Avalanche

By: Patrick F. McManus

Narrated by: Danny Campbell

Length: 6 hrs and 49 mins

Publisher's Summary

When the call comes in that Mike Wilson, the unlikable owner of West Branch Lodge, has gone missing, Sheriff Tully is delighted. This is an excellent opportunity for Tully, his tracker pal Dave, and his retired sheriff father, Pap, to enjoy a few evenings of hot tubs and single-malt scotch at the luxurious lodge while working the case. However, visions of R&R vanish in a flash on the drive up, when Tully and Pap suddenly realize an avalanche is thundering down the mountain, straight toward them.

Tully manages to outrun the crush of snow, but the road behind is blocked, and there's no telling for how long. Tully's stranded at the lodge with a motley group of vacationers and locals - a sassy co-ed, a group of rambunctious fraternity boys, a shadowy group of what looks like ex-cons, the missing owner's wife, a suspiciously good-looking bartender, and worst (or perhaps best) of all, Tully's old flame, who shows up with her dogsled and naughty intentions.

Both vacationers and locals start to look like suspects when Tully discovers startling evidence proving that the avalanche was no accident of nature. But why would anybody want him dead? And then the missing persons case turns into a murder case when Mike Wilson's body turns up in the river a couple of days later.

©2007 Patrick F. McManus (P)2017 Tantor

Another fun romp with the Sheriff

Would you consider the audio edition of Avalanche to be better than the print version?

Haven't read the print version

What three words best describe Danny Campbell’s voice?

Old and crusty

Any additional comments?

Overall, the book is another fun little mystery that doesn't feel the need to delve into the gory details and depravity that many murder mysteries do.
However, Danny Campbell's narration leaves a little to be desired. His voice is enjoyably gruff and gravelly but, much like Tim Curry's reading of A Christmas Carol, it serves certain characters extremely well while becoming a liability to others. Pap and even Sheriff Tully are well served by this vocal performance but any female character has trouble coming across as very feminine. Patrick F. McManus also writes certain pieces of dialogue without identifying who is speaking at different points in the conversation. In print this usually isn't much of an issue because you can keep track of this as you read. It also doesn't cause a problem in audiobooks if the narrator can sufficiently separate each character's voice. Alas, Mr. Campbell doesn't do that too well here and so there are a few conversations that tend to get a little confusing.
Still, I would fully recommend anyone who likes a comedic mystery pick this up even at full price, I think it's worth it.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Another great Bo Tulley story!

Patrick McManus had a gift for making good murder mysteries in addition to his genius at funny short stories. His humor writing still shows through with Easter eggs throughout the Bo Tully series. This one delivers too. It had humor, drama, and excellent plot twists to weave a great tale. I enjoy his character development and seeing them again in each book. All of the Bo Tully books are stand alone stories, but are linked. I recommend listening to them in order. This is Book #2. The narration was good, although not as good as Charles Leggett or Tom Stechschulte in the other Bo Tully Series. Danny Campbell doesn't have the same ability for doing voices as the other two. Overall I highly recommend!

Fun cozies with an outdoor theme

The story takes up about year after the first book. Bo still hasn't gotten the lovely young M.E. to fall in love with him, although he was certain she already had. Don't take a girl camping in high country in November. There's your bit of dating advice for the week.

Local man, Mike Wilson, goes missing. Bo picks up Pap (mostly to save DeeDee) and heads up to the Lodge, a ski resort owned and operated by Mike's wife, Blanche Wilson. They almost die on the way there. Avalanche. Dave, owner of Dave's House of Fry and best tracker in three counties, maybe more, beat Bo and Pap to the lodge. The investigation begins, and when the tracks don't add up and it looks like the avalanche wasn't natural, Bo gets that bad feeling that Mike is already dead and he might be next.

Then he gets the call that Mike's business partner was found dead in his office down in town. Now he's investigating two murders while fending off amorous women every which way he turns. It's going to take all his ways and wiles to get out of this one alive.

Narration was pretty good, but there were a couple spots where I lost track of who was talking. Didn't ruin the story, but I did notice them.

Avalanche

Great second story in Bo Tully series. Loved it. can't wait to read next one.

Bo Tully is back.

I have yet to read anything by McManus that didn't bring a smile to my face, or a laugh out loud. His Bo Tully mysteries are just as funny as his short story collections.

Entertaining

Love to listen to audio books while working(operating embroidery equipment, etc.) Bo Tully is my kinda hero.