Deep Dark Secrets

Deep Lakes Cozy Mysteries, Book 1

De: Joy Ann Ribar

Narrado por: Meghan Kelly

You’re invited to visit Deep Lakes, Wisconsin and meet a new friend, Francine “Frankie” Champagne. The 40-something owner of Bubble and Bake—bakery by day, wine lounge by night—Frankie is a spitfire pastry maker, vintner, and budding journalist.

Frankie finds herself on the perimeter of a suspicious death that upends the peaceful winter slumber in Deep Lakes when the local pastor is found dead inside his fishing shanty on Lake Loki. Frankie sticks her curious nose into the investigation, despite warnings from the local sheriff to leave it alone. But she has something to prove, maybe to the newspaper editor who wouldn’t hire her as a reporter, maybe to herself as she searches for fulfillment. Regardless, her fierce independence won’t allow her to back down. Follow Frankie as she stumbles upon one discovery after another, trails potential suspects, and solves the case!

©2019 Joy Ann Ribar (P)2025 Joy Ann Ribar

Good story, narrator needs work

Full disclosure, I’m only halfway through but I’m not sure I can finish it. The storyline is good and everything I look for in a cozy, but the narrator sounds like someone instructed her inflection to go up every time she takes a breath or hits a comma and go down before the period. So every sentence has the exact same cadence, giving it an unnatural, scripted sound. For some reason, it’s really distracting. If the inflection were more natural sounding, I think she’d be a great narrator—the voices are good and her tone is easy to listen to.

Ohhh Those Deep Dark Secrets 5 Stars YES!

Frankie Champagne … when she’s not making pastry or canting wine, she’s busy getting under the skin of the local Sheriff and THIS time Frankie’s yen for investigative journalism has her right smack in the middle of some very “Deep Dark Secrets” indeed! The plot is amazingly well executed, the cast of characters rich, diverse and exceptionally well defined! At the center of the story is the First Congregational Church and its Council Members, MANY of whom have deep dark secrets … none of which I’ll be revealing here, but I can say that their actions and interactions with the other inhabitants of Deep Lakes Wisconsin kept me riveted to my headphones, deeply invested in them and their stories! I was transfixed, AND by story’s end, I was left supremely satisfied with no unanswered questions. What not only kept me in the moment, but also added tremendously to my enjoyment was the first rate narration! Every word was crystal clear, every emotion spot on, AND the timing was always perfect! I loved that each character had their own unique voice! This helped me to “see” the characters with never a doubt as to WHO was speaking! This beautiful performance truly gave LIFE to our authors amazingly brilliant work! Five fabulous stars! Look no further! This is as good as cosy gets!