Belle Harbor Cozy Mysteries: Books 1 - 3

De: Sue Hollowell

Narrado por: Virtual Voice

A light, cozy mystery series in a quaint beach town with a fun loving, amateur female sleuth, her quirky uncle, and enough antiques and pastries to fill your home and your belly.

Book 1 - Cupcakes and Catastrophe

Tilly Griffin did everything by the book. Everyone else’s book. Now it was her turn to write a new chapter, three thousand miles from her former life. Her dream of opening a bakery like her grandma Luna was now becoming a reality.

No sooner does she arrive in the charming beach town, when she and her quirky uncle are tangled up in a mysterious death. When a kite competition judge is found murdered in the bookstore next to her uncle's Checkered Past Antiques shop, Tilly questions her decision to move to Belle Harbor, and everything about her new life.

As the clues emerge, and the small-town secrets are revealed, Tilly’s uncle finds himself smack dab in the middle of the investigation, and surrounded by suspects. Will the murderer be nabbed in time for the bakery’s grand opening or will this close the book on Tilly’s dreams?

Book 2 - Muffins and Misdeeds

Tilly is settling into her new cottage and life in the quaint beach town of Belle Harbor. With her fledgling bakery partnering with the local coffee shop, she has high hopes that her business will soon take off.

Tilly’s new friend Fiona convinces her to rummage through her uncle's antique shop to find decor to fill her sparse home. But instead of the sought after beach treasures, they discover clues to a long ago unsolved mystery in the small town.

Coupled with the recent murder of a distillery owner, their investigation into the ancient family feud reveals shocking lies, sabotage, and the ultimate revenge. As they get deeper into the town’s historical secrets, they discover a stink they can’t ignore. Can Tilly’s budding friendship bloom into a dynamic duo of crime solvers in time to save her new friend from going to jail?

Book 3 - Birthday Cake and Burglary

Tilly Griffin is on top of the world. With her newfound freedom in quaint Belle Harbor she is learning to love life again. Her plans for an epic birthday bash for her cherished and kooky Uncle Jack are almost complete.

Tilly’s joy and whimsy soon turn to horror as she discovers the death of Poppy, a beloved local business owner. Rumors swirl about likely culprits that put the coming annual Arts Walk, which brings millions to the town coffers, in jeopardy.

As Tilly collects clues in the suspicious death, she learns of scandalous schemes, petty people, blackmailing busybodies, and snobby store owners, all who have a reason to want Poppy dead. Can Tilly put the pieces together in time to catch the killer and save the Arts Walk or will she be forced to pack up and find a new place to call home?

not bad

just the real virtual voice complaint...i.e. mispronunciation of obvious eords...i.e. moped is not mope or moves. very distracting.

AI narration not good

The AI narration was very poor and not definitely not believable. It took away from the story. This is the first and last time I get a book that is AI narrated.

Ai did this book a total disservice!!

Virtual Voice has a LONG way to go before it’s ready to narrate a book. It was awful. No, it was painful to listen to! A couple quick examples: it couldn’t read the sentences to differentiate between the beginning and end of the sentence so it was very jarring and confusing. Second example: a key part of the story is about a moped shop. Rather than correctly saying mo-ped, it said moped (like soaked). It took a while to figure out what the heck it was trying to say and once I got it, it drove the fricken heck out of me every time it was mentioned which was A LOT!

Audible, do yourself and your authors (and narrators) a favor and use real people to narrate. Saving yourselves a buck is definitely NOT worth it! If I could give performance a negative star, I’d do it!

Couldn’t stand to listen

The mispronunciations drove me crazy. I couldn’t get through the first story. I tried twice to listen but just couldn’t stand it any longer. The story itself was good but the reader - ugh!

Virtual voice is horrible

Virtual voice is horrible. Writing is amateurish. The combination amplified the limitations of the other.

AI reading

The stories were cute but the AI reading was awful. No read emotion and mispronunciations of words made it boring.

Virtual voice lacking

Disliked virtual voice, void of emotion, makes it meaningless and not interesting at all. Story overly simplistic - not for me.

Could do with a good editor

As people have mentioned, the virtual reading isn't as bad as others but it's not as good as a good human reader. I gave up on listening half way through the second book because I found myself rolling my eyes at all the repetitions of heart palpitations, dropping out of culinary school etc. And the weird story of moving to a new town and immediately everyone expects her to be madly in love with a man she just met? It could have been written by a teenager.

Great story

I like the story and series, I don’t care for the AI narrator. But I will continue the series either reading it myself or listening to.

AI narration takes away from the story

The stories are fun but the AI narrator is awful. It’s so bad it really distracts from the stories. I will look for more from the author, but I’d rather read them than listen to the AI.