Murder of a Small-Town Honey

A Scumble River Mystery, Book 1

By: Denise Swanson

Narrated by: Christine Leto

Length: 7 hrs and 25 mins

Publisher's summary

When Skye Denison left Scumble River years ago, she swore she'd never return. But after a bout with her boyfriend and credit card rejection, she's back to home sweet - homicide....

©2000 Denise Swanson Stybr (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

Great story amazing series

I love this book and love this series highly recommend! You will get cozy with the characters and love following along with the twist and turns, and see how Skye handles it all. Christine Leto is great at making the characters come to life!

great book

Thanks great book. I didn't want to get out of the car til the end.

Kinda Slow

This was kind of slow for me. I feel like it dragged on & on. It took me 3 days to get through it as I kept getting bored with it. I will probably give the next book a try, but if it's about the same... slow story, then I'll have to find another series to listen to.

Good small town cozy

Any additional comments?

I was torn between 3 and 4 stars for this book. It's better than 3 but not really 4. I didn't dislike anything about about it. It's a good small town cozy. The mystery wasn't obvious. Although Skye isn't the most interesting person to ever walk the earth, she also manages to investigate without being obnoxious or making me cringe - I wish all amateur sleuths could do that. I hate when a character just bumbles into a funeral and starts asking strangers personal questions. Skye at least tries to be subtle. Perhaps a few parts strain credibility a little bit but nothing really blatant. It all wraps up nicely at the end. I will listen to another one. I am surprised to see this is such a long series since Scumble River really isn't much of a town. Narrator does a really good job as well.

Murder With a Side of School Politics

I enjoyed this murder mystery in a small Midwest town. The main character is a school psychologist.

Good first cozy in a series

Would you listen to Murder of a Small-Town Honey again? Why?

I would. I enjoyed the story and I would like to listen to it again before I listen to the next book in the series.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Skye is definitely my favorite character. I like her personality and I like her as the sleuth in this series.

Have you listened to any of Christine Leto’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I have not listened to this narrator's other performances. However, I thought she did a really good job with this performance, so I would be happy to listen to more that she has narrated.

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

No particular 'moving' moment. This book was about the mystery and there weren't any exceedingly emotional moments.

Any additional comments?

This was a solid read from beginning to end. I enjoyed the town of Scumble River and getting to know Skye and the other characters. I liked it and I will read more in the series. The narrator did a nice job.

Cute murder mystery

Easy and light hearted with small town charm. The narrators voice is soothing and keeps me interested without being overly complicated. Cute characters and storyline.

5 Stars

This is the second time I have listened to this book. The characters are engaging and the the mystery is entertaining. Christine Leto is a great narrator.

A fun cozy series

I love cozy mysteries with a lot of humor, and this series has that in spades. Skye is funny, and compassionate, and I love that mix. I've downloaded several other books in the series and look forward to them.

There are a lot of mispronunciations, though, and they are jarring, because they make no sense in the flow of the story. Editors, you need to be catching these!

Skye needs to grow a personality

I have a hard time rating this series because I've listened to the first five books and must have enjoyed something about them or I wouldn't have kept going. I can't remember precisely which things happened in which book, so I'm just gonna express how I feel about the main character, because she is the major drawback as far as I'm concerned.

I cannot like Skye Denison. I don't hate her, either. She doesn't have enough personality to make me feel anything but annoyance. I will explain by not-very-specific examples.

Any time that a normal person would speak up and say, "Hey! Wait a minute! The truth is..." Skye says nothing at all. On the other hand, when a normal (and intelligent) person would let something pass without comment, Skye opens her mouth and causes trouble.

There are people in her life who would "have her back," if she would ever let them know what she's doing. Instead, she comes up with the most far-fetched reasons for doing dangerous things without telling anybody, then has to be rescued by blind chance.

She seems to be powerless to stop people taking advantage of her. She might grumble a little bit under her breath, but she just lets things happen to her or does as she's told UNLESS the person telling her to do something really has her best interests at heart and explains things to her, because...

She ignores the advice of people who know far more than she does on the particular subject.

She came back to Scumble River partly because of a broken engagement. Hey it happens. Women get involved with guys who turn out to be creeps. They get over it and move on. Not so with Skye Denison. She starts dating a really good guy in Scumble River. The guy wants a serious relationship, but after 9 months she still pushes him away if he tries to get past a brotherly kiss at the door after a date. (Yes, I said NINE months and barely to first base.) Poor Skye had a breakup with a jerk a couple of years ago and now she can't know how to feel about anyone else. Bah! Psychologist, heal thyself!

I guess I keep listening because the stories themselves are fairly interesting, and I keep hoping for Skye's character to develop. I might have detected a slight improvement in book 5, so will probably at least listen to book 6 to see if it was real.