Dead on Arrival

Laura and Gerry Series, Book 1

By: Karen Vaughan

Narrated by: Skyler Rankin

Laura Hamilton wakes up one morning only to find out a dead body inside her apartment. It was, after all, her ex-coworker, “Velcro” Hodges, a debt collector who was known to leech on his prey until the debt is already paid in full. But why was he dropped insider Laura’s room?

Now someone wants Laura to be dead. As the plot thickens, Laura tries to find out on who could possibly want her next to be in cold blood. Lead Detective Inspector Jeff Gibbons helps her, tracking any leads he gets, but that doesn’t seem to help solve the puzzle.

©2008 Karen Vaughan (P)2019 Karen Vaughan

Cozy, sexy, suspenseful, and just plain fun.

Do you love mysteries where an average person works with the police to solve a crime? For those of us who love cozy mysteries, living inside us there is a detective that wants to come out. In Dead on Arrival, the main character is Laura Hamilton. She is like you and I. She is just an average person with an average job and an average life. She doesn’t ask or want to be part of a multiple murder mystery. She isn’t looking to be involved but the mystery is dumped in her lap, or in this case on her living room rug. Author Karen Vaughan has written a wonderful first book in a series that will get you hooked from the first paragraph. As you listen you will become Laura Hamilton as you try and solve multiple murders. Laura rises to the occasion and does more than just help the police. She becomes a sleuth and dives into solving the mystery. The police detective becomes more like Laura’s assistant as Laura tries to figure out the chain of events that ended up with a corpse lying on her living room rug.

This story has it all, mystery, suspense, romance but most of all, the story is told in a lighthearted way. It is more like Murder She Wrote than Criminal Minds. It is just plain fun.

This fun, sexy, suspenseful mystery is brought to life by top notch narration. In fact I consider the audio to be more like the actors who vocally act out characters in an animated Disney film. They come to life. In this case there is one voice actor who seamlessly moves from character to character, playing all the characters. Voice actor Skyler Rankin does an amazing job of bringing each of the characters to life.
Highly recommended – 5 stars.

Fast and Fun Listen

If you’re looking for a fast fun and enjoyable listen this book is for you! The character voices are fun and inviting. Looking forward to the next one! Listen and enjoy!

Great Mystery! Great Narration!

Dead on Arrival by Karen Vaughan is full of unexpected twists. I really enjoy a variety of genres and this book covers several of them. Mystery, suspense, and mild romance. Skyler Rankin did a great performance bringing the characters to life She gave them distinguishable voices, so I knew who was speaking. This book is the beginning of a new series and a standalone listen. I will definitely listen to more by this author and narrator.

Dead on Arrival

Laura Hamilton, a divorced woman working as a temp for a collection agency, wakes up one morning to find a dead body lying on her living room rug. How in the world did it get there? And, why is it there?

This book is great fun, full of wonderful characters and loads of humor. Add in a growing relationship between Laura and her longtime friend, Gerry, and lots of great dialogue and you have a fun read. This book is a great read for those who love the cozy genre sprinkled with lots of humor.

The narrator, Skyler Rankin, adds a lot to the listener's enjoyment of this book. Her voices are perfect and varied enough for you to know who is talking. She has an amazing ability to switch voices during dialogues and I often wondered if there were two people narrating instead of just her.

This is the first book in the series and I will definitely be adding more to my TBR pile. Just what you need when you want entertainment without too much heavy stuff added in! Now, I need a couple of Moose burgers.....

I was given the chance to listen to this book by the narrator/publisher/author and chose to review it.

fun mystert

enjoyed the start to this series, fun main character. interested to see where the story goes next.