Bitterness, Betrayal & Murder

A Stacie Maroni Mystery, Book 9

By: Christa Nardi

Narrated by: Naomi Rose-Mock

An urgent call from Stacie Maroni’s friend, Meredith, interrupts the sleuth’s New Year's Eve plans for a romantic evening. Instead, she and Detective Michael O'Hare rush to the country club only to find it is too late to help their friend. Not quite how they wanted to bring in the New Year. A fully booked event for the annual bash translates into an overabundance of suspects and a variety of motives.

Never one to back away from a challenge, Stacie's sleuthing skills kick in. When a wannabe reporter blogs about the murder and implies that Stacie knows the killer’s identity, the investigation takes a dangerous turn. Stacie’s faced with secrets and memories, along with hints of organized crime lurking in the shadows.

©2023 Christa Nardi (P)2024 Christa Nardi

#9 in Stacie Maroni Cozy Mystery is 5 Star

#9 in Stacie Maroni Cozy Mystery is 5 Star

Ms. Maroni, corporate HR executive and amateur slueth, is back. While I have read 1-8, of this series, it had been a long time. So, I think this book would work well as a stand alone. A local wealthy socialite is strangled at the swanky country club's New Year's Eve soiree, after making a last minute plea for life to our heroine. Many suspects are identified, but as the list is narrowed our main character is repeatedly endangered. There are lots of entertaining twists and turns. Narrator is a great vocal fit for lead character and performs clearly defined vocal charaxterizations.

Cozy Mystery

Another small town cozy mystery by this author. The flow, storyline and characters is worth the read. The narrator did a great job.

Action and suspense

As I listened to this I was sure Stacey would end up in the hospital or the morgue. She had so many close calls, vandalism, and a crazed blogger on her like white on rice. The blogger made erroneous and inflammatory statements about the murder and other people. This was extremely suspenseful. I enjoyed it. I voluntarily listened to a free copy of this and am giving an honest opinion. The narrator did a great job bringing the characters and story to life.

The story is believable

This story has all the elements for a great mystery and the story was believable, but lacking in suspense. The story was good enough that I listened all the way to the end. I like the characters and have listened to several other of Christa's books and enjoyed listening. It is a clean mystery with no sex or swearing and I do recommend giving it a listen.

The narration, for me, was hard to follow at times because she talked really fast and her voice is rather high pitched making it hard to understand. I tried slowing it down but then it went too slow. I like Christa's books and her writing style but this narrator is not for me. I'll read the book instead.

Good quick listen

Bitterness, Betrayal & Murder: A Stacie Maroni Mystery, Book 9
By: Christa Nardi
Narrated by: Naomi Rose-Mock






4 STARS




I need to say this is the 9th book in the series but I haven’t read or listened to the others. I felt somewhat behind in the overall plot line. This book was good, the characters interesting. It makes me want to go back and start at the beginning of the series.
A good quick listen.







The narration was done by Naomi Rose-Mock. She brought the characters to life.

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.