Death Overdue

A Haunted Library Mystery

By: Allison Brook

Narrated by: Mia Gaskin

Length: 9 hrs and 27 mins

Publisher's summary

For fans of Miranda James and Jenn McKinlay comes an enthralling series debut featuring a librarian who solves mysteries with the help of a ghost in the stacks.

Carrie Singleton is just about done with Clover Ridge, Connecticut until she is offered a job as the head of programs and events at the spooky local library, complete with its own librarian ghost. Her first major event is a program presented by a retired homicide detective, Al Buckley, who claims he knows who murdered Laura Foster, a much-loved part-time library aide who was bludgeoned to death 15 years earlier. As he invites members of the audience to share stories about Laura, he suddenly keels over and dies.

The medical examiner reveals that poison is what did him in, and Carrie feels responsible for having gone forward with the program despite pushback from her director. Driven by guilt, Carrie is determined to discover who murdered the detective, convinced it's the same man who killed Laura all those years ago. Luckily for Carrie, she has a friendly, knowledgeable ghost by her side. But as she questions the shadows surrounding Laura's case, disturbing secrets come to light, and with each step Carrie takes, she gets closer to ending up like Al.

©2017 Allison Brook (P)2017 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Worst "mystery" ever

Mind you this is coming from someone who loved to watch Murder She Wrote: This is the most BORING, tedious, painstakingly slow story ever. Ten chapters in I could not take one more mind-numbingly boring anecdote about what the protagonist ate for breakfast, lunch or dinner!!! She goes on and on about every meal and outfit and the most inane human interactions. This is supposed to be a mystery!!! In the right proportion, such details can provide context and ambience but they were instead (no pun intended) the main course. Seriously, I had read far more engaging books to a my two-year old granddaughter. How did this ever get published?!?! I finally could not take one more second of it, removed it from my library, and wrote this review to save others.

Whiny narrator for bratty lead character. Ugh!

Carrie reminds us from time to time how neglected she was in childhood. But somehow it doesn’t make her seem like less of a priveledges brat adult. SPOILERS. Need a job but have 0 experience? Uncle Bosco will strongarm the library board and BAm! You’re in. Need a place to live? Here’s a fabulous cottage with river views, fully furnished, AND comes with maid service? The kind of maid service that involves ironing? Here you go- from a landlord you’ve just met- oh, and your first month is on him; and forget that security deposit. Car damaged? Uncle Bosco to the rescue. It’s just too much. TOO MUCH. I had much sympathy for the poor gal who felt usurped for the library position. I don’t think that was author’s intent. And don’t forget that all this time, the narrator whines appropriately on for the ‘heroine’. Of course she decides she can solve a murder better and faster than the police, so begins invading the privacy of everyone around. And if people don’t like it, they are interfering. Brat! But she must be a good person bc she tears up every time someone mentions the murder victim- whom brat girl had met for 15 minutes only!! Here’s a yacht to make you feel better. I kind of hate this girl. Hope she will maybe be a victim of next book. Which I will NOT purchase.

Skip this title

I found this on Audible's Member Benefit as a free listen and boy am I glad I didn't pay for this book.
The plot is meandering, there's literally no suspense considering it's a murder mystery, and there's FAR too much description of non-essential information. There is more time spend describing what the characters are eating at EVERY MEAL MENTIONED in the book than anything doing with the crime. The murders come across as a throw-away after-thought to the more important need to describe the day-to-day agenda of Carrie's work schedule. Even the library ghost is a needless add-on. Literally take the ghost out and make Carrie slightly more intuitive (a crime or mystery novel reader even) and she could do all the things the ghost "helps" with on her own.
And the Narrator sounds like she's reading a children's book. The only reason I kept listening and even finished the book was because it was mindless and didn't require any attention while doing data entry at work

Ok mindless read

I tried to accept the world of the book, but there were some places I struggled. Unrealistic rent for a river front cottage with maid service? Grumble, Fine. Over the top white privilege? grumble, Fine. A unique character's style reduced to shades of beige? grumble. Unquestionable reaction to the first ever appearance of ghosts in her adult life? grumble Fine. It had potential, but it just didn't realize that potential.

