Candidate for Murder

A Mac Faraday Mystery, Book 12

De: Lauren Carr

Narrado por: C.J. McAllister

It's election time in Spencer, Maryland, and the race for mayor is not a pretty one. In recent years, the small resort town has become divided between the year-round residents who enjoy their rural way of life and the city dwellers who are moving into mansions, taking over the town council, and proceeding to turn Deep Creek Lake into a closed-gate community - complete with a host of regulations for everything from speed limits to clotheslines.

When the political parties force-feed two unsavory mayoral nominees to the town's residents, David O'Callaghan, the chief of police, decides to make a statement - by nominating Gnarly, Mac Faraday's German shepherd, to run for mayor of Spencer!

What starts out as a joke turns into a disaster when overnight, Gnarly becomes the frontrunner, and his political opponents proceed to dig into the canine's past. When one of the mayoral candidates ends up dead, it becomes apparent that slinging mud is not enough for someone with a stake in this election.

With murder on the ballot, Mac Faraday and the gang - including old friends from past cases - dive in to clear Gnarly's name, catch a killer, and save Spencer!

©2017 Terri Zaleski (P)2017 Terri Zaleski

This books contains humor, action and mysteries!

In 'Candidate for Murder', David Thornton is "fed up" with the two "crooked" politicians, He is watching Gnarly while Max nd Archie are on a cruise. To make a statement, Police Chief, David Thornton, nominates Gnarly for the Mayoral race. Gnarly has his vises, but he seved his country in the canine unit during the War in Iraq. He is honest and has more "gumption' than either of the two running mates. Little does he know what chaos this will cause nor what "mushrooming" effect it will have on many situations and individuals. People begin dying and past crimes become present investigations.

In Lauren Carr's usual mix of humor, outrageous interactions, romance and mystery, the reader will experience laughter along with the suspense. When one mystery is solved, the story continues on until each of the other mysteries are solved.

The characters are very diverse, yet well-portrayed. The reader will tend to feel he/she is a part of the community and various situations. The scenes are equally well-defined. The cover is simple, but chosen well. The Title is perfect for this story.

This is a very fast paced, adventurous tale. The narrator did a good job in dramatizing the story. In the first part of the book, he makes David, a tall, "fit", Police Chief sound like a "runty Godfather" with the use of an "airy" strained sounding voice. It was annoying. As Narrator, C.J. McAllister, progresses into the story, David's voice is given more strength, so is easier to listen to. He does a good job, but not a great job.

I offer a Five Stars rating on the Book and Three on the Narrator.
This audio was gifted me with no direction on how it was to be rated. This is my honest review.

Dog Runs for Mayor of Small Town

Any additional comments?

Wonderful book. Somehow they managed to write a book where a dog has been nominated for mayor of a small town and there is international espionage and make the book both fun and exciting at the same time. When the police chief of Spencer ends up arresting both candidates for mayor for fighting at a debate he gets fed up and decides to nominate Gnarly, a German Shepard, for mayor. As Gnarly starts to rise in the popularity in the polls and the 2 human candidates start to panic that they might actually lose to a dog they start looking for dirt on Gnarly. They find what they think could be dirt but instead turns out to be an unsolved murder. As Gnarly's humans get busy defending his reputation they end up solving several cold case murders, and solving some that had been originally classified at suicides. One of those murders, the death of Gnarly's handler while he served in the Army, leads to the discovery of a traitor at the highest levels of the CIA. Of course people high up in the CIA don't go down without a fight. Will Gnarly be able to protect his human family? Will he end up as mayor of Spencer?

I revived this book for free in exchange for my honest review.

Love this series!

Another great entry in the series. Many returning favorite characters and my favorite canine character, Gnarly, is heavily featured. A great mystery with a good dose of humor. Amazing narrator as well! I received a free review copy of this audiobook at my request and I have voluntarily left this review.

Feels so much like real life

Are you looking to step away from your real-life politics? Well come read Candidate for Murder or listen to it in audio. I have now read it in both paperbacks and listened to in audiobook. I enjoy the audiobook a bit better.

In the world of politics maybe dogs are better and smarter than us humans. They will be honest with you. This book has quite a few unsolved murders. As soon as Gnarly enters the election, things to heat up.

Why would someone want to kill their family members? Why would you want to cheat your way through winning? What so important that you have to have power and not let go?

Lauren Carr writes her books well. The narrator of this book does well with the telling. I am on the edge of my seat or feet while listening to this book. This book as mysteries and murder galore for beginning to end.

Maybe the reason for that is cause I hear the voices that play each character in the book. If you have not read, you are missing out. If you are a mystery or and murder fan, these books are up to your alley. You will not be disappointed. You will want to pick up more after reading or listening. You should check out my review of Candidate for Murder (Paperback version).

fun story, love the dogs.

