Dirty Business

By: Julie Elizabeth Powell

Narrated by: Melanie Fraser

Length: 3 hrs and 30 mins

Publisher's summary

Gavin Bloom and Alex Moore run an online magazine for an adult market; although each insists it has to be within the limits of not only the law but to their sense of decency. Gavin is on the edge of developing a revolutionary turn for that very magazine, a program that will no doubt secure the business, maybe forever.

Amidst the excitement and enjoyment of its success, however, is the mysterious and heinous murder of one of their own.

Who can have done it? And why?

And who is the woman fastened by a chain to a wall?

Follow the twists and turns and perhaps you can solve the puzzle before they do.

©2015 Julie Elizabeth Aldridge (P)2015 Julie Elizabeth Aldridge

good book

"I was provided this audiobook at no charge by the author, publisher and/or narrator in exchange for an unbiased review via AudiobookBlast dot com.”
i really enjoyed this book

I really liked this audio book.

What made the experience of listening to Dirty Business the most enjoyable?

Narrated brilliantly.

What did you like best about this story?

This short story was well written.

Which character – as performed by Melanie Fraser – was your favorite?

Gavin

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

All of it was great

Any additional comments?

Keep up the GREAT writing and Narrating!

Nicely Narrated Short Mystery Thriller

This was a fairly decent short mystery thriller. There were some areas which were sort of muddy and unclear. Also I personally didn't completely care for the ending. I'm thinking that maybe the author left a hole in the ending as to possibly write a sequel.

The victim/heroine is an intelligent, amazing, resourceful young woman who was quite a match for the arrogant sociopathic villain. The identity of the villain is real surprise.

The book was well narrated and I especially liked how the narrator performed the villain using a voice modifier.

Some parts of the book could of been clearer and less muddled, however it was a decent thriller.

“I was provided this audiobook at no charge by the author, publisher and/or narrator in exchange for an unbiased review via AudiobookBlast dot come”

IT WAS OK, GREAT NARRATION!

What did you love best about Dirty Business?

Any additional comments?

** I was given a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review **

An online sexy magazine has a close group of employees, and then something goes terribly wrong, one of the models is brutally murdered...and a mystery starts....where everyone is in questions, everyone is in danger and for one girl, not even remotely close to the magazine itself...it could be her very end...Lilly who is kidnapped and does not even understand why, must be brave and try and save herself!

Ok story and great narration!

Very clever.

I was given a nudge towards this title by a service that knew I was looking for good horror. Okay, this is not horror, but rather a very entertaining and well crafted thriller/mystery that has you second-guessing yourself the entire time as you try to figure out who the killer is. Obviously, no spoilers here, just grab it for yourself and spend a few hours reaching an ending that was as fun in book form as the ending of "The Game" was for me in movie form.

Ms. Fraser was exceptional as the narrator and did not try to go "over the top" when the story required her to offer the male parts of the dialogue. I would listen to more of her stuff as well as seek out more works by Ms. Powell

I was provided a copy of this title for review purposes. The views expressed are my own.

A great whodunnit!

A great whodunnit! This book though at times for me seemed a little scattered kept me guessing all the way through it. The characters from Gavin to Alex to Doug to Tally all were suspect in my mind right up to the very end! And so much going on...models, kidnapping(she was an inventive woman planning her escape), murder and love..so much packed into a short book.

Melanie Fraser always delivers an amazing performance. Her accents in this one were spot on, loved the effects with the voice changer and she is an all out pleasure keeping me interested in whatever book she is narrating.

Solid center mystery, ending needs a little more.

Gavin and Alex started an English fashion model magazine not too long ago. It’s flirty and just skirting the edge of racy. They want to push the envelope without being trashy. But then model after another turns up mutilated and dead, with a third woman missing. The police are looking at Gavin and Alex pretty hard.

Gavin and Alex are opposites in many things. Gavin is more serious, definitely the kind to fall in and out of love hard, a bit of a workaholic. Meanwhile, Alex is something of a playboy, tending to excesses. Together, these characters strike a balance for the plot. Of course, I never suspected Gavin of any ill deed – he’s too much of a white knight. But Alex was another story.

There’s several ladies in the tale and they are well varied. We have Gavin’s ex-girlfriend, who is something of a snob. There’s models and fashion people and just plain office workers. In fact, Tally eventually takes center stage in assisting to solve the case of the missing woman. And let’s chat a little about that missing woman – she was no slouch. We meet her right at the beginning of the story (she’s already been snatched) and then we see her efforts in little snippets to assess her situation and try to free herself throughout the tale. So, all around I liked the characters. None of them felt like they were duplicates of another.

The beginning was a little slow for me because there was so much focus on the fashion magazine and the glamour of it all and I just wasn’t feeling the glamour. I wanted the mystery to get started and sleuthing to commence. But once the plot was underway, I was well entertained. The resolution to the story was a bit vague, a little too open ended. I wasn’t quite satisfied with it. Maybe the author wanted things left that way for a sequel? Anyway, I felt it needed a bit more to round things out. The motivations of the perpetrator weren’t fully explained.

Sexy fashion model magazine – Elvira’s? Gavin and Alex went into it together. They love working with all the ladies. Gavin is the more serious one, and Alex the play boy. Gavin’s ex-girlfriend Sasha (?) turns up dead and mutilated. Then another model killed and a third woman missing. Gavin and Tally team up and Alex’s brother Doug turns out to be in big trouble. Mysterious man hired to do the dirty deeds. Resolution to the story was vague, open ended, not satisfying. The narrations was OK. Not as swarmy as last book but the accents were hit or miss.

I received a copy of this audiobook at no cost from the author in exchange for an honest review.

Narration: Melanie Fraser did a decent job. This is my second book narrated by her that I have listened too. Initially, her narration started off feeling a little forced, a little swarmy, like trying to put too much warmth into it. But pretty quickly she relaxes and the voices feel much more natural and she seems to have fun with it. Of course, her English accents were all fine. However, there were some other accents that were hit or miss. For example, for one character, I couldn’t tell if she was going for Irish or French, within the same conversation.

sadly disappointing

I have always approached reading a mystery as being akin to playing a friendly game with the author, the goal being to figure out the riddle before I’m told the answer. But games, even mystery games, have a few rules, and a really good opponent knows how to slip in hints, mask clues, and provide just enough sign posts to keep me on my way, if I am observant enough, and read carefully enough.

When the author doesn’t “play fair” there is no fun in the process, and I find myself disappointed. Writing a mystery is harder than it seems, because, the author must build a very careful foundation, and know when to give away a tiny bit and how to do that in a way that both reveals and masks the tidbit, making it hard, but not impossible, to find. In a way, a good mystery is like a good seduction, veiling more than it reveals, until just the right moment, and making full revelation delicately alluring, titillating and exciting.

I did not find that careful foundation in this book. The clues were either just not there, or so obvious I tripped over them. I think that, had the author taken her time, the book, even if significantly longer, would have benefitted enormously.

The writing was good; the language was evocative and descriptive, and certain scenes were nearly brilliantly presented, though, with one exception, I found the characters to be either overdrawn or one dimensional caricatures.

Again, although this narrator has what could be an excellent reading voice and good expressiveness, she reads so fast that her words tend to slur, and that rush to finish the book detracts from my enjoyment of it.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for this unbiased review via the courtesy of audioBookBlast dot com.