A View to Die For

To Die for Series, Book 1

By: Richard Houston

Narrated by: Todd McLaren

Length: 8 hrs and 46 mins

Publisher's summary

The story is not your typical murder mystery. The sleuth is not a detective, private eye, or lawyer. He's an ordinary guy with an extraordinary dog.

Jacob Martin is trying to make the best of a divorce and mid-life crisis when he gets a call at two o'clock Sunday morning from his mother. His sister has been arrested for the murder of her fourth husband, and his father is near death. Thus begins an adventure that takes Jake and his golden retriever from their Colorado retreat to a backwater town in the Missouri Ozarks, where they search for cold-blooded killers, a cache of gold coins buried by Jesse James, and the love of a beautiful nurse.

©2012 Richard Houston (P)2017 Tantor

Standard fare

Not enough of the dog. From the description I thought the dog would play a larger role. Ok mystery, a bit of writers convince here and the. But a solid listen, worth a few hours.

A true mystery.

This is a fresh new murder mystery that does not reveal itself until the very end.
It is presented in a unique way that is entertaining without any areas that drag. Very enjoyable!

A New Favorite Author That I Will Continue To Read

I loved this book mainly because of the picture of the golden retriever on the cover. Jake Martin is ordinary guy with an extraordinary dog, a golden retriever named Fred. He's a divorced handyman. Jack gets a call at two o'clock Sunday morning from his mother. His sister, Megan has been arrested for the murder of her fourth husband, Mike and his father is near death. This starts an adventure that takes Jake and Fred from Colorado to a backwater town in the Missouri Ozarks. They search for cold-blooded killers, a cache of gold coins buried by Jesse James, and the love of a beautiful nurse. There is also humor between Jack and his family during the search for what really happened to the death of Mike, Megan's husband.
This is going to be one of my many favorite authors and look forward to the next book in the series.

Well told

A well told story to keep you guessing until the end. A little humor put in just the right places.

Okay read

The plot had trouble holding my attention, but the narration was so good I stuck with it.

Too many characters and not much fleshing out.

A good mystery with twists and false leads up to t

The mystery is an engaging one but for me, it was second fiddle to Jake's family's melodramas and his relationship with Fred. My pets are older too, though all cats, but Fred gets good marks for being a typical "man's best friend " kind of dog.
I really enjoyed the Midwest setting - Colorado, Kansas and Missouri! It gets tiring hearing (reading) only about one coast or the other or big cities like NYC or Chicago.

Not really a dog story

If you're thinking of reading this because you like dog stories, you might want to pass on this one. It's an acceptable murder mystery, with some interesting twists, but the dog is just another character.

Free mystery listen

Very slow moving story, but the characters were entertaining & the main characters sarcastic wit was good. Fred the dog was loyal & true as to be expected. Silly, but my big gripe is why the family kept giving spend thrift Meg money to get out of debt when every time she just blew it on wine etc???? Just annoying. No great edge of your seat mystery.

Too much idiot plot

In the hands of a more talented writer the plot might have reached its potential, and in the hands of a better reader the story might have been more entertaining. Too bad this book had the benefit of neither. The only reason I finished the book was the dog.

Entertaining with some small annoyances

The reader is pretty good. I thought the story was good. There were some small things that annoyed me about the characters. In particular I would’ve liked to smack the nephew upside the head, then smack his mom for enabling his behavior. Otherwise, it kept me listening to see what happened.