Get Sharpe: Maycroft Mysteries, Books 1-5

By: Lisa B. Thomas

Narrated by: Kelley Hazen

Length: 29 hrs and 54 mins

Publisher's Summary

Deena sharpe wants a change…what she gets is murder!

Fed up after 30 years of teaching, Deena has no idea she’s just traded in lesson plans for lethal weapons and report cards for ballistics reports.

It’s been fifty years since her uncle disappeared without a trace, but when science and luck collide, a rookie sheriff’s deputy breathes new life into this cold case. And when Deena’s elderly grandmother asks for her help, how can she say no? After all, she’s just quit her teaching job and is looking for a new challenge.

With her devoted husband and off-beat brother by her side, Deena sets out to right a wrong and uncover buried family secrets. When push comes to shove, will Deena back down? You should never underestimate a country girl! 

Get Sharpe includes audiobooks 1-5 of the Maycroft Mysteries. Follow Deena as she faces the challenges and rewards of trying to make the most of the 2nd big chapter in her life. Between family relationships, jobs, and murder, she’s got to be one sharp cookie to hold it all together. Get your copy today.

©2019 Lisa B. Thomas (P)2019 Lisa B. Thomas

Very poor narration

The stories were interesting but I just couldn’t go on about a third of the way into the second book. The narrator sounded as though she were reading to small children. Even sounding as if she were reading a children’s book it would have still been bad.

A fantastic set of cozy mysteries with Deena:)

I first listened to each of Deena Sharpe's cozy mysteries as separate books and I loved each one of them, so I think it's a great thing to have the first 5 as a box set:) And I also reviewed all of them, so here are some of my earlier thoughts (all are quotes from my reviews of the five books):

Book 1 - Sharpe Shooter - This is Deena Sharpe's first murder investigation - and it's really intriguing, engaging and funny:) It's also a wonderful introduction to all the characters that we will meet again in the next books in the series and it sets up mood for them - all murder cases Deena gets involved in are personal matters and hit close to home... The plot is fast, the leads appear and take us in different directions, there are a few possible suspects, all with plausible motifs for murder and no alibis, and there's Deena - smart, a bit crazy, but warm and loyal to those she considers family and friends, sometimes too loyal for her own good:) She's definitely one of the more likeable amator sleuths in literature:)

Book 2 - Sharpe Edge - The book starts a bit slow, but soon the pace grows and the plot engages the reader/listener... And the ending - when we find out who the murderer is - really does make you bite your nails:) I liked the last scenes of the book a lot - right from the point when we realize who the murderer is it's a real rollercoaster and it's described (and read by Ms Hazen) magnificently.

Book 3 - Sharpe Mind - The action is almost non-stop, with a few scary moments but without the gore, obviously, as it is a "cozy" mystery:) It's also well written; the plot flows smoothly and the dialogues contain that little ironic and satirical kind of humour that I like. I also think it's a little bit more complicated than the previous one in the series, with more suspects and red herrings:)

Book 4 - Sharpe Turn - This time Deena has to help her brother's friend to prove his innocence - and as usual before we find out who the real killer is we will discover clues, uncover secrets and suspect more than one person only to change our mind with every new piece of evidence or information Deena finds... We'll also smile a lot - Deena has a knack for getting into embarassing situations:) The plot is really fast, dialogues funny, background characters colourful and sometimes quirky but believable, and the ending as surprising as it should be:)

Book 5 - Sharpe Point - This time there's a hard task ahead of Deena - how can she defend someone she personally thinks is guilty of the crime? But then new evidence comes to light and things stop being seemingly obvious, more suspects appear as more facts are uncovered, and finally Deena's conscience is satisfied:) The books in the series are quite short, but the plots are logical, with enough red herrings and enough twists to keep you glued to the pages. As usual, we get a satisfactory although quite unexpected ending, but this time Ms Thomas added a cherry on the cake in the form of Deena's mother-in-law, Sylvia - I loved her character a lot:)

As for the interpretation of the books, Ms Hazen does a great job. The character voices are very well done, diversified and well-matched, and the pace of her reading makes it easy to follow the story. She balances well the impartiality of the narrative parts and the emotions required in many of the scenes. I can't imagine the series being read by another narrator:)

DISCLAIMER: I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Uplifting and Fun

Struck a cord with me. Simple, uncomplicated life full of adventures. Dina’s personality and her “feud” with her mother in law is hilarious.

