The Third Girl

Molly Sutton Mysteries, Book 1

By: Nell Goddin

Narrated by: Becket Royce

Boston girl Molly Sutton moves to a small village in France to lick her wounds after a divorce. Castillac is charming, the croissants amazing, the wine delectable. Molly's new life is full of contentment, if a bit short on excitement.

But then a girl goes missing...and Molly's world gets turned upside down.

Truth be told, no one in the village feels safe. They struggle to believe such darkness could exist in a friendly village, where people spend most of their time thinking about nothing more frightening than what to have for lunch.

And when the missing girl's distraught parents come to stay at Molly's bed and breakfast, she is drawn into the case, like it or not.

Will Molly and the French detective figure out what happened to Amy Bennett before someone else disappears?

©2015 Nell Goddin (P)2024 Nell Goddin

Fun cozy mystery set in French countryside.

Any additional comments?

The Third Girl by Nell Goddin is the first book in the Molly Sutton Mysteries, which is a delightful cozy mystery set in the French countryside. The story begins within hours of Molly Sutton arriving from Boston to a quaint village in France. Seeking a fresh start after a failed marriage, Molly purchases an old rundown country house near where she once attended college. Molly desires nothing more than to enjoy the community's good food and slower lifestyle. However, within a few days of moving into the area, one of the local art students vanishes without a trace. The rest of the story is figuring out what happened to the young woman.

I really enjoyed this story, which is well plotted and well written. What I loved most is the dialog between the characters as it flows naturally as if the reader is listening in on their private conversations. And the "who did it" caught me completely by surprise. As someone who frequently judges books by their covers, it's a shame the cover isn't more revealing of the delightful book inside, like so many othe cozy mystery covers are like.

I listened to the Audible version of this book narrated by Becket Royce who did an excellent job. Her style is very natural and conversational, with differing voices for all characters. In short, I definitely recommend this audiobook for fans of cozy mysteries!

Get past the narration

If you can get past the illogical narration, with poor French pronunciation and the inexplicable placement of French accents in the narration, the story is somewhat interesting. Divorcee moves to France on a whim, buys an old house that she converts to gite, gets to know the locals, and helps solve a string of murders. OK summer read. Nothing more.

Distractions

There was too much sexual innuendo and talk about breasts that did not add to the story or help build a character study. It slowed the pace.

Slow and Disjointed

This one had great potential but never really took off. A lot of filler that just made the story messy. There were so many miscellaneous characters that did not add anything to the story. No clear profession in the story or build up. It was suddenly solved and then over. I still have no idea how we got there. No real crime solving occurred.

The narrator is what kept me listening.

Poor quality

Stilted reading and writing. Poor French accent. If you can't do it right don't do it. Speak English. Too many unnecessary words and facts as I find with a lot of these inexpensive kindle books.

Just okay

Would you try another book from Nell Goddin and/or Becket Royce?

No

Would you be willing to try another book from Nell Goddin? Why or why not?

No, I was underwhelmed by this book and the story. Quite repetitive.

Did the narration match the pace of the story?

It was okay.

Do you think The Third Girl needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

No

A bit of mystery and fun

Light hearted mystery sprinkled with the American stereotypical view of French life. Nice story to pass time.

Decent story

On the whole I was not sorry I listened to this and I may try the next one. I like mysteries. I did not appreciate all the flashbacks and ‘foreshadowings’ that had no real place in the story. And I really could not particularly like this heroine. She was, for example, so affected by someone else’s grief and loss that she struggled to function and yet all she could think about was pastry and gossip. I hope the author’s depiction of her improves over time.

I thought the narration well done and I don’t understand other criticisms about the accent. This woman did very well with the French as well as with the few places that a French speaker was using English. I also truly appreciate a story so well read that a listener can differentiate between characters without the need for overdone “voices.”

Ok story, awful narration

The story takes place in France. Perhaps a narrator who is able to pronounce words and names in French would have been more appropriate. I found myself so annoyed with the pronunciation errors that it detracted from the story. Even with a good narrator, the story itself was simply ok. It is a fairly simple whodunnits without depth. I need to stop taking the two-for-one credit offers, since there seems to be a theme of humdrum story & poor narration among the offered titles...this one being one of them.

Intriguing first book in a new series

Nell Goddin has crafted an intriguing first book in her new series. It is well written and the characters are well developed. With plenty of twists I highly recommend this book to cozy mystery fans.