Dying for a Date

Laurel McKay Mysteries

By: Cindy Sample

Narrated by: Pilar Uribe

Length: 9 hrs and 21 mins

Publisher's Summary

Unsure if she is looking for Mr. Right, or Mr. Every Other Saturday Night, divorced mother of two, Laurel McKay reluctantly joins THE LOVE CLUB, a popular local dating service. Dressed to kill, she meets bachelor number one at a trendy restaurant. But the date is a bust, literally, when the guy decides Laurel is dessert, and she breaks his nose with her cell phone. It gets even worse when the man is found murdered the next morning, and Laurel has his blood on her clothes.

Despite her now being a person of interest to the police, Laurel bravely ventures out on date number two. When that unlucky bachelor disappears during dinner, Laurel's only alibi is a bottle of Dom Perignon. The sexy investigating detective thinks she's innocent and is worried she may be the next target. That's more than enough motivation for Laurel to find a murderer determined to kill her social life--before dating becomes a dead end she can't escape.

©2010 Cindy Sample (P)2013 Cindy Sample

The Perfect Book to listen to on a Roadtrip

If you could sum up Dying for a Date in three words, what would they be?

This book is funny, smart, and entertaining. My experience with crime fiction is limited, so to find a book of this genre that is also funny was a surprise. While the coincidences of the criminal events are quite imaginative, they are grounded in real-world events that make them quite believable.

What did you like best about this story?

The best part of the story is Laurel. Another reviewer used the perfect word: zany. Her Lucille Ball style antics kept me laughing out loud while her initial naiveté about the events around her were endearing.

Which scene was your favorite?

My favorite scene is at the beginning where she runs onto the field to defend her son from the bully on the other team. So clueless! That could have been me.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

I raced through this book and would have loved to have the time to finishing it all at once.

Any additional comments?

I don't usually listen to books on tape on car trips, because the voices start to sound the same and lull me into a dangerous sleepy mode. The narrator for this book, however, had a great lively voice, that kept things interesting, without overplaying it. Perfect for the title. I hope to hear more from her.

Suspense + Laughs: Fun & Fast Paced

What made the experience of listening to Dying for a Date the most enjoyable?

Author Cindy Sample makes the most of her knowledge of real estate shenanigans, cyber dating, the challenges of a single mom, and her delightful sense of humor, blending the ingredients into a believable plot with plenty of laugh-out-loud moments. The mayhem begins when Sample's heroine, a hard-working, divorced mom, tries a singles dating service. While some of the characters are zany, we've met all of them (and some may be relatives). The mystery is satisfying, and the humor a hoot. Definitely five stars.

What does Pilar Uribe bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

The narrator's take on the heroine is pitch-perfect and adds to the enjoyment.

very funny

i couldn't turn this off very funny and she was always one step a head of me.

Performance

The performance was too choppy and distracting. Though I stopped listeing, I look forward to reading the book.

OK

I think the narrator may have ruined it for me. Each sentence was read individually with a big pause between. She has a great voice, but just didn't let the story flow. The Story was a nice little mystery. Good for light reading/listening.

Entertaining.

When a bank loan underwriter is suspected of murder because two of her only two dates through a dating service wind up dead on the very nights of her dates, life gets interesting. Cindy Sample is a new author for me, and I found her writing to be entertaining and light, yet with enough questions and misdirection to keep it interesting. I will read more from this author. 4.5 stars.

Fun plot, odd narration, irritating character.

Is there anything you would change about this book?

The main character is generally frustratingly stupid. It made the book hard to get through, and I found myself HOPING something bad (but maybe not too bad) would happen to her. The story itself is pretty good, though, for the most part.

Would you be willing to try another one of Pilar Uribe’s performances?

No. I'm not sure if she was reading off a poorly timed teleprompter, or what, but the cadence is off-putting and her inflection on the jokes is nonexistent. There are a lot of odd pauses where there shouldn't be any (like if Siri read you a book) and it regularly pulled me out of the story. Her voices were pretty good for the different characters, though.

It's refreshing

Any additional comments?

I like stories that starts good, and slowly gets better and better- this one matched that description. Story:- post divorce-online dating-few murders-humor- has all right masalas.
This is a great summer reading. I highly recommend has good humor with mystery ride.

Good Story, BUT.....

The story is good, probably quite funny. HOWEVER, the narrator detracts from it with her reading. She gives a full stop at EVERY punctuation mark, both periods and commas, making every phrase sound like a full sentence. In addition, it appears that she doesn't get much of the humor in the book. Laurel's snarky comments and/or thoughts - the way the book is read it's hard to tell which is which - are delivered without the proper inflection so they just aren't as funny as they should be. Actually, most of the dialog and descriptions in the book are delivered without the proper inflection, sounding like she's reading Dr. Seuss to a group of preschoolers. I got the other books out of interest in the storyline, but the reading will be VERY distracting and frustrating.

Fun and Entertaining

This is a fun an entertaining book. I enjoyed the characters and the plot. I passed this book up several times before giving it a try. Now that I have listened to it I plan to listen to the others in the series.

Dying for a good book well you found it.

I loved this book. I read the book when it first came out and I really enjoyed it then. So I jumped at the chance to listen to it on Audible and do you know what I think it is even better than I remembered. It contains a good cast of characters and a solid well worked out mystery, with a good mix of home life adventures and investigations mishaps and it certainly holds your attention until the very end. All of it is a lot of fun and highly amusing. I think it is the characters that really make this series work so well. Laurel is basically a single mum, trying to work a job, solve a murder to clear her name and looking for love, all with a little help from her friends. By doing this the author has written a well rounded character who is likeable, a little bit vulnerable but like any super mom very capable and great fun to listen to. The author is now on book eight and knowing what happens throughout this fun series it is great to go back to the start, where it all began and I highly recommend starting with book one and working your way through the series, I am.
When Laurel finds herself alone on a Saturday night after her divorce. The single mother of two joins a dating site but is she looking for love in all the wrong places? Finding the right guy isn't easy, especially when her first date is a disaster and rather than a good night kiss, she breaks his nose and in the process becomes the number one murder suspect when he is found dead the next morning. Rather than cut her loses she agreed to meet another man from the site but this time someone doesn't wait for her date to end before killing him. With two of her dates ending in murder the police look hard at Laurel, especially as the murder weapon is the same for both men. If she doesn't want her children to grow up without a mother Laurel will have to find the killer herself but what is the connection between the two men? The dating site with plenty of suspects to interview,? or is it a little closer to home and Laurel herself is the connection? or something she doesn't know about? And will she ever find the right guy?
I liked the narrator and thought she was a pleasure to listen too. with a great range of voices for both the male and female characters.
I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Good mysteries

What did you like best about Dying for a Date? What did you like least?

I like how how mysteries side of the story , didn't not like that the Romance was poor I like more for her and the detective

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

It end sharp

Did Pilar Uribe do a good job differentiating each of the characters? How?

Yes and no she just need more felling to them

If this book were a film would you go see it?

Yes it be funny