15 Minutes

By: Larissa Reinhart

Narrated by: Joan Dukore

Length: 10 hrs and 26 mins

Publisher's Summary

She played a detective on TV, but now that her life depends on it, can Maizie Albright play a detective for real?

For fans of romantic comedy mysteries like Meg Cabot's Size 12 Is Not Fat and Stephanie Bond's Body Movers, The Wall Street Journal best-selling author Larissa Reinhart brings her listeners the first in the Maizie Albright Star Detective series, Hot Mystery Reviews’ "Top 10 Mysteries for Book Clubs".

”Child star and hilarious hot mess Maizie Albright trades Hollywood for the backwoods of Georgia and pure delight ensues. Maizie's my new favorite escape from reality.” (Gretchen Archer, USA Today best-selling author of the Davis Way Crime Caper series)

Three Teen Choice Awards, one Emmy nomination, and several Maxim covers later, Maizie Albright was an ex-teen star, stuck in reality show hell, and standing before a California judge. She has one chance for a new life: return home to Black Pine, Georgia, and get a job that has nothing to do with show business. So why not become a private detective - the person she played during the happiest days of her life?

Maybe because...

First: She's got 10 days to get and keep the job. 

Second: She has to convince the only private investigator in town to hire her. 

Third: She lost the client's wife on the first day. (And the woman may be dead…) 

Fourth: She just might be falling in love with her new boss. And she just might have lost him his business. 

But what has she got to lose, other than imprisonment, her dignity, and possibly, her life?

Start the Wall Street Journal best-selling series and download 15 Minutes today! 

"Sassy, sexy, and fun, 15 Minutes is hours of enjoyment." (Phoebe Fox, author of the Breakup Doctor series)

©2017 Larissa Reinhart (P)2020 Larissa Reinhart

Funny!

There are times when I need a few good laughs with a book and I had more than a few with Maizie and everybody else in 15 Minutes. The premise of a young actress, a former teen reality star, being effectively sentenced to get a new life is unique and the author made the most of it, sending Maizie off to her dad’s town, Black Pine, Georgia, where the donuts are hot and the private investigator she’s about to meet is equally hot.

A celebrity doesn’t naturally fit well in a small town but Maizie is determined and what better way to fulfill her obligation than to become a real-life private eye? After all, she played one on TV so it can’t be all that hard. Needless to say, mayhem ensues shortly after Wyatt Nash, her new and reluctant employer, assigns her to follow a client’s wife and Maizie loses her but she didn’t realize she’d also have to deal with her momager who wants her back where she belongs in LA. Even that irritation is topped, though, when bodies begin to turn up. The missing woman’s husband is one of the victims so maybe Maizie can redeem herself by finding the woman. Piece of cake! Or donut 🙂

This story is full of charm and humor as well as a good puzzle and narrator Joan Dukore brings it all to life. Truthfully, her voice grated on me a little, sounding kind of screechy, but I think the problem was in my own hearing and Ms. Dukore certainly did a terrific job with her pacing and comedic sense. I’m looking forward to more of Maizie’s adventures.

Fun Cozy Mystery!

Overall, 15 Minutes was cute and fun, the perfect fluffy mystery. I would love to read the rest of the series for many reasons- but mainly to see if Maizie and Nash ever get together! This had the Stephanie Plum feel to it, with the main character getting into many terrible, zany situations with almost no fault of her own, yet somehow Maizie can solve the mystery.

I struggled a little with Maizie and her poor choices, she is very naive at times and keeps needing a keeper to survive the day, as well as being so in the public eye and outgoing for a private investigator. It is like she is still playing a role and inadvertently falls into good information through no actual skill. I did not really connect to her, especially at the start of the book, but she became more real and fleshed as the story progressed (even though she was still at times more playing a role than being a person).

I enjoyed the over the top small town people with all the personality I could have hoped for in random side characters. And of course I loved broody Nash, Maizie's hysterical half sister Remy, and Maizies's new friends Tiffany and Rhonda. The mystery element was interesting enough, but I loved the character dynamics best.

I listened to the audiobook and the narrator did a good job with personality for Maizie as well as with different voices for the side characters. My one complaint was I was never sure if Maizie was thinking something or saying something, there was never any differentiation in tone or anything so I was moderately confused at times by the conversations.

A Riot!

The first book in the Maizie Albright Star Detective Mystery series is quite a riot! Never a dull moment; 15 Minutes is brimming with excitement and nervous energy.  Maizie Albright and the rest of the characters are full of personality, humor, and their own unique set of quirks. I thought narrator Joan Dukore was a great fit and did a great job nailing the story. Her voice matched the youthful, frenetic pace of the book, including capturing several eccentric personalities! An absolute riot.

Younger set slothing detectives

This is very much a young person's book, with a lot of upscale items and phrases.
This being said, it was a very involved mystery that our two intrepid P.I.s were trying to solve.
It highlights the difference between the make believe of Hollywood and the possible dangerous world of true life.
I must say, I enjoyed the jaunty feel of the tale, and the few dramatic sequences were spellbinding. Often it is easy enough to get characters into a tight spot, it's getting them out, in a believable way, which is hard. This author mastered these problems and more.

Love the book, love the audio more

I have the book form and Maizie and Nash are currently my favorite detecting duo. I love the audio version because I can listen while on walks, in bed when I can't sleep, just anywhere. Some narrators have cringe-worthy interpretations of the material and/or annoying voices. This narrator depicts Maizie just as I invision her. Well done!

The accidental PI

Maizie can’t seem to get out of her own way. She’s not a PI but she plays one on TV, but now she really wants to be one. But she’s not very good at it, or is she? Things get complicated and Maizie finds herself in the middle of it. Larissa weaves several story lines together and creates a female underdog you just can’t help routing for. Joan does a good job with the voices & characters.

No

I didn't finish this book. I didn't like the characters and couldn't force myself to finish the book. Although Maize seems like she is trying to be a mature adult, she has a weak personality and is very immature.

This is not a 15 minute wonder

I really enjoyed this book. I got the audio book because I recognised the cover and thought I must have read it. I was wrong I didn't remember it at all and it is probably sat on my kindle waiting to be read. Big mistake because I loved it. If I had know it was going to be this much fun I would have read it ages a go. Oh well at least I got it on audio. I loved the whole plot,a child star that plays a detective on tv trying to make it in the real world. The mystery was good even though I had worked out what was going on it was still fun getting there with the characters, who were like able if a bit quirky. Some of the situations she found her self in were humorous and most of the time caught on camera as the paparazzi followed her everywhere. I hope there is more books in the series to come because I think it will be fun to see how the characters develop as they work more closely together.
Maizie has just ten days to prove that she can be a detective and not just play one on tv. Life isn't like it is on tv, you don't have a script to follow or the director shouting cut when it gets to hard and Maizie is learning it the hard way. First she turns up for a job interview and Nash has no clue why she is there and when he does relent and gives her a chance she gets her nose broken and loses the women she is meant to be following. As if that wasn't bad enough but her controlling mother wants her back on the tv show the judge ordered her to stay away from or she faces going to jail. Can she solve the case and find the missing woman with a camera crew and her mother following her every move and getting in the way? Every move she makes has a habit of ending up gossip for celebrity magazines but can she use that to her advantage and get reluctant witnesses to talk to her? She might just have to because the missing women's husband is going to sue and run Nash out of business for letting his wife get kidnapped while he was watching her.
I liked the narrator as she used a variety of voices for the characters and was bubbly and entertaining In the telling.
I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request from audiobooksunleashed and have voluntarily left this review.