Deadly Nightshade

Deadly Mystery, Book 1

By: Victor J. Banis

Narrated by: Roy Wells

The first in a new mystery series from the legendary author of The Man from C.A.M.P. and Longhorns, Victor J. Banis.

Straight cop, gay cop, and a woman who "isn't real". Tom and Stanley are on the trail of a drag queen serial killer, and along the way, they find themselves engaged in a more intimate pursuit, trying to resolve another mystery: their unexpected attraction to one another.

©2009 Victor J. Banis (P)2012 Victor J. Banis

Drag Queens Anyone?

What did you love best about Deadly Nightshade?

The hits of humor. Found myself chuckling at the one liners.

Which scene was your favorite?

When Stanley first met his homophobe partner, Tom.

Any additional comments?

I had trouble listening to the narrator at first, but once I settled down and really gave him a try. Really enjoyed how he brought the characters to life.

Deadly Nightshade

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes, I love Victor J. Banis' Deadly Series. I hope all of the Deadly books will be in audio eventually.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Deadly Nightshade?

The moments with when Stanley realizes how beautiful Tom was and how misguided his affections are. The mystery itself is really fun. This is for adults.

What about Roy Wells’s performance did you like?

He reads the book, does not really get into the characters but the reading is good and the story is clear.

If you could take any character from Deadly Nightshade out to dinner, who would it be and why?

Stanley, he is a hoot. Fun and tough at the same time. You don't really think about how tough gay men are until you read something like this.

Any additional comments?

I hope the rest of this series is done in audio.

The ending left me scratching my head.

Any additional comments?

Spoiler alert: The book was funny, flowed well and the story was original. (Wasn't very hard to figure out who the bad guy was though.) There was a severe lack of character development (all characters) I felt would have made this book great. The Narrator wasn’t horrible but he wasn’t that great either. In some parts of the story his inflections were off. Not making a question sound like a sentence, not delivering sarcasm in the intended form, showing surprise when there wasn’t a call for it. I lovedry humor but it has to be read well and sadly this wasn’t. It was difficult to follow the dialog because of his reading. Here is the spoiler alert: The major problem I had was the ending. I only like happy endings in the books I read. This was not. The ending wasn’t written in a way that left me on pins and needles to see a sequel. This book had all the elements of a great romance book but the ending was so real life I felt in the end I had just read something from the Oprah book club. Not my preference. I do not know yet if I even want to find out if they get their stuff together in the future.

Interesting story, but "annoying" narration...

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

No. The basic story was interesting, but the tenor of the narrator’s voice made listening for over an hour "painful." The narrator sounded as if he was just “reading." Attempts to use inflection or vary the sound of the characters seemed "forced." In my opinion -- at the risk of sounding ageist -- it was like listening to a grandfather reading a book at storytime. I could not envision in my mind the younger characters the reader was attempting to portray. After about an hour I had to abandon listening to the book. It is now on my "last resort" listening list.

Would you be willing to try another one of Roy Wells’s performances?

No.

It just stopped

After listening to the book for about 15 minutes I almost deleted it. The narration would not have been my first choice. I decided to continue and I got sucked in. I guess I was curious how the author was going to twist out a happy ending. The social rift between the two characters was very strong. Rather than find this ending the book just stopped. Perhaps it will show itself later in the series.