• Southern Spirits

  • Southern Ghost Hunter Mysteries, Book 1
  • By: Angie Fox
  • Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert
  • Length: 7 hrs and 33 mins
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (2,706 ratings)

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Southern Spirits  By  cover art

Southern Spirits

By: Angie Fox
Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert
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Publisher's summary

From New York Times best-selling author Angie Fox, the first book in the new Southern Ghost Hunter mysteries.

One simple mistake, for a girl who is about to lose her family home, releases the ghost of a long-dead gangster and opens Verity Long's eyes to a whole new world.

When out-of-work graphic designer Verity Long accidentally traps a ghost on her property, she's saddled with more than a supernatural sidekick - she gains the ability to see spirits. It leads to an offer she can't refuse from the town's bad boy, the brother of her ex and the last man she should ever partner with. Ellis Wyatt is in possession of a stunning historic property haunted by some of Sugarland, Tennessee's finest former citizens. Only some of them are growing restless - and destructive. He hires Verity to put an end to the disturbances.

But soon Verity learns there's more to the mysterious estate than floating specters, secret passageways, and hidden rooms. There's a modern-day mystery afoot, one that hinges on a decades-old murder. Verity isn't above questioning the living or the dead. But can she discover the truth before the killer finds her?

©2015 Angie Fox (P)2015 Audible, Inc.

What listeners say about Southern Spirits

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    1,536
  • 4 Stars
    827
  • 3 Stars
    240
  • 2 Stars
    64
  • 1 Stars
    39
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
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  • 3 Stars
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  • 2 Stars
    64
  • 1 Stars
    51
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    1,406
  • 4 Stars
    711
  • 3 Stars
    238
  • 2 Stars
    50
  • 1 Stars
    37

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Pleasant Surprise

I was very surprised and pleased by this book. Let me start by saying that Tavia Gilbert did a great job of dramatizing this book. She added extra drama and excitement in all of the right areas. I also love that she didn't over do a southern drawl. Her accent was perfect.

As far as the book goes, it was interesting with a fast paced plot and lots of twists and turns. The characters were believable and likable. No one had a perfect or easy life. There was just a little bit of romance and lots of drama and mystery. I bought the second book after I listened to the first few chapters. This has the potential for being a great series.

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39 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Over the top narration ruins the story

I actually found the story to be charming and light-hearted. The characters were quirky and overall likable. I also loved the Southern setting. However, Tavia Gilbert's over-the-top narration proved to be very distracting. She didn't so much "narrate" the story as "perform" it - with all the gusto and unnecessary histrionics of a high school production. When the character is feeling mildly sad and teary - Ms. Gilbert actually cried while reading?! She managed to turn a sweet paranormal cozy into "Apocalypse Now"! After two hours of listening to her bi-polar style of narration (three cups of chamomile tea and a valium later), I had to switch to my Kindle to read the rest of the story. I already purchased Book 2 in this series, needless to say that I will opt out of listening to it; will choose to read it instead.

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38 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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  • 03-24-16

Slow down!

I put the narration down to .75. Everything in the book is performed in crisis mode which gets very tiresome to listen to. The story itself wasn't bad once I reduced the speed but I won't buy the next one unless it's a new narrator or the performers learn to tone it down. Sheesh.

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29 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Cute, Clean Cozy Mystery


Cozy Mysteries are not my normal genre; however, one of my closest friends was telling me how much she enjoyed this audio, and since we have similar taste in books I decided to give it a try. I have to admit, it was an entertaining audio, and Tavia really brought the characters and emotions to life. I loved her performance, and thought it was very lively and animated, but could see how some might thing it was over the top.

Some spoilers;
Through a series of unfortunate events, Verity finds she needs to raise money quickly to pay off her ex fiancé's family so she decides to sell her family's home. While going through some old items, she stumbles across a dirty old vase filled with dust, and proceeds to clean it, and dump the dust into the rose garden. To her horror and shock, she finds out it wasn't dust, but rather the ashes to a gangster named Frankie, when his ghost appears. Frankie wasn't too pleased with Verity the dumping his ashes, because now he is tied to the house. After her initial shock, Verity and Frankie strike up a odd friendship, and a deal.

