Camp Lenape

A Kahale and Claude Mystery Series

By: Timothy R. Baldwin

Narrated by: Brittany Goodwin, James David West

Length: 3 hrs and 3 mins

Publisher's Summary

It’s supposed to be a fun summer…then a girl goes missing.

When a girl goes missing, and none of the adults can give a straight answer, a childhood game suddenly turns into a real, secret mission. 

Phone lines are down. Strange men roam the campgrounds. Financial documents indicate something’s amiss. And hidden security cameras point to a mysterious cottage in the woods. 

With heightened suspicions, junior camp counselors Marcus and Alissa recruit their friends to help find the missing girl. In their search, the teens will learn to rely on each other, especially when they encounter a terrible and dangerous secret. 

©2019 Timothy R. Baldwin (P)2020 Timothy R. Baldwin

What's Going on at Camp Lenape?

The adults at Camp Lenape are hiding something, but they can’t get their lies straight. Now a little girl’s life just might depend on four young junior counselors having the brains and the courage to get to the bottom of what’s going on at Camp Lenape.

This is a short, fast moving, story, with a cast of credible teenagers doing believable things. The mystery is solid and the detection process worked for me. Baldwin also spends a lot of time establishing the teens, their relationships to each other and the adults, and the camp setting. Early on, I felt that there was a little too much of this, but by the end of the story, I realized how important the early chapters were to the climax of the tale. If you like a quick mystery, you’ll enjoy Camp Lenape.

I received this book free from Audiobook Boom in exchange for an honest review.

Let's go on an adventure!

For a young adult novel, this was fun!

Camp Lenape. An ideal escape for children to spend the summer, or so it seemed. Something isn't quite right as kids begin to go missing. Who's involved? Trust no one.

The story is an amazing mystery in the vein of Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew. Marcus, one of the main characters, isn't afraid to break out a flashlight and explore the wilderness surrounding Camp Lenape. Alissa is more reserved, but the gloves were off once one of the girls went missing.

A very well written story that sets up for more adventures. I can't wait to read book two! Timothy Baldwin has knocked it out of the park.

Audiobook version: I did have some issue with the male narrator, David. Occasionally there were some audio quality changes, but nothing major. Brittany brings a very good voice to the table and captures Alissa's point of view well.

Unrelated, I can say adults should not watch "Wet Hot American Summer" before reading this book, because that was the hard visual I had painted in my head, coupled with Baldwins vivid detail of the camp.
Let's go to Lenape High School!

Great story

Easy to follow and enjoyable to listen to. Listened during a road trip and everyone, of all ages, enjoyed it.

Best Narrator in the World! 😉

The narrator was AMAZING!!! He makes an awesome story even more enjoyable to listen to.

Smart, Observant and Brave Teamwork

Counselors are very happily busy overseeing campers at most summer camps.
But Camp Lenope is not like most summer camps.
It takes a special breed of young person to survive
being a junior counselor this summer at Camp
Lenope in the Alleghenies. This summer the junior
counselors have a missing camper mystery to
solve in addition to their many responsibilities.

Readers will devour every exciting page of this
page- turning mystery in this YA novel. They
will also love this bunch of first-year junior counselors!

A Mystery for Young Readers

3.5 stars

Ahh, summer camp, days and nights full of sun, fun, learning new stuff, making new friends and catching up with old pals, arts & crafts, lots of water activities, squabbling over the top bunks, fighting off a gazillion bugs, sitting around the campfire singing songs and telling stories, coping with homesickness, getting a great tan, hiking through the woods, taking on chores…all in all, a terrific experience except for the obligatory moments of angst. One thing that generally is not part of summer camp is missing campers.

When junior counselor Alissa learns that one of her charges, Bri, has disappeared in the night, she and her co-counselor Marcus (Bri’s older brother) start looking for her and soon discover that the adults don’t seem to be taking this seriously. In fact, the teens believe that lies are being told and they draft a couple of friends, Nate and Janice, to help figure out what’s really going on. Before long, they’re faced with an ugly situation and some really bad guys but, most painful of all, betrayal of their trust.

These teens are dedicated to finding the missing child and, along the way, they learn much about themselves and their hidden strengths. Bringing their stories to life are narrators Brittany Goodwin and James David West whose characterizations are spot on. They also have a good sense of pacing and ramp up the tension when the tale calls for it. They and author Timothy R. Baldwin have crafted a reading/listening experience to be savored by middle graders on up.

Solid Mystery

The adults are telling a lie. That much are clear. Their stories don’t add up. When a girl goes missing, it’s up to the camp counselors to find out what happened.

Fast moving story with solid characters. Each character a distinct personality, and I loved the suspense of the mystery. Plenty of descriptions make the story vivid and full.

A good mystery geared more for teens than young adult.

Narration fit the story.

This book was given to me for free at my request and I provided this voluntary review.

Very much enjoyed this book!!

I’m not a reader but I found the book to be easy to read and a great story! It kept my attention and I never got bored with it, even with my attention span.

Decent listen for teens & YA with a few caveats...

Camp Lenape by Timothy R. Baldwin was a decent novella. The author took a lot of time developing the characters and relationships, which I think might be because this is the first book in the Kahale and Claude Mystery Series and he wanted to establish the characters and relationships early on. I thought it really weird that all of the camp counselors were called Aunts and Uncles. That's kind of odd. I'd say that this is definitely geared more towards teens than young adults, as there are references that the bad guys make to one of the girls about how he knows some people that would like to do some stuff to her while she's in captivity or something along those lines. I thought that a little inappropriate for the age that this story is geared towards. I'd hate to have to explain what they're implying to my young adult. Also, what the bad guys are up to at the end is a little more adult, so again, I wouldn't recommend this for young adults, but more for mid-age teens or up.

Aside from all that, there is a lot packed into the three hours of listening time. Characters are well established and what seems like a normal time away at camp quickly turns into something else, with one of the counselors suddenly disappearing one evening. Her brother and a few others quickly get suspicious and start investigating. WHat they find is a LOT more than just an innocent time at summer camp!

Brittany Goodwin and James David West narrated this audiobook. I thought that Ms. Goodwin did a good job, though Mr. West left some room for improvement. His narration sounded a bit flat and though it didn't take away from the story, I wouldn't rush to listen to more books narrated by him. Ms. Goodwin, on the other hand, was easy to listen to and brought emotion and life to the characters. I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audiobook by the author, narrator, or publisher for an honest review.

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Great mystery for kids!

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

I thought the story was engaging and the suspense was palpable, and it especially would be for kids, but I'd hear this towards the pre-teen crowd for suggestive language. The prose was descriptive enough to get the imagery and actions across without being extensive. West's narration was fine, a bit monotone at times and there were some instances where the sound mixing sounded like his voice was pulsing. Goodwin's narration was also fine, but I found her sentences ending in the same inflection almost every time. A variation would keep kids more engaged. I think younger voices for both main characters would have been more appropriate. All around, not a bad listen though.

Great narrators, and gripping

This is one of those books, where the narrators need to be pointed out first! The dynamic between the warmer sound from the woman, and the more high-pass filtered, radio sound from the guy, give it a nice dynamic. It honestly keeps you on your toes, aiding the story's progression. And different points of view.

The characters are written believably, which is rare for teenagers in novels. And the story moves at a good pace, propelling the mystery forward.

It was overall a good escape into a mystery at a camp in the woods. A used story beat but good nonetheless and well-written from Timothy Baldwin.