The Nick of Time

Capital City Murders, Books 6-10

De: Troy Lambert, Stuart Gustafson

Narrado por: Joseph L. Stevenson

From a Hanging in Helena to a Defenestration in Denver, Nick O’Flannigan can’t seem to avoid mysteries.

A mysterious hanging in Helena takes Nick on a historical journey. A cowboy game in Bismarck turned deadly. Family gone wrong led to parricide in Pierre. The carnage of an unsolved mystery in Cheyenne leads to a shocking solution. He witnessed defenestration in Denver, and his photos held a critical clue.

Wherever Nick goes, mystery follows.

In this exciting continuation of the Capital City Murders series, you can read books 6-10 all in one place for one low price! Catch up with Nick as he travels across the country on assignment for Travel USA magazine, taking photos of state capitol buildings. In every city, he finds a new mystery, and he’s got one year to complete his assignment. Will he be able to finish, or will his side adventures get in the way?

©2019 Troy Lambert (P)2021 Troy Lambert

Baskerville Book Reviews

This is a collection of my individual reviews from books 6 – 10

Hanging In Helena
I’m noticing the writing is getting better. It’s less about feeling the need to insert a mystery into a story about a guy taking pictures of capital buildings. This time around, it focused a lot more on making Interesting Protagonist into an actually interesting person for a change.

In one area the writing is lacking though. It’s showing the author(s) age(s), as they refer to women as “gals”, dinner as “supper” and use the word tiff. I’ve only ever heard 1 other person use the word tiff and that was a decade ago. He referred to it as “1940s slang”, which I have no idea if that’s accurate, but seeing as how seldom used it is, it seems unlikely a young guy like Interesting would know it.

Overall, the narration was alright. The narrator still doesn’t know the difference between O and 0. There’s no such thing as “19O5”. In general, his voice can be lacking at times. Often when male characters were talking, it was difficult to tell who was speaking as they sounded the same. In other instances, the female characters were given the same voice, which didn’t help.

Branded in Bismarck
Since this is the second book in a row where Interesting Protagonist is starting to get a little interesting, I think he has earned a name. I think Shaggy because he’s skinny and tall, but mostly because these books remind me of Scooby-Doo mysteries.

I noticed a lot of attention to detail in book 7, maybe it was there previously, but I’ve never taken note of it. Though I still remember Shaggy’s 50 MB SSD or whatever it was from book 1. In one instance, Shaggy internally corrects somebody who refers to photographs as pictures. So I later found it stupid that he referred to a news clip as “film”. Who the hell is using film in the modern-day age? Another instance of this anachronistic and antiquated dialogue was a few books back when he mentioned “rewinding” a digital video. Other instances of outdated language in these books, make the writing sound sloppy.

I think the writers are doing a better job of mixing Shaggy’s personal life with the mystery. The mystery doesn’t occupy the entire story, nor does it just show up and resolve itself like it did in one of the previous books.

Overall, the narrator did a good enough job. He’s not going to win any awards for this narration and if he does, he should give them back. But overall, it was a passable job.

Parricide in Pierre
This story gets the award for the dumbest line I’ve ever read in a book. “Ghosts didn’t usually leave footprints.” Is that because they’re not real, or because even if they were, they lack a physical body? Stupid lines aside, this story is on par with the last few in the series. Shaggy’s friend, Velma makes an appearance for the first time in a while, though Daphne is only mentioned.

The mystery was pretty good, and it didn’t push Shaggy’s photography off to the side in the process. There was a plot point about a ticket shaggy received in a previous story that I’d forgotten about which was worked into the story nicely.

The narration was alright, as always. The narrator doesn’t know the difference between O and zero, which I find stupid and annoying. There are also some serious audio issues in chapter 9. It sounded as if multiple recordings were layered on top of each other.

Carnage in Cheyenne
Another decent mystery story from this series. It really pushed the taking pictures of the capital half of the plot to the side. I don’t think it’s possible to make Wyoming interesting and I think the writers knew that as well, so they didn’t try; opting to focus on an interesting mystery. The guilty party is easy to figure out, but it’s more about how Shaggy gets there than the who did it? aspect. He also talked about meeting Velma and Daphne in the next book, so that’ll be interesting.

As always, the narrator did a decent enough job. Though I’m never going to stop complaining about his inability to tell O and 0 apart. it’s extremely annoying.

Defenestration in Denver
Once again, I find the use of the word “supper” to be out of place. I don’t know anybody in the age range of these characters who use that word. The authors did a good job of working the mystery into the plot while not shoving Shaggy’s friends off to the side. It’s nice to see Velma and Daphne make appearances and get some character development.

While I’m not super into the taking pictures of buildings aspect of the story, it does get pushed off to the side a little but this time around. It seems as if there’s rarely a balance between that aspect of the story, the mystery, and character development.

As usual, the narrator does a passable job. I never had an issue telling who was speaking, but it wasn’t anything special.

NOTE: This copy was provided to me free of charge as a digital review copy. The opinions stated in this review are mine and mine alone, I was not paid or requested to give this book a certain rating, suggestion, or approval.

CCM Books 6-10

In books 6-10 Nick is still at it, Covering the State Capitals for Travel USA Magazine and helping the authorities solve some murders. This is a great premise and the stories are enjoyable with great characters, you get different characters and different murders in each state capital Nick visits. I received this audiobook set from the authors and Story Origin in exchange for a review of the book.

Capital City Murders 2nd Compilation

This second compilation of novellas in the Capital City Murder cases continue in the same vein as the first five novellas. Nick O'Flannigan drives to a capital city to take photographs of the capital and other important buildings when he becomes involved in a local murder and because of his "keen eye for detail", he is able to help the local police solve the murder. I enjoy these stories because of the diversity of the types of murders and the diversity of the settings. Usually at the end of the story, there is a brief segment listing some important facts about the capital city and the state; however, in book 6 that segment is missing. Joseph L Stevenson's narration is pleasing and adds a certain amount of gravitas to the subject matter. I was given a free copy of the audiobook and I have voluntarily left this review.

Fun listen

This was another fun listen. Having several books in one group was a easy way to catch up on Nick's adventures. You will not be disappointed. I received a copy for an honest review.

Great Boxed Set

I really do enjoy having the books together in one collection for reading/listening ease. The character work and story lines of each book kept me entertained from beginning to end. The Narrator made this a collection that was easy to listen to and made it hard not to listen to all in one go.

I received a copy of the audiobook and I am voluntarily leaving my honest review.