Calamity Jayne

Calamity Jayne Mystery Series, Book 1

By: Kathleen Bacus

Narrated by: Angel Leigh McCoy

Length: 10 hrs and 30 mins

Publisher's Summary

"Fans of Janet Evanovich will be glad to see that you don't always have to go to the burgh for mirthful murder and mayhem." (Booklist)

How does a blonde spell "Farm"?

E-I-E-I-O 

Tressa Jayne Turner has had it up to here with the dumb-blonde jokes and a childhood nickname that's harder to get rid of than her favorite pair of cowboy boots. Thanks to one Rick Townsend, Iowa Department of Natural Resources officer, local hottie, and general pain in Tressa's behind, everyone knows her as "Calamity Jayne". Just because she may be a little accident prone and trouble seems to sometimes find her, Tressa can't get anyone in her small town to take her seriously. That is, until Tressa finds a seriously dead body and an opportunity to get "Ranger Rick" and a skeptical citizenry to see that she's no longer that skinny kid with scraped knees. How? By resurrecting her job as a reporter for the hometown paper and solving a murder no one else believes happened... no one, that is, except the killer. Now Tressa is one not-so-dumb blonde who's out to gain a little hometown respect - or die trying.

Calamity Jayne Mystery series:

• Calamity Jayne
• Calamity Jayne and the Fowl Play at the Fair
• Calamity Jayne and the Haunted Homecoming
• Calamity Jayne and the Campus Caper
• Calamity Jayne in the Wild, Wild West
• Calamity Jayne and the Hijinks on the High Seas
• Calamity Jayne and the Trouble with Tandems
• Calamity Jayne and the Sisterhood of the Traveling Lawn Gnome
• "Six Geese A ‘Slaying'" (a holiday short story)

©2010 Kathleen Cecil Bacus (P)2018 Kathleen Cecil Bacus

Hard to listen to but I made it through

The story is mediocre at best - nowhere near as funny as Stephanie Plum - the main character being almost pitiful. What’s worse is the narrator. Good luck if you choose to listen. Sad to say I won’t be listening to any other books in this series.

A Fun Listen With Great Characters

Growing up an under achiever with a penchant for getting in trouble Tessa the nickname Calamity Jayne. When she drives the wrong car from work she finds a dead body in the trunk. Another misadventure awaits. Great performance and story. Recommend.

Enjoyed the Book

I enjoyed the book. I saw a review comparing it to Janet Evanovich and I don't agree with that. There were some corny jokes I could have done without and the humor was just not as good. I find myself laughing out loud with JE's books but mostly only smiled some with this one. I did want to find out who did it even though I wasn't sure I was going to make it through the narration, which I did not care for. I felt her voice sounded too old for the age of the character (24) and she didn't give her any life. I found I just couldn't quite bring myself to root for Tressa. I wondered if I would have like her more if I had read the book instead of listening to it. I kept thinking about how I would have read it, which would sometimes distract me from the story.

Breathy reader

The story was ok, but I didn't care for the reader. She sounded like she was trying too hard to be sexy.

This is no dumb blonde

I read this book when it first came out on kindle and was really excited to see it come out as an audio book, I just had to get it. So glad I did because it was even funnier than I remembered. I just love Calamity Jayne as a character and all the mishaps she finds herself getting involved in, highly amusing. The elderly grandad made for a great sidekick and caused just as many chuckles. I hope he joins in more adventures with Calamity. The mystery was interesting and took lots of twists before it got solved and with one I didn't see coming. It's just a light hearted mystery with a couple of dumb blonde jokes thrown in and of course the complicated love interest which just adds to the chaos and mayhem. Off to start the next adventure.
With a nickname like Calamity Jayne, Tressa has a hard time getting anybody to take her seriously but you would think finding a dead body in the trunk of her car even the sceptical Ranger Rick would believe her. He would have done if the body was still in the trunk and the car was hers. Anybody can make a mistake and take the wrong car but only Calamity can then become the target of a killer, especially when nobody believe anybody is dead. Is it time to prove every body wrong and finally lose the nickname? Can Tressa find the body and finally get the respect she deserves? And more importantly find the killer before he finds her? Ranger Rick might not believe her but with his grandad helping her, what could go wrong?
I liked the narrator and thought she helped to bring the story to life with humour and perfect timing.