Not the Killing Type

A Booktown Mystery, Book 7

By: Lorna Barrett

Narrated by: Karen White

Length: 8 hrs and 49 mins

Publisher's summary

It's November in Stoneham, New Hampshire, and time for the Chamber of Commerce elections. The long-standing Chamber president is being challenged by a former lover-Tricia's own sister, Angelica. Also throwing his hat in the ring is small business owner Stan Berry. Unfortunately, Stan isn't in the race for long. When Stan is found murdered, his political rivals become suspects.

Angelica is going to need more than a vote of confidence from her sister-she needs Tricia to clear her name so she can win the election. Tricia soon uncovers a ballot box full of lies and betrayals, and a chamber full of people who had grudges against the victim. But were they serious enough to lead to murder? It's up to Tricia to pull the lever on a killer before it's curtains for someone else.

©2013 Penguin Group (USA) Inc. (P)2014 Tantor

Another Great Booktown Book

In <strong>Not the Killing Type</strong> by Lorna Barrett, Tricia Miles attends the Stoneham Creek Chamber of Commerce meeting where she nominates her sister, Angelica, to become president. In running, Angelica is challenging her ex-lover, Bob Kelly, the local realtor and landlord to most of the businesses in Stoneham. But everyone is surprised when Stan Barry, the local sign maker, nominates himself. The meeting takes a break, and Tricia, unable to wait in the long line for the ladies' room, goes to use the handicapped restroom. Upon opening the door, she finds Stan sitting on the toilet and stabbed through the heart.

Tricia gets involved in trying to solve the mystery as she goes about her life. She will be maid of honor in the wedding of her former shop assistant, Ginny. Then Tricia's ex- husband, Christopher, comes to town, telling everyone that he used to be married to Tricia and has come to Stoneham to be near her, with the intention of a reconciliation. And Tricia's new assistant, Pixie, a former prostitute on parole who loves classic mystery books, is bent on decorating Haven't Got a Clue but has terrible taste.

Barrett writes fun books, and <strong>Not the Killing Type</strong> is another good example of an enjoyable one. The mystery takes us along many paths as Tricia investigates. The rivalry between Angelica and Bob heats up dramatically with the election coming up. But further, the book portrays life in Stoneham with its unique residents, adding to the flavor of the book. We come to feel that we know each of many characters personally and would recognize them if we ran into them on the street.

The audio edition is performed by Karen White. Usually I really enjoy White's acting, but this book doesn't showcase her skills as well as other books I've heard. Her voices for Tricia and Angelica don't distinguish themselves from each other much, and at least once she merged the names of Tricia and Pixie to turn a name into Trixie. However, White still makes the audiobook enjoyable.

As with other books in this series, I really enjoyed <strong>Not the Killing Type</strong>. It gives a strong mystery set amid the many interesting people of Stoneham. I give this book five stars.

<strong>Disclaimer:</strong> I received this audiobook for free for review purposes, but that had no affect on the content of my review.

Great

I Love this series! Characters are interesting and plots are entertaining! Just ready for Tricia to have a true love!

Great Cozy

Loved the storyline and the narrater. Well written, good characters. Love the description of the town and relationships among the people who live there. Best of the series so far!

THE BEST YET

The latest installment in the booktown mystery series has a great plot, well liked and developed characters, plot twists and a little romance. This is the best book of the series and I look forward to the next book.

A good book in spite of the main character

If you could sum up Not the Killing Type in three words, what would they be?

Great secondary characters

Who was your favorite character and why?

Pixie...she has really redeemed herself.

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

A variety of accents. It's amazing how much a character's voice can change book to book.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes.

Any additional comments?

I have never "read" so far into a series where the main character was so pathetic. She seems to wake up every day, don that chip on her shoulder and pass on her bad attitude. This is the first book where I had hope she was finally growing up. Worth getting for the story.

Another great one!

I'm so glad that Karen white took over narrating this series, because she made me enjoy it again & she brings the characters to life in a way that no other narrator could. I find myself really enveloped in the tales that Lorna writes & each book in this series has gotten consistently better. A great listen!

not the best book in the series

This probably won't be an useful review, but I have to say that after enjoying the previous books in the series, I found myself rather annoyed with this one. It is starting to sound unlikely that she could keep finding dead bodies and not be involved in it. The main character, Tricia, is starting to get on my nerves. She is whinny, snobish, and her guy problems seem to be her own fault. She started off as a likeable character and was liked by most other characters in the town, now it seems as if half of them hate her and I can't say as I blame them. And for being disliked by so many she has four guys falling all over her. It doesn't seem very realistic, or in any way believable. At the end of the book she was blaming herself for the events that had happened, and ho early I blamed her to. I did however think the storyline was a decent one, and would have liked to are it with the original Tricia from book one. I'll read the next book in the series, but if this character doesn't improve, then I can't day as I will read anymore.

How many dead bodies can one person find!

What disappointed you about Not the Killing Type?

It's the same plot over and over

What was most disappointing about Lorna Barrett’s story?

Not very engaging

How could the performance have been better?

Miss Cassandra Campbell.... Karen White not nearly as good

Mediocre

I started out liking this series, but as the books progress they seem to have lost what I envisioned for this series. The characters seem stuck doing the same things over and over. I’m not giving up on the series yet, but the plots have become predictable & stale. I’ll give the next book a try before giving up.

Cozy Mystery

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

I love Karen White's recordings and I own as many as I can buy. So I gave this series a try based on a reviewers saying this story was the best. Oh boy, not my cup of tea. Amazon said on-off boyfriend Sheriff Baker. If you like a cozy mystery then this is for you. Yes, the author had a plot and a good who dunnit, but you must love a very simple small town and the characters that live there. It was almost like visiting a retirement home and that type of conversation.

What could Lorna Barrett have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

well certainly more romance between our heroine and sheriff Baker. It was non existent. Author should just move into the mystery category, but men would complain that this was just too boring or sweet/tame. Sandra Brown writes a sexy mystery, LB take note.

Which character – as performed by Karen White – was your favorite?

Sheriff Baker what little there was of him. Such a waste of a potential character. Will was good as Karen does such a wonderful job on male voices. I purchased as I thought I would get a bad boy sheriff romance. No this was not the case at all. So disappointed.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from Not the Killing Type?

this had a moral to the story line. Sweet is ok but humor or sassy dialogue could have saved this story for me. The whole series is cozy and sweet, so a listeners must want that type of read. In the 90's, core romance was not the FSOG or tattoo listens we are now flooded with. This series maybe from that period, which I did not check before purchasing.

Any additional comments?

If you are a fan of this author, then Karen White does an absolutely fab job of bring each and every character to life. However, for me, this series is just to slow and tame even if the author has a good mystery outline.