Deader Homes and Gardens

A Claire Malloy Mystery

De: Joan Hess

Narrado por: Rachael Warren

Back from her somewhat unusual honeymoon, Claire Malloy must face the harsh reality of life with her new husband, police chief Peter Rosen, and her teenage daughter Caron—three people simply can’t fit into her cosy two bedroom apartment. After a week of fruitless looking, she finally finds the perfect place—a well preserved large house on a large plot of land in an area called Hollow Valley. There are only a few problems. Such as the real estate agent disappeared mid-showing and hasn’t been seen since. And the last owner died in circumstances labeled “accidental” but were actually both “mysterious” and “dubious.” The family that owned the estate is now suing the lover of the dead owner over the rights to the property. Oh, and it isn’t really for sale. When the previous owner’s lover dies practically at her feet, Claire decides to take matters into her own hands. After all, to get the house of her dreams, first she has to find a killer. And all’s fair in love, war, and real estate.

©2012 Joan Hess; 2012 AudioGO

Summer reading fun

As with all of Joan Hess books, she takes a humorous look at her heroine, the foibles of modern society and southern characters.

prefer C. J. Critt

prefer narration by C. J. Critt... she captured Claire Malloy's humorous & snarky personally as portrayed by the writer Joan Hess ... sadly, that was missing in this narration

Meanness and perfect syntax.

I liked everything. Spite powered narratives are the best. I will be reading everything this lady ever wrote.

Lackluster performance of a great story

If this narrator had performed all the stories, I would not have listened through the first one. Thanks to C.J. Crit, the delightful performance of the previous books carried me through this one.

The story is wonderful and I’m glad I was able to get through it.
Rachael just missed the fact that these books are comedies, not dramas.

The Worst Book I've Ever Listened To

I'm not sure which was worse - the story or the narration. After much consideration I decided that the writing was so dreadful that no narrator could possibly improve the story. I gave it 1 star because they don't offer a minus score. The main character came across as selfish, arrogant and downright unappealing. After 5 chapters I fast forwarded to the end just to find out "who done it" and felt glad to wipe this book out of my memory and my iTunes. I'm so sorry I wasted my money on it. Take my word - it's a complete waste of time. Purchase at your own risk.