Black Jasmine

(Paradise Crime Mysteries, Book 3)

By: Toby Neal

Narrated by: Sara Malia Hatfield

Length: 7 hrs and 30 mins

Publisher's Summary

The island of Maui is turquoise ocean, stunning vistas, and whalesong - but organized crime has a hidden hold, and Detective Lei Texeira tracks evil that hides behind a beautiful face. When a nameless teenage girl dies in an apparent vehicular suicide, Lei can’t rest until she finds out what really happened. She blazes through all the wealth and poverty of Maui island society in her quest for justice, rousing a deadly foe - even as she faces the personal demons of commitment and revenge that threaten the only real love she’s ever known.

©2012 Toby Neal (P)2014 Audible Inc.

Critic Reviews

“Toby Neal's stories have a relentless, charged energy that heats up every page.” (Holly Robinson, author of Sleeping Tigers)

Could not stop the listening!

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes. Book was fast paced, characters intriguing, and audio book narrator is local so I was not detracted from the story when pidgin language and Hawaiian words are spoken in the book.

What other book might you compare Black Jasmine to and why?

Any fast paced, crime book that you can't put down, this book is right up there.

Have you listened to any of Sara Malia Hatfield’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Yes. Sara has a warm voice with a bit of sexiness throughout the books I've heard in her other books. Her narration makes the book a pleasing listen.

If you could take any character from Black Jasmine out to dinner, who would it be and why?

Lei. She's a tough cookie, but still very feminine. I find that very attractive.

Any additional comments?

In addition to the action in the book, I enjoyed the relationship tension between the two main characters, and how the narrator seemed to convey that relationship.

A gripping, timely and well written story line

I ran across this book by accident and it peaked my interest. Thought I’d give it a try and see whether or not I’d like it. Actually found this book to be a gripping, Timely and well written story line. I liked Miss Hatfield’s narration and the fact that she was able to modify her voice to incorporate numerous characters.
I’ve begun to read the entire series as I have to find out what’s going on with Lei and her new job with the FBI.

Lei gets better and better!

Hard to top the 1st two books in the Lei Crime Series, but Black Jasmine does a great job of it! Wow! Just can't get enough of Toby Neal's books or Sara Malia Hatfield's narrative! In Black Jasmine, Lei comes to terms with her childhood trauma as she works a case involving human trafficking.

Good Enough

As a confirmed fan of Lei Texiera I wanted to give this one a higher grade than I did. One of the reasons I couldn't was that the author redid the will they, won't they, nature of Lei's relationship with Det. Michael Stevens. The second book of the series covered that ground well enough that in my opinion that they didn't need to do another book using Lei's reluctance to commit to Stevens as the personal angle. The continuing attempts made by this book's evildoers to make it personal instead of business struck me as ridiculous. The idea that any criminal organization is going to take out a cop as an adjunct to a criminal enterprise is a bit too much to swallow. The idea that any FBI agent would be recruiting anyone as self directed as Detective Texiera seems another violation of realism. If any officer spends as much time as Lei does ignoring what she's told to do isn't going to fit well with the bureau. Aside from these violations the book is well done, moves quickly and has a couple of very good villains and hopefully we're done with the Stevens/ Texiera back and forth.

Dark, sexy, and uncomfortably pleasing

Where does Black Jasmine rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

2nd

What did you like best about this story?

The storyline - it was both twisted and twisty

Have you listened to any of Sara Malia Hatfield’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

She is an excellent reader.

If you could take any character from Black Jasmine out to dinner, who would it be and why?

I like Marcella, a cool FBI agent.

Any additional comments?

Another well written book by Toby Neal. I truly enjoyed her imagination for the dark side in this book.

A bit ambitious for this level of crime fiction.

This is the most ambitious of the stories so far – human trafficking and sex slavery. I’ll be honest – this feels a bit too ambitious, like this is a more simplistic, Cliff-notes version on the subject and probably would have worked better in a darker, grittier story. That said, it works well enough but I wasn’t riveted by it. The inclusion of the mysterious madam of the brothel, whose thoughts we get glimpses into, raises the storyline from moderately good to pretty interesting – I thought those sections were well done, a good look at her mindset and motives, a glimpse at the dark stuff she’s involved in but isn’t explicit enough to be offensive, and is charming enough to be intriguing.

The reader continues to do a great job, she is always consistent and does the immersive accents that really sell this as being set in Hawaii.

I didn’t enjoy this book as much as a previous one, but it’s a fine addition to the series. I feel like the author got a bit ambitious with this one when the platform wasn’t really dark enough to sustain it. That said, a very solid, enjoyable read – I like the series very much, own several and am working through them. Take advantage of the reduced price when you buy the Kindle version and you’ll get your money’s worth.

Black Jasmine

I really enjoyed this book! It was very exciting! This book is one that I believe could have benefited from having several narrators. I kept getting confused by the female voices.