Iced: A Resort to Murder Mystery

By: Avery Daniels

Narrated by: Susan Marlowe

Length: 7 hrs and 12 mins

Publisher's summary

Julienne has her ideal job as an event planner at a prestigious resort. During a luncheon event she coordinated, a renowned celebrity pastor is killed next to the buffet. All eyes turn to her as the suspect. If she wants to stay out of jail or even keep her job, Julienne needs all the help she can get to solve the crime.

She has her work cut out for her with a vengeful high school rival (now reporter), the public demanding she be fired, plus family who knows what's best for her, and a boyfriend who doesn't understand her. She turns to friends and a new ally to uncover who wanted to put the pastor on ice.

Julienne goes undercover and investigates a local swingers group, following the trail of clues before they go cold. Can she gather enough suspects and motives to convince the police to widen their investigation? Can she do it before the killer sets his murderous sights on her? Will her personal life ever be as simple as unveiling a murderer?

©2017 Ariel Heart (P)2017 Ariel Heart

Fun new series

If you could sum up Iced: A Resort to Murder Mystery in three words, what would they be?

Iced: A Resort to Murder Mystery by Avery Daniels is the first book in a new series located in Colorado. I really enjoyed this book and am looking forward to reading the next book in the series. I live in Colorado, so I especially enjoy hearing about familiar settings. I found this book to be a quick read, with a well developed plot and characters. If you love fun cozy mysteries, I recommend this book.

I received this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.

death by ice sculpture

Fun, great read. The characters were good and well developed.The author kept you guessing who the murderer was. I received this audio book free for an honest opinion. Loved it. I will read more in this series. The narration was good as well

More substance than expected

The story is well done. We get into some fairly heavy stuff here. Sexual assault, high powered clergyman, death, love lost, lots of stuff!
I thought it would be lighter content. And if you judge the book by its cover, you certainly wouldn't think the story would be so deep. It was way better than advertised.
I won't go too far into details and certainly will not spoil it for you, but it is fairly predictable, but not your usual snarky mystery either.
Just one complaint; the narrator spoke so slow that you HAD to speed up the dialogue. Not sure if this was done on purpose and if it was, it wasn't her fault. She did a great job. It just seem like that must have been difficult.
Good story overall.
"This book was given to me for free at my request and I provided this voluntary review."

Iced: A Resort to Murder earns 5/5 Ice Sculptures!

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

Yes. I am always excited about starting a series with the first book. It’s like being first in line for the seafood buffet…wink, wink! Avery Daniels’ “Iced: A Resort to Murder” is a great beginning to what I hope is several books: Upscale resort? Event planning? Questionable appetites? Murder? The story was very entertaining with twists and turns that I couldn’t hazard a guess because another motive or clue would be revealed leading to a crescendo ending of “Oh, my!” The characters are well written for a first book with strengths and vulnerabilities that are engaging to follow. Julienne has personal, as well as professional, issues to deal with and her reactions show maturation and efforts to take the reins of her own life. Family will undoubtedly continue to be a headache, and romance more of a dilemma since her dream to travel puts career first, marriage second. But…there still is “the hot new guy.” The story was engaging, the characters entertaining, and I love the idea that there will be more at another resort…Her world travels begin!

I love audiobooks. They are vastly superior to me reading to myself. This version was very entertaining, and Susan Marlowe was brilliant! She enhanced Avery Daniel’s engaging story with a talented array of voices that illustrated the manners and personalities of Avery’s characters: Julienne’s determination and fear, Porches Anete Kruze French accent, Tamara’s twangy voice, dry and humorless Detective Lawrence, and sexy Mason. Adding the right tone and speed the emotion and suspense is heightened: I could feel the frustration Julienne had with her family, and was on the edge of my seat when she was put in harm’s way. Overall it was a great experience!

Narrator made book hard to listen to

How did the narrator detract from the book?

I had problems with how the narrator sounded, monotone and almost bored. Every time she pronounced certain words, my attention would detract from the story and to the pronunciation of the speaker. Sorry narrator, I just didn't mix well with your performance.

Any additional comments?

I probably would've enjoyed this book more if I'd read it instead of listened to it. This audiobook was provided by the author, narrator, or publisher at no cost in exchange for an unbiased review courtesy of AudiobookBoom

Good

Julienne her job as a event planner at an exclusive place, until someone drops dead by her buffet table. Then you have a reporter who makes it worse, claiming she should resign.A boyfriend who doesn’t understand. So with the tables turned she has to dig in and find out what happened. Good mystery and narration
Given audio for my voluntary review

Good!

I enjoyed this mystery. This book caught my attention from the beginning. Julienne is a great character - smart and independent. I didn't really feel bad for Pastor Tom and the mystery kept me guessing. Narration was good and it was easy to listen to.


**I received a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review**

Delightful Story!

This book was great! From the cover I was expecting a cozy mystery, but it was so much more! It is deeper than a cozy mystery and has a complicated storyline with all of the happenings. I thought the author did a great job at keeping me interested and guessing who the murderer was. When I say complicated storyline, I am referring to the murder, the framing, the sexual assault, the relationship dissolving and new one forming. I do not write a synopsis of the book in my review, nor do I try to giveaway spoilers. My review is my opinion of the book. I thought the narrator did a very good performance and the sound production/editing was well done. I do not like it when one hears every mouth sound a narrator makes or clicks from production. (I had recently listened to a different book with those problems and am now more aware of those issues). I would definitely listen to more books by this author and narrator. I had requested a review copy of this audiobook and have voluntarily written this review.

ok I guess

This seemed more like a romance than a mystery. There is too much emphasis on Julienne getting married and giving up her own ambitions. Although Julienne has confidence in her career, she has no confidence when it comes to men. The plot is ok, but, I wish the mystery was developed more. Susan Marlowe is an ok narrator, but, she didn't bring the story life.


I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Twisty

contemporary, cozy-mystery, romance, humor, amateur-sleuth

The high profile pastor gives her a bruising couple of gropes, she knees him, he threatens her job as she leaves the room, and then he's unusually murdered. Thus begins her ordeal as a suspect who needs to investigate before she gets railroaded. And then there's the new hot guy who just moved into her housing complex. Well done!
Got it as Whispersync on the cheap courtesy of Book Gorilla.
Susan Marlowe gave a remarkable performance as narrator.