loopyker’s #CBR4 Review #08: The Killings at Badger’s Drift: Chief Inspector Barnaby Series, Book 1 by Caroline Graham

I’m a fan of the TV show, Midsomer Murders, and the first five books in Caroline Graham’s Chief Inspector Barnaby Series inspired this TV show, so I thought I’d see how the audiobooks compare starting with The Killings at Badger’s Drift: Chief Inspector Barnaby Series, Book 1 . I haven’t read any of the original (7) print books.

If you’ve seen the British TV show, then you know that Midsomer Murders follows the investigations of Detective Chief Inspector Tom Barnaby and his younger sidekick Sgt. Gavin Troy, around the quaint little villages in the English countryside . These are slower paced murder mysteries when compared to typical American shows. Runtime per episode is 100 minutes. If you find these too slow-paced for you, then the 8-13 hour or more length of the audio books won’t be to your taste.

Compared to the TV show, I found both the Barnaby and Troy characters less likeable. DCI Barnaby was missing that subtle, warm humour portrayed so well by actor John Nettles and similarly, Sgt. Troy was missing the sweetness to his inexperienced bumbling that Daniel Casey (and later Jason Hugh as DS Jones) brought to the roll.

Read the rest of the review at Loopy Ker’s Life

Katie’s #CBR4 Review #52: Soulless by Gail Carriger

Title: Soulless
Author: Gail Carriger
Source: library
Rating: ★★★★★
Review Summary: It was everything I hoped for – awesome integration of a steampunk society with supernatural elements plus hilarious characters.

“First, she has no soul. Second, she’s a spinster whose father is both Italian and dead. Third, she was rudely attacked by a vampire, breaking all standards of social etiquette.” Alexia is afflicted with these and a variety of other social stigmas which she bravely soldiers through, all while dealing with suspicion that she is responsible for recent vampire disappearances. She handles even the most uncouth behavior with remarkable poise, a sharp wit, and a bxcziting sense of humor. And somehow, in the midst of it all, she manages to begin a startlingly wonderful romance.

Read more on Doing Dewey.

Katie’s #CBR4 Review #50: One for the Money by Janet Evanovich

Title: One for the Money
Author: Janet Evanovich
Source: library
Rating: ★★★☆☆
Review Summary: This book is like junk food for your mind. It’s fun and enjoyable, but it sucks you in with humor and sex appeal rather than good writing.

One for the Money is a surprisingly plausible story about Stephanie Plum,  a pretty average woman who loses her job and ends up becoming a bounty hunter. Sounds crazy, right? What makes it work is that she’s not instantly good at it. Her bumbling mishaps and witty commentary throughout are both hilarious and believable. Her strong personality and sheer stubbornness – enhanced by the fact that one of her targets, Joe Morelli, is a guy who slept with her once and never looked back – gives her the perseverance she needs to make the job work.

Read more on Doing Dewey.

loopyker’s #CBR4 Review #06: The Angry Earth: A Story of the New Madrid Earthquakes by Sally Watson

After a long break, I will try to do some catching-up.  🙂

This is one of the newer books from one of my favourite authors, Sally Watson.  Sally is well-known for her juvenile fiction published through 1954-1971 (my favourite, Jade, among them), but she began self-publishing new books in 2006 – present .

The Angry Earth  is one of Sally’s more recent adult-level books, but it is still without the explicit violence or sex that you find so often in other historical fiction.  I much prefer Sally’s style.

I read this a few months ago, coincidentally just past the bicentennial of the main event inspiring this story –  the start of the New Madrid Earthquakes of 1811.   The New Madrid Seismic Zone is in the U.S.A. along the Missouri, Kentucky and Tennessee border, but also goes into Illinois, Indiana, Arkansas and Mississippi.  (more info. on Wikipedia: New Madrid Seismic Zone )  Even though these were massive earthquakes, and they could happen again, very few of my American friends seem to have heard about it!  Certainly when we think of earthquakes in the U.S.A., we think of the west coast, not the south/mid-west.

The Angry Earth follows the immigration of a privileged family from France, who due to a change in circumstance end up in a small frontier town in the U.S.A. of French and English.  Their poor, twelve year old maidservant, Fleur, is left with most of the responsibility of getting them started in this new place, becoming one of the strong and independent heroine’s that are Sally’s specialty.  In this already challenging setting, the family and town then all face the total upheaval of their lives and homes when the earthquakes begin.

continued at Loopy Ker’s Life

Katie’s #CBR4 Review #41: The Book of Tomorrow by Cecelia Ahern

Title: The Book of Tomorrow
Author: Cecelia Ahern
Source: from publisher for a TLC Book Tour
Rating: ★★★★☆
Review Summary: 

Here’s the plot as I knew it going into the story: Tamara’s dad dies, her mother withdraws deeply into her grief, and the previously wealthy mother and daughter most go live with poor relations to get by. While struggling to fit into her new life, Tamara finds a book, which every night reveals the events which will happen the next day.

Based on the description, I was nervous that this book would be very emotional, bordering on too angsty or too sad for me to enjoy. I’m not sure what drew me to read it any way, perhaps the intriguing premise and cover picture, but whatever it was, my instincts were good. Although there were certainly emotional and thought-provoking elements to the story, the story felt most like a really good mystery to me.

Read more at Doing Dewey.