The Inn at Holiday Bay, Books 1-3

By: Kathi Daley

Narrated by: Angel Clark

Length: 15 hrs and 32 mins

Publisher's summary

After suffering a personal tragedy Abby Sullivan buys a huge old seaside mansion she has never even seen, packs up her life in San Francisco, and moves to Holiday Bay Maine, where she is adopted, quite against her will, by a huge Maine Coon Cat named Rufus, a drifter with her own tragic past named Georgia, and a giant dog with an inferiority complex named Ramos. What Abby thought she needed was alone time to heal. What she ended up with was, an inn she never knew she wanted, a cat she couldn't seem to convince to leave, and a new family she'd never be able to live without.

Boxes in the Basement - In Book 1 of this series, a local girl has been murdered and the small seaside community is up in arms. When Abby finds boxes in the basement of her new home, which seem to provide a clue as to who might have killed the girl, Abby plants herself firmly in the middle of what has turned out to be a complicated investigation. Although Abby isn't a cop, or even a private detective, she isn't unfamiliar with the investigative process. As a New York Times best-selling mystery writer she knows how to conduct research. As the widow of a homicide detective, she knows the questions to ask.

Letters in the Library - In Book 2 of the series, Abby finds a bundle of letters which had been written in 1954 in the wall of the library after Lonnie tears it down as part of the remodel. Intrigued by the secret revealed in the letters, Abby and Georgia set out to find the rest of the story. Meanwhile, Chief Colt Wilder uncovers a new clue relating to the death of a local girl the previous summer. In spite of her vow to focus her time on her writing, Abby finds herself pulled into the tangled web of half truths that may tell a different story than was first believed true.

Message in the Mantel - In Book 3 of the series, the remodel continues as Abby and Georgia start to make plans for a grand opening celebration. A specialist is brought in to refurbish the century old fireplace mantel and makes a startling discovery. Meanwhile Lonnie is looking to adopt, Colt has a new mystery to solve, and Velma comes face to face with a blast from her past.

©2018, 2019 Kathi Daley (P)2020 Kathi Daley

A good addition to the series

the performer does a great job voicing the various characters. I wonder if it might be possible to stop saying all the "he said," "I agreed," etc. It has more distracting than useful. I have noticed that the author seems to overuse these phrases when ht is perfectly clear which character is talking

Horrible narration!

The stories are pretty good as bedtime listening but the narrator is jarring. She sounds like a 12 year old finally learning to read.

This narrator

The story lines are what I want in a cozy mystery. That said, it would be “cozier” with a narrator that blends into the story rather than jolting one out of it.

Some things that irritate me: She uses commas as periods. “Vera said.” read as a sentence instead of a phrase following a quote is jarring. (e.g. “I think it might rain”, Vera said. / “I think it might rain.” Vera said.) One keeps waiting for what Vera said. This happens in all character dialogue.

Other than a few characters, no one “speaks” in a conversational tone. Men sound like the old cartoon character Droopy Dog; monotonic and slow. Flirting is just creepy. Also men’s dialogues are crotchety or moronic or both! This is disconcerting when, after his comments, you learn the man is only 40 years old and not 90-ish on death’s door. I keep expecting to hear one ask “Bueller? Bueller?”

20-something women sound neurotic and squeaky like over caffeinated 15 year old cheerleaders. Women over the age of thirty sound cranky and/or whiny. I don’t feel like I’m listening to a conversation. I find I constantly repeat lines in my mind to put the story back on track.

Stress placed on arbitrary words changes the meaning of sentences; again jarring as my brain brakes and asks, “what?”. Sometimes it’s minor such as ‘They walked through the GREAT room.’ versus ‘They walked through the great room.’ (Admittedly it might have have been a GREAT great room.)

In other instances, the emphasis causes an unwarranted ah-ha moment. In discussing a deceased man, “He had no immediate relatives but a cousin was DETERMINED to be his next of kin.” (Ah-ha, the cousin was seeking an inheritance obviously! Why else would he be so determined?) Without the stress, you understand that the police had simply deemed the cousin to be his next of kin. Nothing nefarious, just a simple statement of fact. Indeed, as the narrative continues you realize the cousin isn’t pertinent to the story.

The narrator needs to learn that sometimes “He walked across the room.” is just fine. A man simply traversed the room. Unfortunately she throws emphasis around willy-nilly. Instead of a declarative statement we end up with “He WALKED across the room.” or “He walked ACROSS the room.” or “He walked across the ROOM.” Most every sentence has a weirdly placed emphasis for no reason I can comprehend. I have found that authors will indicate emphasis in the text if it is called for. No need to spice it up arbitrarily.

Other than that… the narrator articulates well. She maintains a good pace.

Nice story

Enjoyed the narrator Angel Clark and will continue on with the series. Many unanswered questions

bad performance

struggling to finish because of the performance.
story ok but painful to listen to

Hope the narration gets better...

I want to hear the rest of the series,but I don't know if I can listen to this narrator unless she gets better as the audiobooks continue.

Disappointed

Worst narrator I've ever had to struggle to listen to. can't finish the series even though the storylines are good.

Awesome series

I have listened to many Kathi Daley books. I am really enjoying the series. The narrator does a good job.

Great stories well written HORRIBLE NARRATOR!!!! She sounds like a robot when doing Abby's voice!

The narrator's voice goes up an octave and is flat whenever she says a character's name followed by the word "said"! So robotic and the inflection is all wrong!! Grated on my last nerve. I LOVE the plots and writing but I can't finish the series because the narrator is so bad when she reads Abby's part rest of the time she's better.

Minimally acceptable cozy-

Story line is entertaining but the narration is not very good. The voice is too young, little distinction between characters, it got more irritating as the stories went on. Be sure you listen to a sample before buying.