I received this book free from ebalst, and the author, and this is my unbiased opion l.
Great story, good characters, definitely worth a listen. I really enjoyed it. Narley has my vote. the only complaint is the narrator is not as good as I would have liked, but easily over looked.

Thoroughly enjoyed!

Any additional comments?

This is my first Mac Farady mystery although I've listened to a few of the side books. I cannot even begin to tell you how much I loved this listen.

Gnarly, Mac's dog, was at the center of this listen, more so than Mac. This listen was fun. Once you take out the backstory about a dog running for mayor, this listen included solving several murders with intersecting story lines and a revolving door of characters.

There was the CIA, and counterintelligence, and sibling rivalry, and adultery, and jealousy, and murder all around. I really loved how the author kept the story interesting and intimate. There was some tongue in cheek, some light commentary on American politics, and some comedy mixed in with the mayhem.

I really was quite an enjoyable listen!

Awesome Listen!!!

First of all, I am a dog lover and have 3 German Shepherds, so this book featuring Gnarly really appealed to me. I thought the author wrote an awesome story with so many great characters and unexpected twists. The narrator did an excellent performance. This book is part of a series and a standalone listen. I was voluntarily provided with this review copy audiobook upon my request and have voluntarily written this review. I really enjoy books that feature retired war dogs. The author wrote a very compelling mystery with so much action and suspense. Also, the antics of Gnarly and Shadow are very realistic. I do not try to write a synopsis of the book in my reviews, as I like to leave it up to the professionals as they are more eloquent. I highly recommend this book and will look for more books by both this author and narrator.

Knarly for Mayor!

This audiobook, Candidate for Murder... is a well-written story in which a small tourist town is faced with an election in which their choices are two distasteful characters or one four legged war hero. In this story, there are old murders and new, big politics and local issues, old crimes reopened and new murder committed, two slimy candidates and one friendly furry one.

If mystery, heroism, regular folk, and humor all wrapped up in a nicely paced, well-told story is your thing, then you will enjoy listening to Candidate for Murder!

I was given this audiobook for free in exchange for my unbiased review.

A Timely Tale

A number of years ago, a perfectly normal fellow named Mac Faraday learned that his biological mother was a very famous person and, on the day his acrimonius divorce became final, Mac inherited a vast fortune. Now, the retired homicide detective lives in a magnificent estate on a lake in Spencer, Maryland, with his beloved dog, Gnarly. Gnarly has a questionable past but his biggest issue these days is his kleptomania. Nothing is safe from being pilfered by this German Shepherd.

At the moment, the whole town is focused on the upcoming mayoral election. It was already contentious due to strained feelings between the locals and the summer crowd; now, it’s a no holds barred fight because David, Mac’s police chief brother, nominated Gnarly as the one to beat the other two unpalatable candidates, Nancy Braxton and Bill Clark. The door is wide open for probes into the pasts of all three and it doesn’t take long for someone to dredge up old accusations of cowardice against the war dog when his handler was murdered during deployment. That’s not all, though—soon enough, one of the nominees is found dead in mysterious circumstances and, as it turns out, there’s more than one murder afoot.

Gnarly’s past is a fascinating story and it takes David along with a number of friends and other family members to get to the truth about his cowardice charge and the murders. I loved spending time again with Gnarly’s pals, Shetland sheepdog Spencer, Basset Hound Newman and Belgian Shepherd Storm as well as assorted humans. Gnarly’s campaign managers, Bernie and Hap, are a hilarious addition to a story that is a full-throated investigation into murder, political shenanigans and national security issues while still being shot through with humor. Narrator C.J. McAllister offers a lively performance and distinct voices along with a good sense of timing and brings Ms. Carr’s terrific story to life. Highly recommended ;-)

Candidate for Murder

I love love love Lauren Carr’s writing. I was so excited when I had the chance to read her Candidate for Murder. This installment from her Mac Faraday Mystery series does not disappoint. Even though it is part of a series, I believe readers can get by reading it as a stand alone. Though, I would highly recommend to reading the previous books as they should not be missed. I enjoyed catching up with Mac and his hilarious pup Gnarly. Gnarly is by far my favorite character in this series. This is one of those books that I look for in a story: action, adventure, mystery, suspense, and lots and lots of laughs. The mystery was not one I could have predicted. I was left wondering as to who did it until near the end. I love the mix of quirkiness thrown in from time to time to break down the tension.

I had the pleasure of listening to the audio version of Candidate for Murder. Once again C.J. McAllister does a wonderful job bringing this story and characters to life. The performance is superb.

I am giving Candidate for Murder a very well deserved five plus stars. I highly recommend it for readers who love a fun and entertaining cozy mystery that will make them giggle throughout. I am hoping to read more from the Mac Faraday Mystery series in the near future. I love this series.

I received Candidate for Murder from the publisher. This review is one hundred percent my own honest opinion.