The Corpse in the Cabana: A Viola Roberts Cozy Mystery

Viola Roberts Cozy Mysteries, Book 1

De: Shéa MacLeod

Narrado por: Yvette Keller

Sassy, snarky Viola Roberts quit her boring accountant job to pursue her dream of writing novels, even if it meant eating ramen noodles every day. Now that her career has taken off, she's headed to a writers' conference at an exotic Florida resort complete with white-sand beaches and swaying palm trees, where she plans to lounge in the shade drinking frosty beverages with little umbrellas. And, of course, no sojourn to tropical climes would be complete without her boozy, wise-cracking best friend, Cheryl.

When Viola discovers the diva of the author world dead (as a doornail) of unnatural causes, the police immediately consider Viola their prime suspect. But when the head detective turns a gimlet eye on Viola's best friend, the author has had enough! Along with help from hunky fellow writer Lucas Salvatore, Viola is determined to ascertain who killed the corpse in the cabana before she or Cheryl winds up in jail. Or worse.

©2016 Shea MacLeod (P)2016 Shea MacLeod

Yvette's voice is Viola personified

Yvette Keller's reading of the Corpse in the Cabana allows you to curl up with two hands around a tea cup as you listen to this cozy mystery. Viola comes to life as she and her gal pal get into and out of trouble And back into more trouble again. Each character is more fully formed and rich when combining Shea's words and Yvette's vocals.

Viola sassy, sweet, take charge

What fun to be heading to a convention for work and find that you are involved in a mystery? How far will you go to get yourself out of trouble? Would you do the same for a friends? I loved Viola. She was fun, quirky, smart, almost clueless, except for when she was very on the money. The narrator Yvette Keller had the voice that made this cozy mystery just flow and jive with me. I am looking forward to the next one.

This was a quick, fun, light, sassy read/listen. Viola had a good friend, a job she loved, and three men (one she did know, one too young, one a stick in the mud).

Clean cozy mystery

I love a good cozy mystery, and this one really set the scene. Viola Roberts heads to Florida with her bestie Cheryl for the NWA conference. Only she ends embroiled in finding the killer of a fellow author Natasha Winters.

The story was a clean cozy mystery, with some funny moments and the audible was smooth and clear. The narrator really drew me in with the characters, and she flowed between them seamlessly.

The Story:
Viola Roberts and her BFF Cheryl Delney are in Florida attending a writing conference, where we met an host of other characters, mainly Natasha Winters (who ends up being the victim) and Lucas Salvatore, who becomes Viola's sort of love interest. When Viola discoverers Natasha dead, and comes to blows with the Lead Detective she sets about to clear her name with the help of Cheryl and Lucas.There are some comedic moments that make the characters more real and making it an entertaining read. This is a clean cozy mystery and if you love losing yourself in a who-dunit this is a good series to start. It was an enjoyable and entertaining read, though my only gripe was there was a major clue discovered a few chapters prior to it becoming the BIG clue it was intended to be, and that kinda confused me for a moment.

The Narration:
Yvette Keller was brilliant for this book! She really brought life to the book and actually made the characters real - full of all the emotions there were going through and one moment stands out when Viola was running up stairs Yvette even made the character out of breath in telling of it."I dashed down the open-air hall and took the stairs as fast as my legs would take me. By the third floor, I was out of breath. By the fourth floor, my legs were rubber. By the time I hit the fifth floor, there was a stitch in my side so bad I was nearly doubled over."Yvette brings the humour, banter, and mystery alive and I am glad that she is narrating other books in this series.The actual audio was smooth without any background noise or static and chapters flowed seamlessly. 

A Funny Start

A popular romance writer is murdered at a conference. Viola, another writer, found the body and now feels the need to find out who killed her, so she could get off the suspect list. This book is a fast paced mystery. This is my first book by Shea MacLeod and I loved it. The characters are very likeable and I liked the narrator. I can totally imagine Viola sound like that. This is a fantastic fast listen, I know that i want to finish the series. If you like fast paced mysteries this book is just right up your alley.

The Corpse in the Cabana

This was a very fun and enjoyable cozy mystery. The narrator, Yvette Keller, did an outstanding job.