Great story, poor narration

This is a fun story. Great twists and turns. I enjoy the writers work but the narration is terrible. She’s hard to listen to, very little voice inflection and very poor imitations of other people’s voices. Too bad she’s narrated the rest of this authors books.

Fun Mysteries

I enjoyed listening to these fun lighthearted (at times funny) mysteries. I enjoy all of the characters in small Texas town and the narration of them. The main character is Deena, a retire teacher and wannabe investigator and solving the murders. In book 1 murder of her Uncle Matthew murdered 50 yrs. ago after skeleton was identified by DNA. Investigator reporter is trying to connect his death with conspiracy of President Kennedy’s assassination. In book 2 Deena investigates Carolyn Fitzhugh death as Estelle (her daughter and Russell’s girlfriend) felt it was not accidental and also saves her. Book 3 Deena become #1 suspect of a women death and must find the real killer and Natasha as psychic wreaks havoc with the town folks. Book 4 Deena signs up for writing class with Max Dekker and his wife dies in a suspicious auto crash. She also signs up for cooking class to make Gary his 60th birthday dinner and cake as her mother in law Sylvia in for a visit and nags her. She needs to clear her brother’s best friend Cliff Able of murder. Book 5 Deena is trying to solve the murder of church custodian. At first I disliked Sylvia, Gary’s mother and Deena’s mother in law but then ended up liking her. Recommend to anyone who enjoys fun, easy mysteries with twists and turns. I was this free review copy audiobook by Storyteller and have voluntarily left this review. Thank you

A Great Series

I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audiobook by the narrator and found it very entertaining. How much trouble can a small time journalist get herself into? A whole lot in this audiobook set. The adventure never stops in this small Texan town for retire school teacher turned jounalist and investigator, Deena Sharpe. I enjoyed very much, and am very pleased that all the books are in a set now. Well worth the listen.

Listened to the whole box. Not buying any more.

In general, I enjoy cozy mysteries. I like getting mystery without gratuitous sex. I also warmed to the idea of a main character in her 50s rather than her 20s or 30s, so I was keen to get started on this series. My reaction to the first book was that it contained some interesting ideas, poorly expressed and poorly narrated, but I'd bought the first five as a boxed set, so I kept listening. The narrator improved dramatically over the five books. She started out very choppy, putting breaks in random parts of sentences so that it was often difficult to get meaning from what I was hearing. By book 5, she was much more fluent and while she sometimes put emphasis in what I considered to be odd places, I suspect that this is due to her being from the US South, whereas I am Australian. We talk differently.

The stories were another matter. Thomas is very fond of sentences of the form "Doing something, X found that..." but has no clue how to write them correctly. When you get a sentence like "Walking down the hill, the puddle at the bottom caused Deena to slip..." you can at least work out that Deena was the one walking down the hill, not, as the syntax suggests, the puddle. It is not unusual, however, to get sentences like "Walking down the hill, Deena called to Sheila..." when you know from the context that it is actually Sheila not Deena who is doing the walking. That's irritating, but I could overlook it if the plots hadn't deteriorated from mildly unbelievable to totally reliant on several characters doing really stupid things. Further, all the female characters behave stupidly. Even Deena, the heroine, has no sense of direction, no idea how her car works, can't cook until her mother-in-law comes to stay for several months, doesn't really know how to write newspaper articles, despite having taught journalism for decades and tends to find things out by accident while doing risky things that no sensible person would contemplate. Without her husband, Gary, her friend's husband Ian, Detective Gutman and several other men to pull her out of holes, she would be long dead. Some of the minor characters are total airheads. Like the one in book 5 who arrived 2.5 hrs late for an appointment with her lawyer to confess to murder because she had stopped off to get her hair coloured and blow-dried so she would look good in the mug shot!!

