Down Home Murder

Laura Fleming, Book 1

By: Toni L. P. Kelner

Narrated by: Gayle Hendrix

Length: 8 hrs and 24 mins

Publisher's summary

When a tragic family accident brings Laura Fleming back home to Byerly, North Carolina, the sleuth discovers that her beloved grampaw's fatal fall from a ladder in the old mill was not an accident.

©1993 Toni L. P. Kelner (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

Blah and Dated

Found this book predictable and dull. The Southerners in the book are stereotypical racist and stupid. The Northern educated relative visits and 'puts everyone in their place'. Characters lack dimension and common sense. Knew ending a third of the way in.

Oddly choppy transitions

The reader is engaging, but the production/editing is a bit odd, as if somebody just scissored out six inches of tape here and there to speed things up. I thought it might be an amateurish abridgement, but this is supposedly unabridged. It sounds from time to time as if it's being cut off suddenly at the start of a word, then abruptly picks up (with a bit of a pop) on a different word. I suspect it's just bad splicing, although surely this is all digital now and this could have been corrected.

Oh, and the story is okay but nothing particularly original, IMO.

Good Book, enjoyed it a lot.

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes, the book was very enjoyable. Kept you guessing, A good "Who Done It".

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

Gayle Hendrix does a good job w/ the accents of the characters from the South. Makes you feel like you are there.

Will definitely buy other books by the author

Where does Down Home Murder rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Good mystery with humour blende in.

Any additional comments?

First book I have listened / read from this author. I enjoyed the book and will get more books by this author.

All Right Book

In the beginning, with the down home country accents & all the family stuff, I did not think I could listen to it. But the reader made the accent just right & the story moved along quite well. I will say I enjoyed the story. Not great literature, but pleasant to listen to.

I thought the reader did an excellent job and I will listen to her again.

ok listen

I did enjoy the book, it was ok to listen to. The thing that I noticed though is that the editing had mistakes-often phrases repeated or areas with a noticeable cut in it-making me wonder if I missed some information.

I'm from NC as is the plot.

Granted, the book is 20 years old. There are very few mills left and I haven't seen anyone in a Klan march since the 1990's. It seems like the plot was designed as a computer program.... if we are at point A, how did we get here? and the heroine works backwards to determine who murdered her grandfather. But it bothers me that every path she picks is correct (except for actually picking the murderer because that would be too easy). It does, however, make it a very logical book. I was not happy with the quality of the reader's voice.... she made it a little too Southern. On the other hand, the plot actually had everyone in the family as the list of suspects. Makes the family reunion a little more interesting!

Don't waste a minute of your life

Awful story. I tried to listen to this story twice within the year and could not finish. The narrator was too loud and too "country sounding" and not southern. Nothing to grasp my interest at the beginning of the story. It was difficult to distinguish the differences among the characters. I could not find a reason to care about any of the characters so I did not finish the story, again. This is very amateurish...like the Difference Between Home Videos and a Studio Produced movie.

Narrator so bad I couldn't make it through 5 mins!

Is there anything you would change about this book?

I have no idea how good or bad the story was. The narrator's fake accent was so troubling that I really couldn't make it past the 5 minute mark.

What didn’t you like about Gayle Hendrix’s performance?

Terrible accent.

Waste of a credit

Why, oh why did I waste a credit on this? Lame storyline, narration overkill, weak writing - ugh! I would say more, but I have wasted enough time on this book.