To murder a Saint

To murder a Saint

• Thursday 19 February 2015

 

 

To Murder a Saint: Saints, Volume 1
 
Written by: Nicole Loughan
 
Narrated by: Suzy Lexington
 
Length: 1 hr and 53 mins
 
Series: Saints, Book 1
 
Unabridged Audiobook
 
Release Date:06-13-14
 
Publisher: Little Spot for Stories
 
Audible.com
 

Publisher's Summary

"The ground is too wet...If you bury the dead here, they can come back." Her father always warned her that the bayou was a mysterious and dangerous place. She never suspected that the greatest danger of her life was lurking in New York City. Before their bags are unpacked one of two Cajun girls in fresh from Louisiana is found savagely murdered in New York. All the clues point to a wild animal, a perplexing development for a third floor apartment. Lacking a suspect the police accompany the murdered girl's French speaking roommate back to her reclusive Southern Louisiana town in search of a lead. They are met with a warning that the killer is not finished yet and learn that this is not the first mysterious death in the family.
 
©2013 Nicole Utter (P)2014 Nicole Utter
 

My Review

One of my "not quite a cozy" picks, but a 5 star listen!

This is a short, but very intense listen where every word counts, it's action filled from the slightly disconcerting beginning to the wonderfully imaginative (and scary) ending.
 
Must admit, listening to Fanchons' creepy thoughts about her date at the start of the story had me thinking that she could be a top class psychopath
 
Fanchon and Josephine, two bright young girls from the Bayou who grew up together almost as sisters, have moved to New York to pursue their careers.
 
Fanchon returns home from her date and opens her door to sheer horror, there, in the blood splattered room she is faced with the ghastly scene, the butchered remains of her beloved friend Josephine.
 
Everything suggests the culprit is an alligator! Therefore, the police decide they must make further investigations back in Josephines' home. Fanchon accompanies Detective Banyon, a hard core New Yorker, to the Bayou. Fanchon finds herself explaining the mysteries of her home to Banyon, and acting as a buffer between this outsider and the family and friends of Josephine.
 
The author provides the listener with some wonderful descriptions of places and customs, she also wrote in a heartbreakingly beautiful way of how Josephines murder affected the family and Fanchon, especially in the light of a previous family tragedy.
 
Once Josephine has been returned home, Fanchon makes her way back to New York, against the wishes of everyone, and the advice of Madame DuPont - who sees all!
 
The police give up on Josephine, they create a crazy scenario to explain away her macabre death, make a public announcement, and that is that.
 
Except of course it's not!
 
The difficult part of reviewing a shorter story is the fear of revealing spoilers! All I will say is, the mystery unravels in a most unexpected and very entertaining way. Despite it being a slightly gory murder mystery it does contain some wonderfully humorous gems. I found it to be a truly creative, entertaining and beautifully written story. I loved this and I'm eager for the next in series.
 

Narrator

I can't fault the narration of Suzy Lexington, she is a wonderful story teller, she created all the characters so well for me, I could just picture them in my head. This is a short story, and within are moments of horror, fear, deep sadness and humour, yet Suzy portrays all the emotions so seamlessly.
 
The accents? Well, I don't know, I'm British/ Australian, but they all sounded good to me.
 
This is a well produced audiobook and I thoroughly enjoyed listening.
 
I received this audiobook as a gift from the author in return for this, my honest opinion