Snow Ridge Mysteries, The Complete Series

A Small Town Murder Mystery Box Set

By: Emma Lee

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

Length: 21 hrs and 31 mins

Publisher's summary

Get ALL 5 books from Emma Lee's popular series in one big box set! AND at a discounted price! INCLUDES: Book 1: Body In The Bookstore Book 2: Body In The Snow Book 3: Body In the Storm Book 4: Body In The Fog Book 5: Body In The Woods Book 1: After her painful and heartbreaking divorce, Bonnie Mayberry thought her life was over. The numbness, the disbelief in what had happened and the fear of what would come next ensured that her every thought was tinged with doubt. Hoping for a fresh start, she’s packed up, said her goodbyes and moved to the small town of Snow Ridge, New Hampshire. Settling down in an old, renovated farmhouse, she plans to focus on the simple things in life. And, in time, she is determined to get back to some semblance of normalcy. But, apparently, that is not going to happen any time soon… The young girl at the local bookstore Bonnie frequents has been murdered. She was one of the few with whom Bonnie has become friendly during her short time in town. And whether it’s her mysterious past, her reserved nature or simply the relative ease in pinning the blame on the outsider, the police have Bonnie at the top of their list of suspects. Now, if she wishes to avoid a prison sentence for a crime she didn’t commit, it appears as if Bonnie is going to have to prove her own innocence. In doing so, she’ll uncover a crooked politician, unveil a hidden monster and unearth a web of secrets & lies that certain residents of the town have spent their lives concealing. And, with a little luck, she may just survive long enough to clear her good name. Book 2: Just when Bonnie Mayberry thought her new life in Snow Ridge was getting back to normal after a horrific case involving a deadly, old man bent on revenge, she is pulled into a second case that wraps her in a web of lies, deceit and...murder! At first, the man’s murder seems straightforward enough. That is, until an influential politician arrives in town demanding that the wife of the dead man be turned over to her for prosecution. But Bonnie soon finds out that this powerful woman is not exactly who she seems to be… In fact, she may not only be the killer, but she just may be planning to take over the world! Book 3: When Bonnie agrees to help locate a missing girl, Bonnie leaves her hometown of Snow Ridge, New Hampshire and hits the road on a mission to track her down. But when false leads and countless mishaps have her traveling up & down the East Coast and mingling with a cast of characters ranging from the Amish to the FBI, she begins to doubt her chances at success. That is, until she finds the girl on a dark & stormy night. And that’s when things really start to get messy… Book 4: After traveling up and down the East Coast in search of a missing girl, Bonnie Mayberry couldn’t be happier to return to normal, everyday life. But, as one case closes, another opens… It begins when a bounty hunter arrives in town just as a heavy fog begins to descend upon Snow Ridge. His tale of a murderous clown, a maniacal banker and a promise to a dying woman seems to be as murky as the misty air. But, as always, Bonnie is determined to help solve the mystery and, despite the danger from thickening fog, she soon finds herself on the road once again. Only, this time, she’s running for her life… Book 5: Just when life is returning to what Bonnie considers her “new normal”, she receives a call from an old friend in need. Never one to turn down a request for help, she soon finds herself in a small Georgia town that has her feeling like she’s stepped back in time. But there’s little time to reminisce. With the help of her best friend, Sarah, and a stolid local lawman, she falls into a case concerning an abandoned baby, a missing mother and…murder! And this one has her questioning everything she thought she knew about herself. GET YOUR COPY TODAY!

good story

voice was mechanical and monotone. several words pronounced strangely. a few words omited making it a bit of a challenge to listen to. that said I did enjoy the stories

It started out fine

This series started out fine if a little immature. The grammar and editing was bad. The best friend was the most annoying character I may have ever read in a book. She was portrayed as an immature, annoying, entitled 12-year-old rather than a grown woman with a degree. Also, as the books went on, we got more exposed to the author’s values, beliefs, and political agenda. Now I don’t care if you are a Republican or Democrat or you believe America is going to fail as a country but I’m not reading a dystopian novel, I don’t want it rammed down my throat in a cozy mystery. The pugs became very high-handed and preachy. For a character written as so “loving” she was very judgmental. Also, I don’t know if the author did any actual research into police procedures, but she did have the local law enforcement doing a lot of things that they would never be allowed to do and get away with in reality nor would they be asking civilians to put themselves in danger that way. Not very believable.

Virtual narration sucks.

The story would have been much better with a real person doing the narration. One who would know the different pronunciations of words like lives and leads, which have completely different meanings depending on use. The virtual voice had no idea what it was reading, so no difference between men and women, happy or sad, angry and curious. The story deserved an actual person/actor reading it. I would have liked it more with an actual narrator.
As for the story, it was a little preachy Christian, a little too conspiracist, and a little too much unnecessary hitting, or threatening to punch someone. A few of the stories weren’t really fleshed out enough, not giving much background or reason for actions.
Overall, I enjoyed the book, but unless they get a person to narrate, I would not recommend it.

ai reader

dislike the ai reader. poor grammar, voice inflection, word tense, etc. sometimes hard to follow.

New to virtual voice, can't complain for a free book

This is my 2nd book listening to the virtual voice. I will say that Text-to-Speech software has come a long way and the voice doesn't sound robotic at all so you don't get sleepy listening to it. However, the inflection is often off so I have to change the inflection in my head to match the mood. I've taught ESL for 10 years so I'm good at interpreting what inflection people mean to use when reading and it wasn't a big issue but I can see how that would be annoying to other listeners.

For the story itself, the series started out really good but got very political/religious in the last 2 books. I do enjoy books of a religious/cultural nature different from my own but the mix of religion and politics was off-putting.

still, for 20+ hours of free listening, can't complain. I wouldn't pay for a book narrated in virtual voice though.

The Virtual reading voice is terrible

I liked the story line, the characters were ok, but I could not get into the series because of the monotone voice reading and had a hard time following who was who and actually enjoying the series because of the voice. I am looking for the series with a different voice or even a physical copy to read.

Held my attention.

Stories/plots were good. Having the robot reading was a bit different. Only when characters screamed or high energy would it really sound robotic. Different having a book read with all characters having same voice. Was humerus when robot would read certain words as just their letters like POW when someone was hit.

Live narrator, please!

I enjoyed this book. I thought the story was cute and the characters were warming.

However, using virtual voice to narrate a fiction book is pretty cheap. I have to say that I am a blind woman and I use virtual voice for many things and no matter how much you try you cannot make it human. And if you listen carefully to the book, you can see or hear the areas that are lacking, and the fact that no one went back in and corrected, how the voice pronounced certain words. So the reason I only gave the book at three was because of the virtual voice. I really would prefer people reading my books with character and excitement and different voices. But if you can see and read, perhaps his book would be better read rather than listen to with the multitude of errors in it.

good content

hated the virtual voice. Will never listen to another. there was no inflection and was monotonous.

Good listen

I didn’t care for the virtual voice. I really like a really person and the different infliction and voice they can add to the story.