Caught on the Book

An Antique Bookshop Mystery, Book 4

By: Laura Gail Black

Narrated by: Susan Boyce

Length: 8 hrs and 15 mins

Publisher's summary

The annual fishing tournament and festival in Hokes Folly, North Carolina, is the high-water mark event of the year. Antiquarian bookseller Jenna Quinn, owner of the Twice Upon a Time bookstore, is ready to catch some new customers with her fishing-themed book display at the festival. That is, she was...until a local author was found dead in his booth.

All fingers point to Frank Sutter, a former detective with the police department. His soon-to-be ex-wife had been dating the victim, and Frank had been seen having an argument with him earlier that day. When Keith Logan, Jenna’s boyfriend and detective with the local police, asks Jenna for help to solve the case, she’s shocked. Frank was Keith’s former partner and someone who had been determined to pin more than one murder on Jenna. Frank doesn’t want Jenna’s help any more than Jenna wants to help him, but the two will have to put aside their animosity for each other if they want to reel in the killer.

This bookselling sleuth knows she will have to cast a wide net in order to catch the killer, even if means dangerously luring them in. Will her novel idea help her catch the killer, or is she bound for a more deadly ending?

©2023 Laura Gail Black (P)2023 Dreamscape Media

Wonderful

The story had everything ~ love~ hate~comity~ and a great plot. I can’t to read the next in the series.

Too Many “Hot Pickles on a Corn Dog” or whatever

Another good story premise. Would like to see more of this group and their small town. Narrator did another great job for this one as well. However, I really really got tired of the not-so-funny expressions of Jenna’s frustrations. I don’t recall those being a part of the first three books. If they were, they were not as prominent as they are in this fourth book. And is that something that they do in North Carolina or something? I appreciate that foul language is not used in every other line as in some books, but this stuff is really not representative of anyone I know, and being military, I’ve lived in a lot of places in the states and overseas. Probably would not have irritated me so much had there just been occasional incidents, but there was just way too many times that she used them.

Entertaining Read

Setting the Scene: "The annual fishing tournament and festival in Hokes Folly, North Carolina, is the high-water mark event of the year. Antiquarian bookseller Jenna Quinn, owner of the Twice Upon a Time bookstore, is ready to catch some new customers with her fishing-themed book display at the festival. That is, she was...until a local author was found dead in his booth.

All fingers point to Frank Sutter, a former detective with the police department. His soon-to-be ex-wife had been dating the victim, and Frank had been seen having an argument with him earlier that day. When Keith Logan, Jenna’s boyfriend and detective with the local police, asks Jenna for help to solve the case, she’s shocked. Frank was Keith’s former partner and someone who had been determined to pin more than one murder on Jenna. Frank doesn’t want Jenna’s help any more than Jenna wants to help him, but the two will have to put aside their animosity for each other if they want to reel in the killer.

This bookselling sleuth knows she will have to cast a wide net in order to catch the killer, even if means dangerously luring them in. Will her novel idea help her catch the killer, or is she bound for a more deadly ending?"

What I Thought: I loved returning to Hokes Folly for another visit with Jenna and her friends. What would she do without Mason to help with the bookstore and Rita to help her with everything else. That's not to say that Jenna isn't smart and capable in her own right, but everyone needs a friends or 3. I particularly enjoyed watching Keith skillfully handle the town troublemakers who are intent on running Jenna out of town, but who would have thought he would ever ask Jenna, of all people, to help his ex-partner, the one who tried to railroad Jenna in a recent murder investigation, certainly not Jenna. What follows leads to many unforeseen developments, but it makes for a fun read.

Fun, enjoyable series

But please, stop with the “hot pickles on a popsicle” and like exclamations. WHO talks like that? As much as I enjoy the books and performance, I cringe every time one of those lines comes up.

Hot Pickles got old

I really enjoyed the story line and the overall performance of this book but the over and over Hot Pickles remark got to be like nails on a chalk board to me… For that reason I was glad I got to the end. Hopefully in the next book there will be something easier to listen to replace those moments of excitement in the storyline. But overall I enjoyed the book.

Left wanting more!

Great resolution of the initial complications that began in the first book. Would love to have the next book and I’m looking forward to seeing how the author expands the world and adventures our Jena and Keith navigate on their journey for happiness

Left wanting more stories!

Great series!

This series is fun! Light- hearted. Good Narration! Fun characters - like the series. Thanks!

Pickled onions on a donut stick

So, I bought the first book in this series because it sounded interesting. It was pretty good (I liked the characters). I got the second book—it was ok (a bit of a sophomore slump). After awhile I bought books 3 & 4 because I was in between TBR books, and I just needed something to take up space.

Three was ok, but I could definitely see the familiar formula making the book a bit repetitious. But this one, #4, put me off of getting anymore in this series. Over and over, very frequently, the author changed the way Jenna (main character) thought/talked. Irritating sayings (like the title of this review) kept popping up, and they bugged me so much that I started to groan every time the main character uttered something inane like “creamed spinach on a dog biscuit” or “hot apples on a cracker”. Plus, the orbiting characters became flat and uninteresting.

This was the last antique bookstore mystery for me.

Narrator sounds ….

Prissy and like a much older person than main character.
Really ruined this book for me

One flaw

The story line is entertaining. The writing is fairly well done and until it comes to the pseudo cussing. Hot pickles, hot peppers and this, that, and the other thing is just annoying. You don’t have to cuss to write an entertaining adult focused book. Just don’t cuss. But don’t make up cutesy little substitutions. Those substitutions do nothing for the storyline. I bought three books, but I will not buy another book by this author, or any other author that uses ridiculous substitutions for language.