Death Overdue

I love books, especially cozy mysteries so after reading a preview of the storyline, I was drawn to choose this book. The young protagonist decides to return to the small town where she grew up. At first she has no real plans to stay but she does have a job in the local library. After being offered a new position earning more money, she decides to settle down there & discovers that a ghost inhabits the place. She is only one of two people that can see & hear this dead female inhabitant. The other person who sees the ghost is a young child. A murder occurs during a presentation regarding an unsolved murder from years earlier. The events in discovering the murderer puts the protagonist in mortal danger. I enjoyed listening to Book 1 in this series.

Had High Hopes

Had high hopes for this book but it fell two hours into starting it. For me it was like a bad actor trying to act and failing. I feel asleep for two hours listening and didn't feel like I missed anything pertinent to the story. The preview sounded really good, after listening it wasn't. The ghost aspect had me interested. Ghost in the library, a murder with witnesses to me was a win win.
The narrator made all the charactersut sound whiney to the point it was annoying.
The book could've been shortened by 3 hours and maybe would've been better.

I don't know

Death Overdue is a pretty good book but it moves slowly. Carrie is also annoying when she daydreams over Dillon. I'll get the next book and see if it gets better.

good listen

this is a good listen while you work. you can just turn it on and go.

From goth to ghosts

Starts a little slow but got better. I willhave to see if there's any more in this series.

Lovely read

I enjoyed listening to this story. It was interesting with very few cringe moments. My only real issue is that the main character somehow likes Chardonnay.

Not for me

The narration was very annoying and meant I couldn’t really judge the book on its own merits.

A good tale

I liked the setting and the reader.
Initially I had it on in the background but was drawn in.

Cute vibes

Really enjoyed slow at times but I was intrigued and the main character is so cute wil ldeffo read the rest of the series

Loved this, already started the next

I’m so glad I tried these. I needed a nice entertaining book and to have a series with great characters is perfect!

Better than the Merry Ghost Inn series.

I FAIRLY enjoyed the Merry Ghost Inn series, although there were many problems, not least the very poor narrator (Tavia Gilbert) and the fact that for a series about a ghost, it featured very little. Out of the gate, Death Overdue is better on both counts.

As a narrator, Mia Gaskin does a decent job, although her "Scottish accent" is simply awful. Awful. That character is only in the book for a few minutes, so it's bearable. Her male characters all sound basically the same (and the child's voice is annoying), which is why I'm not giving 5 stars for the performance. But overall, she can hold her head high.

The book is also fairly entertaining. I never thought, "Oh, I wish this would be over" which I have done for several books. There are a few problems, however. The first is that there are so many strands to this tale. It could easily have been 2 hours shorter if some parts had been cut. It goes off on tangents that really serve no purpose. The way the main character was written also annoyed me. She's supposedly a strong, independent woman, used to doing things for herself. But then she all she cares about is pleasing male character X or male character Y.

There is also a wide array of characters in the book, not all of whom are necessary. And this is linked to the book having too many strands. A better editor would have found a way to reduce both.

What I did enjoy is that the author does make use of the ghost, unlike the aforementioned Merry Ghost Inn series. Could the ghost have been used more? Perhaps. But she's used enough not to make it just a gimmick.

One final point, the author needs to find a different way to describe food. Everything is "delicious" (with an exclamation mark). Even naan.

Would I listen to another book in this series? Yes.
Would I listen to another book narrated by Mia Gaskin? Yes.

Update:
I listened to the next book in the series and hated it.
Would I listen to another book in this series? No.
Would I listen to another book narrated by Mia Gaskin? No.

A bit too far fetched

This book was free with my subscription, and so I don’t want to be too negative but the plot is fairly simple: the bad guys are really bad, while for the main character everything works out just perfectly.

I normally like cozy mysteries, but this just kept me company while driving, nothing more that background noises.

I liked the narrator, I think her voice was pleasant and relaxing.

Death Overdue

Most enjoyable, can’t wait to read the next one and see what other situations Carrie gets into

Mixed feelings

The story is well written but the perpetrator is obvious from first meeting.

The heroine is likeable in some ways but she is also uncaring of the safety of others and herself. She also drinks and drives.

I feel that a more careful overhaul and thorough editing of the original manuscript would have created a much better book.

fantastic

wow what a fantastic audiobook and narration.

who would have thought being a librarian could be so exciting

its too slow paced

im so Sorry but i picked this because i hoped it would be peak autumn plus murder in a quiet village.
it isnt - and i may be biased but her job seems too easy to what being head of events usually is.
HOWEVER I hadn't guess who did it till the end