Shot Through the Hearth

Fixer-Upper Mysteries, Book 7

By: Kate Carlisle

Narrated by: Jae Delane

Contractor Shannon Hammer is measuring murder motives in the latest Fixer-Upper Mystery from the New York Times best-selling author of A Wrench in the Works and Eaves of Destruction....

Shannon's good friend and retired tech billionaire Raphael Nash is loving his new retired life, but he can't stay unoccupied for too long. He's started the Marigold Foundation, which helps fund small companies and individuals who do humanitarian work around the world. It's an exciting time in Lighthouse Cove as Raphael hosts the first ever global conference, inviting big thinkers from every area of industry to give presentations on eco-living.

Raphael's old business partner arrives in town with a grudge and a plan to steal him away from his important new passion project. Shannon knows her friend has no intention of giving up Marigold and is proud of Raphael for sticking to his guns. But when his former associate winds up dead, all signs point to Raphael.

It's up to Shannon to hammer out the details of the murder before her friend gets pinned for the crime.

©2019 Kathleen Beaver (P)2020 Audible, Inc.

Narrator’s Voice

I have enjoyed the books but this narrator’s voice did not fit. I am truly disappointed in the voice of the narrator and the voice she uses for the characters. Not sure if I will listen to book 8. Bring back the previous narrator.

Story Plot

Disliked Mac's voice and Shannon's haughty demeanor, unnecessary and childish banter throughout the story. Some of the chapters seemed to be filling space and didn't add any substance to the story.

Great - I love these series books

I like the plot and the easy going main characters. Can’t wait to hear the next book

I regret not reading more reviews and buying the complete series

Once I get hooked on a series, I have never felt the need to look at reviews further into the series. I really wish I would have this time. By book three, I was hooked on the characters and story line and decided to purchase the rest of the series. I got to this installment and I am so disappointed that I purchased the rest now. The narrator does an ok job for the main character but all the rest are done very poorly in my opinion. It is terribly difficult to know the differences between characters and that goes for her male and female voices in the conversation. Considering that the main male characters, Mac and Eric, are supposed to be "very masculine" guys, her voice portrayal of them makes them sound very delicate, almost whiny/wimpy, which does not match with their actions. I don't know how I will get through the rest of this series if she sticks with this consistency. I hope the next book is different.

Unusual third novel

Originally I read two of Kate's novels. Could not wait for a third one. Well, let me tell you, the third novel was not as good as the first two.. Boy,, was I disalpointed.

Fun story and characters hurt by poor narrator

I've enjoyed all of books in this series. Fun cozy mysteries and enjoyable to listen to normally. This new narrator made most of the male voices sound weirdly munchkin-esque. The narrator lacks the ability to nuance her voice and create an enjoyable cast of character voices. She made Emily and Jane sound like two gruff men. It made this particular book rather grating to listen to even though I had initially been excited to see a new book in this series. I hope the series will continue, but PLEASE choose a more accomplished narrator!

Good series, new narrator not so good

I’ve been enjoying this series, but I really don’t enjoy when they change narrators in the middle of a series. This one grates on me and I’m struggling identifying the characters by voice. So disappointing. The story and writing are as good as the rest of the series, just struggling with the audio.

Couldn’t finish it.

This is the 6th or 7th in the series I’ve listened to. I struggled to finish the last one because of the narration. I couldn’t finish thus one and I’m returning it. The last one was tough because the last narrator had difficulty differentiating between the two primary female characters. This narrator was fine at differentiating between the characters, and her main character was great, but many of the other characters just sounded ridiculous and annoying. This writer has several characters that each speak in their own voice and I think it’s just tough on the narrators to come up with multiple good voices. The first 4 or 5 in the series were fine but the last two were difficult. I won’t be trying any more in this series. I’m not sure why whoever is producing these, or whoever is approving the narrator, isn’t able to see that. But maybe it’s just me since these last two books do appear to get good reviews for the most part.

Interesting story….terrible narrator

I’ve been loving this series. Unfortunately this is a new narrator and not a good one.

The child voice is painful

Story plot okay but not real appealing to me.
The child voice is hard to listen to for any length of time.