A Plus One for Murder

By: Laura Bradford

Narrated by: Emily Ellet

Length: 8 hrs and 35 mins

Publisher's summary

Entrepreneur Emma Westlake is reinventing herself as a hired friend when murder gets in the way in this exciting new mystery series from USA Today best-selling author Laura Bradford.

Emma Westlake has always wanted to be in business for herself. As a kid, she had her own successful lemonade stand and dog-walking business. And when she entered adulthood, Emma sunk all her cash into her dream job of travel planning. But as her customers became more and more internet savvy, the need for her services declined. At a loss for what to do next, she turns to an elderly friend who suggests she try to get paid for doing something she's really good at - being a paid companion. Emma thinks it's a crazy idea until requests start pouring in. Big Max from down the block wants her to act as his wingman at the local senior center's upcoming dance, nurse practitioner Stephanie needs a workout partner, and writer Brian Hill asks Emma to be his cheering section at an open mic night.

Brian will be reading from his latest work and wants to know someone will clap for him when he's done. When Emma balks at the notion that people wouldn't, he tells her the room will be filled with people he's invited - most of whom will likely want him dead by the time he's done reading. Assuming he's joking, she laughs. But when Brian steps up to the mic and clears his throat to speak, he promptly drops dead. Emma is one of the last people to see him alive, and so she becomes an immediate suspect. Now she'll have to cozy up to a killer to save her skin and her new business.

©2021 Laura Bradford (P)2021 Penguin Audio

outstanding storyline!

Amazing storyline. I'm looking forward to more in this series. The narration was great and I'm looking forward to the next book in this series.

I really needed this book

Thank you for writing this wonderful sweet book. Much needed during these crazy days.

Pleasantly Surprised

I have been buying a lot of duds lately. The reader is great; I love it when you can tell which character is talking. Characters well developed. Great mystery and bonus; There is Scout!!! 🐕
Can’t wait for next book in series. So glad I took a chance on this one.

fun and entertaining

A Plus One for Murder is an entertaining book with well written characters and an entertaining plot. I look forward to the next book in this series.

A waste of 8:35 of my life

I have read a few of Laura Bradford's books and also under her pen name Elizabeth Lynn Casey. This first book in a new series looked promising with an interesting theme - hiring Emma as a friend.

I cannot express how disappointed I was in this book. It was like a cliche of stereotyped characters:

Emma Westlake - the main character was a complete bubble-headed ditz who repeated everything that others said, like a mynah bird. (Is this the author's attempt to achieve a word count?) She was a failure at owning her travel business so she started a new business, not from her own initiative, but someone else's.

Dottie - An octogenarian friend and companion of Emma's. She was so matter of fact and self-righteous, constantly chastizing and criticizing Emma.

Big Max - Put all the stereotypes of seniors and you have Big Max. He cannot seem to dress appropriately, a chatterbox, and is totally eccentric. This is a huge pet peeve of mine, portraying seniors as eccentric and a comical character. Seniors in real life are not like this!

Stephanie - What 40-year-old woman still lives at home with their mother? Mind you, Stephanie is a professional, very successful in her career and her mother is not inept nor in need of care. Stephanie is portrayed as so pathetic with no life except for work so she needs to hire Emma to be her friend.

The mystery could have been a good one. In fact, I did like the plot, the motive, the culprit, etc. However, I just could not get past these extremely unlikable characters including the MC. I wasted money and hours of my life with this story. Again, so disappointing.