspect of seeing ghosts and connecting with loved ones long passed.

Did the narration match the pace of the story?

The narration was pretty incorrectly matched to the character of Mary. The narrator made every character sound like a teenager. I had a hard time believing the person reading for Mary could be former Chicago cop--too young, too valley girl. Every character sounded like a whiny teenager. The narrator seemed to have limited experience with adult interaction. Her interpretation of conversations was very sophomoric and made me cringe.

Recommendation to other listeners: listen at 1.25x speed. Much more bearable.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

I chose this book because I wanted a mystery that wasn't also going to drag me down into a pit of despair with all the psychological drama that is so popular these days in thrillers.

Any additional comments?

Great book. Prob better to read than listen to this narrator but I will prob buy the next in the series too. Narration was a complete deal-breaker.

Read The Book

Is there anything you would change about this book?

Yes, the narrator ruined it for me. I was so excited to see these books on audible and then the narration screwed it up for me.

What didn’t you like about Erin Spencer’s performance?

Everything. Should have used Susan Erickson or Luke Daniels!

Any additional comments?

I really enjoy these books but the narrator ruined them completely for me. I will just reread my kindle ebooks.

Great Murder Mystery with Ghosts

The main character Mary, was a Chicago police officer on track to become a detective. She was held in High regards by her Caption in Chicago, then there was a shooting. This is the story about after all that happened and she had moved away from Chicago to a small town. Narrator does a good job with the characters voices and the entire storyline of this book.

you'll like this one

Any additional comments?

Ok, I’ll admit it. I picked this up from one of my free lists. I can’t remember when or which one, I’ve had this on my TBR list for so freakin’ long. Somewhere along the line, I added narration for the low, low price of $1.99. So I paid $2 and change for the opportunity to listen to this.

I think the cover appealed to me. I think the summary appealed to me. After listening to the sample clip a few dozen times, the narrator didn’t do that much for me. She didn’t make me want to listen to the book. I think I finally got it because I was running out of daytime listening. (Deep, rumbling male voices for night / Bright, upbeat female for day.)

Hell, even the first chapter kind of rubbed me the wrong way. Erin Spencer didn’t impress me as the narrator to enhance the dark and creepy.

But to be honest…the blend of Terri Reid’s writing and Erin Spencer as Mary O’Reilly…well, that’s just gold.

By the third chapter, I was hooked. By the end, I’d acquired an appreciation for the voice I hadn’t liked to start with. Erin Spencer is Mary O’Reilly. (Please don’t let me find out somewhere in the middle of freakin’ 15 books that someone else narrates this series.)

Add the ghosts, the devastatingly handsome police chief, a chewy mystery or two and that’s a recipe for a good afternoon (doing dishes, folding clothes…not stopping the cleaning because you’d have to take out your earbuds to do anything else….)

This is not your typical female running headlong into danger. This is not one where the gorgeous guy saves the day. This is different.

Hell, I enjoyed the whole experience so much, I’ve already purchased the next book. Guess what I’m doing tomorrow…. Well, the house is pretty much clean so...yardwork?

loved the story, not so much the narrator

the story was great! loved Mary! that narrator's accents killed me. I almost stopped listening, bit the story and the characters kept me listening!!

Love these books!

What made the experience of listening to Loose Ends the most enjoyable?

Love the book.

Any additional comments?

I'm on book 5 in this series I love all the books. Terri Reid did a great job. There great mysteries. There's a love story - mystery without fowl language and sex. There just something you can really enjoy and listen anywhere. I love her books. The reader does a great job with the story. I hope there will be many more of her books.

the highest praise!

Erin is a fantastic narrator! and Terri Reid had me enamored with the Mary O'Reilly series once i read the first book in Kindle. clean and so enjoyable. now that i have them from audible, my husband enjoys them too. love them for long trips! i can even share them to my teenage grand daughters.