Flip-Flops and Murder

Barefoot Sleuth Mysteries, Book 1

By: H.Y. Hanna

Narrated by: Pearl Hewitt

Length: 5 hrs and 4 mins

Publisher's summary

English girl Ellie is a "fish out of water" when she arrives in sunny Florida for a vacation with her aunt at a luxury beach resort. But she's barely dipped her toe in the ocean before she stumbles on a sinister murder. Now, Ellie must battle sunburn, jet lag and a cheeky parrot named Hemingway, while trying to unravel the mystery.

With a writers' conference in full flow, there's no shortage of suspects. Is the killer a jealous rival author? Or the victim's secret lover? And why are some of the resort staff behaving so suspiciously? To make things worse, Aunt Olive has gone missing, fueling gossip that she might be on the run. But Ellie is sure that her aunt isn't guilty.

Life gets even more complicated when she starts snooping around the resort. First, there's the resident cat Mojito, who leads Ellie on a wild "gator" chase, and then, there's the handsome resort doctor who sets Ellie's pulse racing in a different way!

As more red herrings than sand dollars wash up on the beach, Ellie must use all her wits to solve the case before her visit to the Sunshine State becomes deadlier than she ever imagined....

Welcome to the deadliest beach resort in Florida in USA Today best-selling author H.Y. Hanna's fun, new mystery series!

©2020 H.Y. Hanna (P)2020 H.Y. Hanna

Fun new series

This new mystery from H.Y. Hanna was fun to listen to. Her stories set in Britain are my favorites, but this book was entertaining and enjoyable as well.
It has some interesting characters, and as in all of her books, some fun animal characters too. The narrator, Pearl Hewitt, does an excellent job with all the different voices, and in this book even adds a sassy macaw to her repertoire.
Don't expect anything too serious - this is light escapist fare, and I must admit I was able to figure out who the murderer was fairly early on.
Just listen, laugh, and enjoy.
I received a free copy of this audiobook in exchange for my honest review.

What a nice new series

I really enjoyed listening to H.Y.Hanna’s new book, Flip-Flops and Murder. The characters are well developed and likable. Pearl Hewitt, as always, gave a wonderful performance as always. I highly recommend this book/audiobook to cozy mystery fans. I’m looking forward to the next in the series.

Nancy Drew at the beach; stays in the shallows

Light and formulaic mystery, as if made for a Murder She Wrote episode, but with a younger, British lead in Ellie. There are cute, but rather stereotypical characters (the eccentric aunt, the secret Latin lover who plays gigolo to the resort’s elder ladies, the zany animals whose quirks coincidentally help move the story along). The narrator is fabulous; she does credible animal sounds and does a great British accent, although it did feel a bit like she was telling me a children’s tale. Indeed, apart from some very tame sexual innuendos (she never even uses the word “sex”), this is a squeaky clean book. The worst profanity is an exclamation of “sodding” and a reference to a woman as a “witch.” This was an okay 5hr freebie from Audible’s 2 for 1 sale.

Earns 5+/5 Squawking Macaws...Clever Fun!

Brilliant! H.Y. Hanna is an excellent writer engaging me again in another witty, clever, cozy mystery, and my experience was greatly enriched by the voice artistry of Pearl Hewitt using a delightful British dialect, many interpretations of good o’ American, and an entertaining variety of male and female, young and mature voices. Ellie Bishop, well depicted by Hewitt’s tone and dialect, has exchanged a dead-end job, broken heart, and dreary London winter for a vacation at a beachside resort in sunny Florida on invitation of her eccentric Aunt Olive Goldberg. However, when she arrives at the hotel, Aunt Olive is missing and, later, a dead body is found. This cozy is shorter than books in Hanna’s other series, but not on content and entertainment, and her strong female character, always working on confidence issues, continues to be set in wonderful surroundings with challenges, friends, family, a romantic opportunity, and a fur, or feathered, friend to add angst and comic relief, of course, squawked and meowed well by Hewitt. The murder mystery had me bouncing around the obvious to the obscure with a surprising, but totally satisfying karmic conclusion. And...Ellie’s reluctance to entertain a holiday romance, is a conundrum when she meets the hunky doctor. Hanna’s descriptions of the tropical environment, regional delicacies, and antics by two- and four-legged characters along with realistic dialogue to help illustrate personalities kept me engaged and eager for more, and loving with Pearl Hewitt’s performance!

