Cupcakes, Lies, and Dead Guys: An Annie Graceland Cozy Mystery, Book 1

By: Pamela DuMond

Narrated by: Celia Aurora de Blas

My name’s Annie Graceland.

Three things you should know about me: 1. I’m a Midwesterner living in LA. 2. I run my own baking business. 3. I talk to dead people and I figure out who murdered them.

When Dr. Derrick Fuller - the know-it-all, self-help guru who ruined my marriage is murdered - guess who becomes a suspect? Now, I’m getting divorced, my baking business hits the skids, and Fuller’s ghost dogs my every step, nagging me to solve his murder.

In a desperate effort to reclaim the last shreds of my sanity, I infiltrate the "motley crew" of Hollywood’s elite who wanted Fuller dead. Problem is - one of them wants me dead, too....

Praise:

"One part Ghost Whisperer, two parts Stephanie Plum, shake and stir and you have Annie Graceland!" (Dakota Cassidy, USA Today best-selling author)

©2010 Pamela DuMond (P)2013 Celia Aurora de Blas

Lot of promise

This book has a lot going for it, however the writing style left me confused and irritated. Jerky and jumped around.

Not the most interesting

I kept falling asleep. Tried too hard to be funny. Some of the dialogue didn't make sense

Please don't screech... It's painful on the ears

What didn’t you like about Celia Aurora de Blas’s performance?

Her high pitched squels are too painful to listen to.

Could you see Cupcakes, Lies, and Dead Guys: An Annie Graceland Cozy Mystery, Book 1 being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

It would be cute ... along the same lines a Buffy the Vampire Slayer 2 1/2 Stars.

Great except for the screaming

I liked the story. However, I did not like how the narrator screamed half the book. She gave several of the characters a harshness that I don't feel was entirely warranted given the story. She made them sound snarky & pissed off for much of the book. I got sick of having her scream in my ears & almost stopped listening because of it.

A cozy, simple and yet worthwhile... it's cute.

If you're needing something to listen to while not having to give it your 100% attention while, let's say, multi-tasking and year end sorting... it's perfect. Cute story.

meh

I can't say anything negative or positive about this book. It was just ok.

Author and narrator try too hard

The mystery is a good one, but the story would be better if the author didn't try quite so hard to be funny/snarky. I liked the mystery though! Might even continue with the series - though not the audiobooks if it's the same narrator.

Then there is the narrator...UGH! She often shouts into the microphone causing issues with the audio. it's extremely distracting. Other times, the reading is all-but monotonous.

Love the story and characters but audio needs work

I really like the story and characters. The narrator made it hard for me to follow in the beginning and I got lost a lot as it went on. There’s not enough pausing when it flips between scenes and some characters voices are too similar that it’s hard to tell who’s talking to whom and which story line it is.

Fun Story!

I wasn't sure if I was going to get into this one at first but it turned out to be a fun story. Some of the characters are little annoying for me but that is probably because they are supposed to be and means they are written well. This book kept me guessing until the end. It made laugh out loud at times and made me totally cringe other times. Narration was good and overall it was a good audio book. I'm going to give the second book in the series a try now.

boring book

I couldn't wait for the book to end. thwe narrator was very monotone. will. not listen to anything else she does