I feel that I have given Lisa B Thomas a fair go, and I will not be buying anything else written by her. I would definitely consider other books narrated by Kelley Hazen, however.

Hard to listen too.

The story seemed good enough but the narration was hard to listen to. It seemed to be read with awkward phrasing and almost sing song at times. I returned it after about an hour.

Maycroft Mysteries Set: Books 1-5

Check out this set of the first five books in the Maycroft Mysteries series!

Deena Sharpe is a retired teacher, but she’s not quite ready to be retired... she keeps finding herself caught up in the middle of the local mysteries, and wouldn’t you know it, she has a knack for solving them.

Lisa B. Thomas has written a great series with interesting storylines and great characters. When you add the talented Kelley Hazen as the narrator, you get hours of entertainment!

I was given this free review copy audiobook set at my request and I have voluntarily left this review.

Hooked!

I’m hooked from beginning to end! I can’t wait for more! I’m in love with all the characters. I’ll be finishing the next box set shortly!

Brilliant

This is an amazing box set. Loved the characters and the fabulous storylines. I got hooked from the start.
And the narrator Kelly Hazen is superb as always.
I can not recommend this box set highly enough.
🥰😂😁

Stories are fun but the narration is dreadful.

I enjoyed the stories and particularly liked the characters of the small southern town.
I struggled through the narration with the voice going up, emphasizing every 3td or 4th syllable
. It was very irritating.

I've listened to better

The story is yet another version of the JFK assassination story, only this time, to the credit of the author, with a bit of a twist. The narrator was awful, she has the most whiney voice that managed to simultaneously aggravate every single nerve in my body, and then some. I'm definitely not going to listen to the rest of the stories in this collection.

A delightful series!!

I love that these audiobooks have been branded together. While each book can be heard alone and out of order, the fact that the characters are the same means that there is a natural progression in their lives that is experienced by listening to the series in order.

I love Dena Sharpe. I love her quirkiness and quick mind. I love her relationship with her husband Gary and her brother. I love that she has such an open heart. And I love that she is a teacher turned reporter turned investigator. Each aspect of her career has added a certain je ne said quoi to the stories. These are cozy mysteries but they are so much more. A little humour, little suspense, lot of small town characters and the result is a perfect serving of escapism.

Kelley Hazen is a fabulous narrator. She has the ability to take a really well written story and bring it to life. She takes the audience on a journey into the plot and often successfully loses them there. She has the ability to paint vivid images with the words written and the characters created.

I have thoroughly enjoyed this 5 audiobooks!

This book was given to me for free at my request and I provided this voluntary review.

A pretty Sharpe investigator.

Welcome to Maycroft, a Texan town that wants to be a city.
This excellent value collection of stories follows Deena Sharpe, retired teacher, with a knack of getting involved in local investigations as she tries out different occupations, from local reporter to part time assistant to her best friend's husband, the lawyer. And along the way, the reader meets many of the other Maycroft residents as well as Deena's immediate family and friends.

Five books, and the chapter numbers where each begins:
(i) Sharpe Shooter: Skeleton in the Closet - chapter 2
(ii) Sharpe Edge: Stranger on the Stairs - chapter 38
(Iii) Sharpe Mind: Hanging by a Thread. - chapter 62
(iv). Sharpe Turn: Murder by the Book - chapter 96
(v) Sharpe Point: Needle in a Haystack. - chapter 123

A review of each title in this collection is given seperately elsewhere.
The books are cleverly written, good dialogue, sometimes witty, and each offers the reader clues along the way to solve the mystery before the big reveal. All of the books are ably narrated by Kelley Hazen, who both reads with emotional warmth and vigour and fits the vocal profile of the characters, each of whom she voices individually.
My thanks to the rights holder who gifted me a complimentary copy of Get Sharpe, at my request. This Review is entirely voluntarily given. An excellent way to really immerse oneself in the everyday, and extraordinary, happenings of a town which is big enough to have a well functioning rumour mill but still large enough to hide secrets.
A recommended cozy collection.

Enjoyed

loved these books not too hard going a refreshing storyline of a small town and a 60 Yr old female investigator, Kelly Hazen brilliant narrator.