Cute but Simplistic

I enjoy H.Y. Hanna tea house mysteries, but this Florida tale fell short for me. I’ll skip the other books in this series.

How about a bowl of cold wet noodles

The narration of this book is like eating a bowl of cold, wet, noodles. I didn't finish the book. Too predictable. Main character seems weak, and ineffective. I was looking forward to reading the whole series, but now I will give it a pass.

seaside fun

loved it as I have Hanna's teashop books. the reader has a very pleasant tone

Ellie from England Comes to Sunny Florida

What a fun cozy mystery about a young English woman who is invited to spend time with her Aunt Olive, who is a mystery writer in Florida. Ellie has just broken off with her boyfriend and lost her job, and despite her parents urging to "find a career" accepts Aunt Olive's invitation for a vacation in sunny Florida. But when she arrives, Aunt Olive is no where to be found. But there's plenty of action at the writers' convention being held at the resort where Aunt Olive resides. So Ellie makes herself at home, attends some sessions, meets some of the authors . . . and stumbles upon a murder! With her Aunt Olive also missing, the police zero in on her as a suspect. But Ellie is having none of it, and begins some sleuthing on her own. Clearly this is a light mystery, but still very fun. The ending is priceless 😊

What a boring story

After 7 chapters, nothing had developed much. Ellie, the main character is clueless. The narrator is annoying at best. Not for me!

nice mystery

I liked the story, but I miss all the English flavor.the narration was very good, good plott and characters.
enjoyable . but not as exciting

It was ok

I am not sure if I am going to warm to this new series. Maybe I left too many gaps between listening to it. Whereas, normally I would listen more consistently.

I thought that our leading lady was a bit wet. She didn't seem to have much get up and go to her.

The story was a bit slow for me. I wasn't really invested in any of the characters. I didn't care who had committed the murder.

I will try the next one and see how I go.

Dreadful

Such a waste of time, please don't bother. I can't believe anyone thought it was worth more than one star.

Brilliant

I absolutely love H.Y Hanna and all of her books, Pearl Hewitt's narration is perfect for their novels.. an easy cosy mystery read, that is highly addictive and a brilliant start to a new series of books!

A lovely start to the series

This was a brilliant start to a new series by H Y Hanna and it is clear that this series is going to be a load of fun. Everyone should have a free-spirited rich auntie to take you on adventures and I can't wait to read more about aunt Olive and the mayhem that she will undoubtedly cause. She didn't feature heavily in this first book but I'm sure she'll be making more of an appearance in future stories.
There were a few scenes in this book that I found highly amusing. The balcony scene with the cat and the parrot was particularly funny.
The resort doctor made a nice romantic interest for Ellie and it will be interesting to follow that storyline.
Flip Flops and Murder was a very quick read and the mystery really kept me guessing and entertained.
The narration was very good and the characters well performed.
I really enjoyed this mystery and I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the series.


I voluntarily reviewed a copy provided for review purposes.

A fun book anywhere not just in the sun

I enjoyed reading this book when it came out on the kindle but I think I loved the audio book version even more, even though I knew who the killer was. I think it was because I could sit back and pick up on all the clue that I missed while reading the book
Also becausethe author writes so well, an with the narrator reading it to you the characters pop to life in front of you, even the animals sound life like. The mystery was interesting and I liked the fact that you weren't sure if there was one or two cases that needed investigating. There was plenty of twists, suspects, sun and even a little romance. A great start to a new series.
Ellie isn't looking forward to another cold and wet Christmas with her family in England when a surprise delivery arrives. It is an open ended ticket to join in her aunt in sunny Florida in an expensive beach resort. With her rich author aunt paying for the trip Ellie imagined the only thing she would be worrying about is sunburn, finding the right swimsuit and not getting eaten by crocodiles. Unfortunately that is not the case, her aunt is missing and one of her fellow authors has been murdered. Okay her aunt wasn't expecting her quiet so soon but would she really take off with out telling anyone or taking anything? Not even her mobile phone? And what about the writer? Why did she have to die? The police aren't treating her aunts disappearance seriously enough for Ellie. In fact from the questions they are asking it sounds more like she is being treated like a suspect. Can Ellie find her aunt and catch a killer?
I liked Pearl Hewitt as the narrator, she makes the characters come to life.and the story fun with all the sound effects. Love the parrot talking.
I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Poor

Not up to usual standard of H.Y. Hanna, chaotic and not very interesting. The main character is just plain boring.

another great book

H.Y Hanna has done it again a lovely story that had twisted and turns