Killer in the Band

Lovers in Crime Mystery, Book 3

De: Lauren Carr

Narrado por: Mike Alger

Joshua's eldest son, Joshua Thornton Jr. (J.J.) has graduated at the top of his class from law school and returns home to spend the summer studying for the bar exam. However, to Joshua's and Cameron's shock and dismay, J.J. moves into the main house at Russell Ridge Farm and Orchards, the largest dairy farm in the Ohio Valley, in order to rekindle a romance with Suellen Russell, the one-time leader of a rock band who is twice his age. Quickly, they learn that she has a deep dark secret.

The move brings long buried tensions between the father and son to the surface - not the least of which being J.J.'s inexplicable dislike for his stepmother Cameron. But when a brutal killer strikes, the Lovers in Crime must set all differences with Joshua's son aside to solve the crime before J.J. ends up in the cross-hairs of a murderer.

©2016 Terri Zaleski (P)2017 Terri Zaleski

Killer in the band

Killer in the Band (A Lovers in Crime Mystery #3) by Lauren Carr ended up being just as good as the first two books in the series. A lot of the time I find that the first book in a series often outstrips the rest of the books in the series by far, yet Lauren Carr managed to keep the continuing books in the series just as good as the first one. I loved the addition of Joshua’s eldest son, Joshua “J.J.” Thornton Jr. to the story as it added a new story element and a character that kept me wondering. I felt like I could not understand J.J.'s choices at first, but they played in to the story perfectly!

Killer in the Band

Killer in the Band is the third installment from Lauren Carr’s Lovers in Crime series. Even though it is part of a series, I believe readers can read it as a stand alone. But I do highly recommend not missing the first two books. I have loved this series and this one has become my favorite. Cameron and Joshua are such a fun duo.
In Killer in the Band, readers catches up with couple Cameron and Joshua. Joshua’s son JJ moves back home to live at the Russell Ridge Farm. Joshua and JJ has a complicated relationship and it does not help that JJ does not care for Cameron. Their worlds torn is upside down when a murder happens and JJ is implicated in the murder. Can everyone set aside their differences to solve who the real killer is?
I had the pleasure of listening to the audio version of this book of Killer in the Band. Mike Alger once again does a fantastic performance bringing Miss Carr’s story to life. Her books are so much fun and he definitely makes them shine.
Killer in the Band gets a well deserved five plus stars from me. I can not wait to read the fourth book from the series, The Root of Murder, to find out where Cameron and Joshua end up next. I highly recommend this one for readers who enjoy a unpredictable suspense and well written mystery with lots of laughs. I loved it and thought it was great.
I received the audio version of this book from the author. This review is 100% my own honest opinion.

Enjoyable!

Would you consider the audio edition of Killer in the Band to be better than the print version?

I really enjoyed the narrator's clear and appealing voice - kept me engaged. He did a good job of distinguishing between the different voices without being too obvious.

What did you like best about this story?

I was drawn into the story right off the bat and cared about the characters.

Any additional comments?

Definitely want to read all Lauren Carr's books!

Body in the freezer

Note: While this is Book #3 in the series, it works just fine as a stand alone.

This tale features JJ Thornton (who’s studying for his bar exam) and his father Joshua. His step-mother, Cameron, also has a significant role. JJ has reconnected with his first love, Suellen. Several years back, they had a relationship but Joshua didn’t approve and basically forced their love affair to end. Now that JJ has some experience and years under his belt, Joshua can’t easily object to his relationship with Suellen. So there’s some family angst and drama in this story but it’s well done and intertwined with murder and mystery.

A body was found in a freezer in an old dump site and it turned out to be a long lost musician. Cameron initially doesn’t have any leads. It looks like a cold case. But then she stumbles upon an eye witness to the night the musician (Dillon Matthews) disappeared. This opens a whole can of worms and more bodies appear. There’s another mystery running parallel to this one. Clyde’s wife was killed several months back. He works on Suellen’s horse ranch and apple farm. So the Thorntons are drawn into this mystery as well. Out of the two, enjoyed the dead musician story more.

Meanwhile, the Thorntons adopted daughter Izzie falls in love with the farm. She quickly makes friends with a rooster and all the dogs. Then there’s the horses of course. Poppy, a recent hire, is excellent with horses and Izzie thinks she’s awesome. Pretty soon, Poppy has Izzie helping out in the horse barn in exchange for riding lessons. Then there’s the troubled teen Noah who is also great with horses. I did find it a little unbelievable that Poppy would just spill her own troubled past to JJ when they’ve only known each other for a few days.

Clue by clue, the mysteries unwind. The body count climbs. Our heroes get to show off their detective and fighting skills. I especially enjoyed the vampire character and how things ended there. The last hour of the book did throw in some Christian moralizing, which I found a bit of a turn off. I don’t mind characters talking about their faith but I really felt the story was preaching at me instead of just doing some character development. It was nice to see that JJ and Cameron finally made a peace of sorts. 4.5/5 stars.

The Narration: Mike Alger continues to give voice to these characters. This was one of his better narrations with the female voices being believable and not cartoony. All characters had their own unique voice. Alger even makes Joshua and JJ and Murphy (JJ’s twin brother) sound related but distinct. The pacing was good and there were no technical issues with the recording. 5/5 stars.

I DID NOT EXPECT THAT KILLER!

Lauren Carr surprised me again! I love it when I cannot predict the killer. I am amazed with the twists this book had. Joshua and Cameron are featured in this book which seems like it has 2 unrelated cases. I love how the author ties things together. There is incredible imagery, humor, some endearing characters, unexpected twists, and an awesome ending. I do not like giving away spoilers in my reviews, and with that said, the ending is terrific.
Mike Alger did a great performance with this book. I will definitely listen to more books by this author and narrator. This book is a standalone listen and part of a series.