The Gordonston Ladies Dog Walking Club

By: Duncan Whitehead

Narrated by: David de Vries

Length: 7 hrs and 36 mins

Publisher's summary

Little is what it seems to be in a leafy Savannah neighborhood as members of an afternoon cocktail and dog walking club mourn a neighbor’s death. Jealousies surface when friends vie for the widower running for mayor. An old woman with an infamous uncle plots to avenge a wrong. Memories haunt a once successful children’s writer. And a model has won the trip of a lifetime.

But a killer lurks and secrets unfold, as does a web of deceit. Is anyone really who he or she seems to be? A mysterious South American, a young Italian count, and a charitable nephew add suspicion and intrigue, as do an enigmatic organization linked to organized crime, a handsome firefighter, and three widows with hidden agendas. What’s a retired accountant’s secret, and why did a former showgirl really have plastic surgery?

The plot thickens, the Georgia temperature rises, and someone is destined for an early unmarked grave. The truth contorts to a climax that leaves readers breathless.

©2013 Duncan Whitehead (P)2013 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved.

I liked the characters

Mildly entertaining. I'm afraid I found this a little silly. I loved most of the characters but I would have gone in a different direction with the story.

surprising

it was a little slow going at the start but the little surprises along the way were worth it and the big surprises at the end were fantastic!
the narrator was okay. he did the ladies voices very well, as well as all the accents (southern US, french, British, Italian).

great listen and highly entertaining

great listen and highly entertaining. enjoyed it so much I recommended it to a relative.

Setting you up for surprises !

At first I bought it was a dull maybe trite story but.. then I saw how the story was set up for interesting surprises. Nice and short and great ending. 👍🏼

Clever, absorbing, get caught in the story book

Oh, this book was so fun! Good read is propelled by a great narrator and witty writing. Author Duncan Whitehead has developed the main characters, 5 older women bonded by their lust for good looking men and dogs, so that you can amost see them walking their dogs in a hot Savannah park. The narrator voices each character distinctly. The story wraps up with a mystery--who killed ? OVerall really, really entertaining and a light look at aging.

enjoyably

enjoyed the story, loved the surprise ending. looking forward to reading the other 2 books.

Full of supprises

The prolog lets you know something bad will happen. Then clues let you suspect other bad things may also happen. No more clues for u!!!

Waste of time

This book was so poorly written and the characters so unlikeable, it was pure torture to listen to, much less read (I did both hoping it would get better). I would have dropped it after the first chapter if it hadn't been a monthly selection for out book club. We will vet the book choices more carefully after this fiasco.

A disappointment

I had high hopes that this book would be a charmer but it turned out to be a disappointment. The characters were unlikable and the narration heavy handed. Can't recommend.

Could not finish the book!

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

Quite possibly all of the many, many threads of this story tie together in the end, but it was not worth the journey. I also felt that the women were pretty shallow which I did not appreciate. Bit of a chauvinist, are we?

What do you think your next listen will be?

Not sure.

What three words best describe David de Vries’s performance?

I don't have three words but his performance is probably the best thing about this book.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from The Gordonston Ladies Dog Walking Club?

The author needs to start all over again and give the women, since there are so many of them featured, some depth instead of portraying all of them as man hungry, back stabbing, all about beauty, women.

Any additional comments?

Enough said!