Death at High Tide

The Island Sisters, Book 1

By: Hannah Dennison

Narrated by: Natalie Duke

Length: 8 hrs and 10 mins

Publisher's Summary

For My Darling Wife: In the Event of My Death - If you are reading this letter, it means you are the proud owner of Tregarrick Rock Hotel.

When Evie Mead’s husband, Robert, suddenly drops dead of a heart attack, a mysterious note is found among his possessions. It indicates that Evie may own the rights to a crumbling Art Deco hotel on Tregarrick Rock, one of the Isles of Scilly, off the coast of Cornwall.

Still grieving, Evie is inclined to leave the matter to the accountant to sort out. Her sister, Margot, however, flown in from her glamorous career in LA, has other plans. Envisioning a luxurious weekend getaway, she goes ahead and buys two tickets to Tregarrick.

Once at the hotel - more fixer-upper than spa resort - Evie and Margot attempt to get to the bottom of things. But the foul-tempered hotel owner claims he's never met the late Robert, despite mounting evidence. The rest of the island inhabitants, ranging from an ex-con receptionist to a vicar who communicates with cats, aren't any easier to read.

When a murder occurs at the hotel and then another soon follows, frustration turns to desperation. There’s no getting off the island at high tide. And Evie and Margot, the only current visitors to Tregarrick, are suspects one and two. It falls to them to unravel secrets spanning generations - and several of their own - if they want to make it back alive.

©2020 Hannah Dennison (P)2020 Dreamscape Media, LLC

Performance needs some work

Almost drove me crazy. Main character whispered so up with the volume, characters screamed so down with the volume. Story was kind of cute so I suffered along. I listened in my car so thankfully there's a volume button on my steering wheel. I know I missed some of the story but I got the gist. Not sure I can stand to try the second book.

Narrator is Horrible

I enjoyed the story line and stuck with it despite the narrator. Her attempts at an English accent are beyond abrasive and are a strange amalgam of southern belle and Aussie/New Zealand patterns. I’m happy to see that the next book in the series has a new narrator. So, I will continue listening to the series after all.

Terrible narration

I think the narration really hurts the story. I think the accents are supposed to be British, but come across as a terrible United States Southern and one of the characters lives in Los Angeles, so just completely missed the mark. The accents were just one of the few narration problems. All the characters acted the same and it was hard to tell one from the next. Redo the narration and the book will probably be much better. Disappointed since I love Dennison’s Honeychurch series.

A Wonderful Cozy Mystery

This was a great listen while I was out running. I guessed who the murderer was within the first few chapters. There were enough plot twists to keep me engaged. I highly recommend this listen.

Fun mystery

A really great read for the summer. Held you in suspense for who did it. Loved the narrator.

Not good.

Don't waste your time or credit on this one. Quite possibly the worst audio book that I've actually finished. It's Scilly....

Terrible narration

Narration is terrible! Fake English accents, not much differentiation between characters. Characters very loud and had to turn down the volume but turn up once back to regular narration. I increased the speed to make it tolerable. Story was ok but meh..

Pronounciation

Concerned about the how the word quay was very badly pronounced. The mistake constantly grated every time I heard it. Ruined a very nice story.

Terrible

I couldn’t get past the dreadful narration it’s painful and drawling. It doesn’t even rate a one star. I had to give up part way through the 2nd chapter.

Modern attempt at Agatha Christie

Ignoring the terrible narration, (there was no attempt at any Cornish or Scilionian accent), the obvious references to Agatha Christie and Bigbury on Sea. I think you could accept it as a cosy mystery. I considered returning it but decided to accept it for what it was. The narrator truly ruined it for me and I hope that no one thinks that we speak like that!

Not my favourite

Unfortunately I found the narrator quite off-putting - their attempt at an English accent is rather odd.
The characters aren’t particularly likeable.

Absolutely dire

I live on the Isles of Scilly and frankly found the book offensive. The narration was appalling. quay pronounced qway as an example ffs! She made the islanders sound like half witted peasants and her accent was diabolical. The novel's description of the islands was so inaccurate it could have been Alcatraz. If it had been the actual Isles of Scilly the author was using as the location it would have made much of the plot completely unfeasable. As for the characters, a majority of them were deeply unpleasant. The dialogue was mostly sarcastic, sneering sniping. The attempts at humour were contrived and the author was trying so very hard to be clever, it was painful. The whole thing was tedious. I do wish that if people are going to write novels about the Isles of Scilly and its residents they would at least take the time to research them thoroughly so it is an authentic, realistic portrayal. Write a novel with fantasy islands as a location by all means, but do us a favour, don't label them as the Isles of Scilly -or worse, and extremely insulting - the Scilly Isles!

really disappointed

I couldn't get into this book the narrators acent was awful, I think she was suppose to be American and did a horrible job at an English acent