Witch Is When It All Began

By: Adele Abbott

Narrated by: Hannah Platts

Length: 5 hrs and 53 mins

Publisher's Summary

What would you do if you discovered you were a witch?

That's exactly what happens to private investigator Jill Gooder. And as if that wasn't enough, she has a serial killer to catch. More magic, mystery, and laughs than you can shake a stick at.

©2015 Implode Publishing Ltd (P)2016 Implode Publishing Ltd

Fun light-weight listen. Superb narration!!!

Fun! A nice break from more intense complex mysteries. Suitable for listening when car pooling with children as there aren't any sex scenes or foul language. The narrator is absolutely superb!!! Hannah Platts is as good as such great narrators; Katherine Kellgren, Simon Vance, George Guidall, etc. With over 600 audible books owned, I truly appreciate a good narrator. They can make or break a book for me. She made this book come to life. I'm hopeful that she is at the beginning of her career and will continue to narrate more books (currently, she had only a few).

19 of 20 people found this review helpful

Decent enough

A fun little romp. Light and clean. Tried to be a mystery and a paranormal, didn't do either especially well, but the pace and tone were fine, so was an enjoyable few hours.

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

Interesting

Interesting theme. A P.A. that knits and apparently that's her true calling, a talking one-eyed, cheeky cat and a P.I./newby witch who is the main character.
Add all these to the mix and stir well ... Now you have a sweet murder/mystery/witchy story. Quite entertaining.

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

Witches? Really

This was the first i had read by this author. I am always looking for cute cozy mysteries. This one did not disappoint. I look forward to reading/listening to more.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

A fun listen

A crazy one eyed cat...who talks!, a bran new witch just learning, a knitting nincompoop ( she drives me crazy) and a murder, no make that murders, makes this a fun book! I enjoyed listening to the reader, and although this is the start of a series Our detective got things done. I can see many things just bubbling on the edge awaiting development in the next book.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Review are right this is a GREAT series!

This is a wonderfully entertaining story that is delightful to read. I enjoyed the first book so well that I download the complete series before I finished the finished the book. The books end with a cliffhanger, usually with a startling revelation or socially awkward situations.

The story is driven by Jill’s discovery that her biology family is witches. So, she has a learning curve and all the comedic situations that a beginner witch can encounter when learning magic in secret, being pursued by the diabolical nemeses of the story, and trying to work as a detective. After solving the mystery in the first book, demand for her services increases and her time becomes determined by others.

Jill has two separate lives, her paranormal life as a witch, which must be kept secret from non-paranormals. The story always has one central mystery, which Jill may or may not get paid for and other peripheral things that are happening to her inner circle. Her mysteries in her human world put her is a situation where she must work with Detective Maxwell. Their relationship begins as contentious. Winky, the one-eyed cat, is the most delightful character. While at the office there is dissension with the cat and her secretary Ms. V. The main mystery is in the human world. The little peripheral mysteries are solved with the aha epiphany. There is no profanity or sex to disrupt and a light, funny story.

Action between the magic and human world is tried together with Jill unintendedly using her magic in her human life. Yes, the conversation is snarky, and there are a few characters whose primary purpose is to whine. I read the complete series in three days and through enjoyed them.

4 of 5 people found this review helpful

Fun story paired with the perfect narrator

Where does Witch Is When It All Began rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

This is a great little story that has a lot of promise, magic and discovery. It ranks at the top because I can't wait to listen to book 2, the narration is FAB (and totally fits the character, story, and is simply delightful to listen to).

4 of 5 people found this review helpful

Lighthearted Paranormal Mystery

She's a PI, she's just become a witch, she has a talking cat, a sister she loves and squabbles with, and is more than a bit OCD- This was just the ticket for me to listen to while bedridden with a very nasty cold. It's lighthearted and charming, an easy listen. It reminds me most of Molly Harper's PNRs but with less romance, and of course, British - proper contemporary British, not some Heritage throwback. The mystery element could be more thought out, but the characters and performance are so charming that I gave it a pass on that, and bought the next one as soon as I finished this.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Wonderful book from a wonderful series

I absolutely love this series! The narrator isn't my favorite, but that's because I've read the book and no narrator is going to match the way I imagined it. The series is absolutely amazing! Seriously, it's one that I keep a constant look out for. I really do hope that they do audio versions of the rest of the books. I really like to listen to books at work and while doing chores around the house.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Witchy

What did you love best about Witch Is When It All Began?

