Hush Money

Hush Money Mystery Series, Book 1

By: T. E. Woods

Narrated by: Xe Sands

Length: 8 hrs and 24 mins

Publisher's summary

The mayor is smart, funny, and loved by all. Except for the person who leaves him in a pool of his own blood....

Madison is booming with dreamers and drifters, visionaries and entrepreneurs. Among them is Sydney Richardson, the daughter of a cop who died on these streets and now the proud, stressed-out owner of Hush Money, one of the city's top new restaurants. Like everyone else in town, Sydney is shocked when Madison's popular mayor - a crusty, charismatic man of the people - is shot to death in his own home.

But the news hits especially close to home for Sydney because one of her own stands accused of the brutal crime. Sydney's the one person that Wanda Fields, a quiet, hardworking waitress and single mother, can think to call after her arrest. Now she might be Wanda's only hope. As Sydney gets wrapped up in the case, she runs up against powerful people with secrets to hide-and a mayor who wasn't the person everyone thought he was.

After Wanda divulges a bombshell of her own, Sydney's sure the real killer is still out there, hiding among Madison's elite, perhaps even dining in her beloved restaurant... with more than enough motive to kill again.

©2017 T. E. Woods (P)2018 Tantor

Critic reviews

"Veteran crime writer and clinical psychologist T. E. Woods serves up a rich cast of characters, myriad motives, and a complex plot, making Hush Money deeply satisfying." (Eve Karlin, author of City of Liars and Thieves)

I expected better...

The story kept my attention until the end, when I thought I had missed something because it went from who-done-it to you-done-it in a very lack-luster way. The narrator is not for me... all of the characters had the same whiny, “I’m not quite awake yet” voice that almost made me abandon the story in the first chapters.

Well done

As with The Fixer, this book took a little while to engage me, but once it did, I had great difficulty putting it down.
Another great one by TE Woods!

Good read and decent narration..

This was pretty interesting about Sydney, who owned a restaurant called Hush Money, named because her birth mother gave her 15 million dollars but was not interested in knowing Sydney even though she’d been keeping tabs on Sydney throughout her life.

It was also about Windy, who was accused of murdering the mayor, who was using her as his own little sex toy. Windy went along with it to feed her 5 year old daughter and put a roof over their heads. Windy cleaned the mayor’s house and had just been hired by Sydney as a server. When Windy was arrested for murder Sydney hired Windy a lawyer because Windy couldn’t remember killing the mayor, or anything that happened before or after the murder, but she must have done it since the police told her she had.

What I didn’t like about this book was how she wanted to help Windy but no matter how many times Andrew, the attorney Sydney hired for Windy, told Sydney NOT to tell anyone about what evidence they had found Sydney would always tell Horst that cop. She just couldn’t keep from telling.


And, OMG, I was blown away at who the killer was!!!

SPOILER…. SPOILER…. SPOILER….

The end was abrupt and it totally sucked! No HEA or HFN. Just closed the door in Clay’s face. I just hated that.

END SPOILER

Where one reviewer didn’t like all the dialogue from the servers, the chef, other cops and Sydney’s mother, I did. I don’t like when a book just focuses on the main characters and leaves everyone else’s words and thoughts lost in the wind. I’m interested in most everyone in the book.

As to the narration: Overall, I liked most of it but sometimes Ms. Sands’ voice was sooo whiny and sooo slow. It was just okay for me. Not great but not horrible either.

Narrator made it work for me

I bought this book and then the entire series just because of Xe Sans. The story was not bad, not that complicated either. But, it's the narrator I got through the series. Her awesome and realistic performance appealed to me as she did from the first book I read by her, The Ex. And I became a fan. It was worthwhile to spend 3 credits on this trilogy for me because I enjoyed them.

Well done!

I liked the Fixer series so I thought I would give this a shot. Glad I did! Good story. Interesting characters. Excellent narration.

Just ok...

I didn't hate it but I also wasn't completely in love with it. It was just an ok story. Once you figure out the mystery its like ok now I'm ready for it to be over. I would recommend.

The lady tells great stories!

Clinical psychologist and author T.E. Woods has another winner in Hush Money and another winning series in the Hush Money series. Audio release dates for the second (Bad Girl) and third (Private Lies) books in the Hush Money series have not been announced, but the Kindle release dates are March 13, 2018 and August 14, 2018 respectively.

Hush Money has everything a listener could possibly want and expect in a suspense murder mystery. The plot twist near the end of the novel is magical. Following up on her superb 5 book Justice/Fixer series, she (the author) offers the same high quality listener experience. Narrator Xe Sands is outstanding.

If you like suspense novels, I guarantee you will love books by T.E. Woods. As I said, the lady tells great stories.

A really intriguing mystery.

This is a really enjoyable mystery with twists and turns to keep the listener guessing. But there are enough clues to figure out the ending without the plot becoming predictable.
XE Sands’ narration is well done and enhances the story rather than distract. I’m looking forward to the next book in the series.

Great story, horrible narrator

This is the first book of 3 and I cannot listen to the others because the narrator is so bad! She's so nonchalant and doesn't have a sense of urgency with the characters when there is supposed to be.
I loved the story, too bad it was ruined.

Easy Mystery

Figured it out pretty quickly, all the main questions: who, why & how
Overall, an entertaining book though.