Frankie knows where Verity can find some hidden money to pay off the debt so she can keep her home, but in return she must try to help free him. They start searching for the hidden loot, and end up face to face with Ellis, her ex-fiancé's brother, who also happens to be a cop. He's not buying her story about ghost or the hidden money, but when strange things start happening at the house he is renovating, he hires Verity to get rid of his ghostly pest. Even though she is new to ghost, and doesn't really know what she is doing, she needs the money badly, and against her better judgment, she takes the job. She maybe a novice, but with her sidekick Frankie, she just might be able to rid Ellis of his ghost. However, things become dangerous real quick as they investigate, encounter other ghost, evil spirits, and find clues, something or someone will do everything to try to stop them from uncovering the truth.

This story was filled with mystery, suspense, danger, and a spark of romance. The more time Verity and Ellis spend with each other, the more they realize they really are not what the other thought. Overall, I enjoyed my first Angie Fox story, and think it is a great fit for any cozy mystery lover.

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28 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Entertaining, but annoying narration

It took me about 1/3 of the book to get into the story. It ended up being fairly entertaining. But, the narration was so frantic and high-pitched at times it not only annoyed me, it gave me a headache.

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19 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Histrionic narrator

While the story was decent, despite some ridiculous (but par for the cozy mystery course) plot elements, the narrator nearly ruined it for me. I suspect she is a love or loathe narrator, and I am definitely on the loathe side. It took me several tries over the course of as many months to finally get into this book, and only then because I had listened to everything else in my library. Her histrionic, over-the-top performance will keep me from buying anything else narrated by her.

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15 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Southern Fun!

My mom and I listened to this on a road trip and laughed the whole way! This is a wonderful story with a great lead character. The narration by Tavia Gilbert really makes the book that much better. The pet skunk!! LOL

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12 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

4 Stars

Southern Spirits is book 1 in the Southern Ghost Hunter Mysteries series. This is a cozy mystery told in 1st person POV for main character Verity Long.

The book is about a woman named Verity who after leaving her scummy fiance at the alter, has the town turn against her and gets sued by the ex's family and is now in danger of losing her family home. She has sold off all of her furniture and belongings to pay the family back and only has a couple things remaining. One of which is an old vase looking jar that her ex had given her and it is too hideous to sell. She starts messing with it and finds that it has a bunch of old dust and such in it so she washes it out over her rose bushes in the backyard. That is when the book really begins. It turns out the vase is an urn and by washing it out, she has trapped the ghost of the urn's occupant on her property. The ghost, Frankie, shows himself to her and so begins her ability to see ghosts.

As the book progresses, she accidentally finds herself in the middle of some dangerous hauntings and a murder investigation. There are twists and turns and a lot of suspense. It looks like there might even be a budding romance.

The book started a bit slow but once it got going, I was hooked.

I'm not sure if I would have enjoyed reading this book as much as I enjoyed listening to it. The narrator really sold the excitement, fear, and suspense through her reading. The narration is a bit fast and I was not able to listen to a speed faster than 1.05 and that was after listening to it at 0.90-0.95 for a while to get used to her voice. That isn't a big deal though. I am fine listening at regular speed but I know a lot of people prefer to listen at 1.5-2 and that might be a bit difficult for this one. I think the narrator did a really good job. Her voices were distinct and clear and her pronunciation was good.

Southern Spirits is my first experience with this author. It will not be my last.

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10 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Narrator overly dramatic

I was distracted to the point of almost stopping the book several times due to the narrator. Overly dramatic in her performance of the main character and at times, it was hard to discern if we were supposed to be hearing the character’s thoughts or her dialogue.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

kept trying, but just can't stand the narrator.

am going to try the kindle version, am sure the story is worth reading. the narrator is impossible for me to listen to. really want to enjoy this book.

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7 people found this helpful