Easy to listen and a light story that was well done

Did the plot keep you on the edge of your seat? How?

It gave just enough info to keep your attention

Have you listened to any of Hannah Platts’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

No it was good

Any additional comments?

No

I really enjoyed this story i found it funny and quirky. Jill is struggling as a PI when she finds out that she is a witch. Then suddenly her life starts to change with a family that want to get to know her, including the ghost of her mum and powers that are beginning to show. With a talking sarcastic one eyed cat and a serial killer on the loose its a funny read. I found this was a light read that was quite funny at times. It is not a very serious series but a nice easy read. Think I will continue in the series and see what happens next. 

Absolutely awful

Very simple childish writing. Very slow. Over explanations and overly long descriptions. Have up after the second chapter.

Excellent

what a great book. I really loved it. Can't wait to read the next one.

Great books

This is the great book. The characters made me laugh but her sister is VERY annoying. I will be buying the next few books in the series.

Something different

Bought this to listen too while taking a walk, money well spent. Stories are funny and so pleasant to listen too. Hannah Platts is very good with the character voices who with her help come alive and you find yourself liking some and loathing others. I do have to be careful though as I do have a habit of making the odd comment when the situation requires one, which once you get into the storylines can be quite often. I think I'm going to enjoy this series of stories.

I enjoyed this so much!!!!!!!

I love this series.
I've read and thoroughly enjoyed all the books.
I didn't think I'd really want to listen to them as well but as they weren't to expensive I downloaded the first.
Within the first few minutes I was hooked.
It's really good anyway but the audio version is spot on for the story. I will be listening to them all.
It'll be good to experience the semaphore action again 😀

Like Bewitched with a bit of Harry Potter

I loved this book. Quirky and funny and no idea where it was going. Many characters, which I like and no romance (thank god !).

Jill finds out she is a witch; and is obviously shocked. How will she keep the two worlds apart and learn all her spells. No idea. And how will it fit in with her PI work.

This book was setting up the story. Be really interested for the next one.

Brilliant!

I really enjoyed this book. A fantastic story, well written with great characters. It was wonderfully narrated with a good variety of character voices. I'm looking forward to listening to the rest of the series.

Quaint and light hearted

Quite liked this as an easy listen, I'd also say its young adult friendly as its all a bit twee.

Jill is a ditsy character, the serial killer case is somewhat a side story to the unravelling of her crazy family.

Winky the cat is clearly a pyscho, pretty sure I would of re-homed him or had him put down if he were mine.

The word ass hat appear a lot, its quite annoying and doesn't really seem to sit well for me. (I'm not against swearing etc, it just feels like a lame addition, its either that or the narrator wasn't down with saying it repeatedly).

I like the effect of people being on the telephone it added some authenticity to the narration.

Nice light summer reading

I fancied something lighter than my usual noir for the holidays, and went for this on a whim. I am now on book 3 a few days later! They are light hearted and engaging, and not too long for those who want some fun listening. These books are so far suitable for younger teens as well as adults, no swearing, sex, or grisly bits.

The premise is a well trodden road - person finds out they're actually a witch and theres a secret world, and a mysterious reason for them not finding out before. However this book does it very well with a good mix of humour and the crime mysteries thrown in to add some spice. The narration is done fairly well, but their West Country accent did grate a bit for me as I'm from there and its a bit exaggerated. That said it wasnt enough to do more than knock a small star off. The rest of the narration is done well, and the characters are well defined.

All in all, very happy so far, and eager to continue with the series - well at least as far as audible have recorded anyway.