AUDIOBOOK REVIEW: Ten Lords A-Leaping, by C.C. Benison...which should have been called "Not As Christmas-y As It Sounds"

Ten Lords A-Leaping is like a combination of several genres of cozy mystery: it's an English country house murder; it's a vicar mystery; at times it's a sexy romance mystery that has the sleuth lingering over impure thoughts (which was kind of weird in a vicar mystery).

One thing it is NOT is a Christmas mystery, which is bull crap as far as I'm concerned. Not only do I LOVE Christmas cozies, I had every reason to expect that this would be one. It's called Ten Lords A-Leaping, the third in a series that started--of course--with Twelve Drummers Drumming and Eleven Pipers Piping. As if that weren't Christmasy enough, the sleuth's name is FATHER CHRISTMAS! And this one was published in December! Why WOULDN'T I expect it to be a Christmas mystery? But alas, no, it does not take place at Christmas time.

It was a little hard for me to get past that one, if I'm honest. It's like C.C. Benison was taunting me. But I digress.

The mystery itself is enjoyable enough, I suppose, though it does proceed at a meandering pace (read: it's a little long). It was hard to maintain any sense of urgency when the murder itself seems all but forgotten throughout much of the book as the characters go off on tangents about lost relatives and weird romances. But I did like the English manor setting, complete with labyrinth (who doesn't love a labyrinth?), and the set up of the literal "lords a-leaping" (Peers of the Realm skydiving for charity) is a lot of fun.

I read this book and also listened to the audiobook, and I must say that the narration by Steve West (with Jean Gilpin) was amazing. I'm pretty picky (read: easily annoyed) about audiobook narration, but I had no complaints about this at all. In fact, I may look up other books narrated by Steve West to see if there are any others I'd like to hear.


BOOK DETAILS:
Ten Lords A-Leaping: A Father Christmas Mystery
by C.C. Benison (Douglas Whiteway)
Audiobook narrated by Steve West and Jean Gilpin
Published by Random House/Delacorte Press
Audiobook published by Random House Audio
Publication Date: December 3, 2013
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 Source: NetGalley (audiobook from my local library)

Listen to FREE AUDIOBOOKS on YouTube!

I only JUST discovered that YouTube has loads of FREE UNABRIDGED AUDIOBOOKS! Did everyone already know about this? There are lots and lots of older mystery books in particular, so I'm in heaven. Right now I'm listening to The Red House Mystery, by A.A. Milne (it's the detective mystery that Milne wrote for grownups and I'm loving it so far)!

There are a number of channels that have full audiobook uploads. I've been finding them by searching for "audiobook" plus a few keywords and setting the filter to "Long (20min+)" to find the longer files (and not just the book trailers or author interviews).

If you've found some great audiobooks on YouTube, I'd love to hear about them!

BOOK REVIEW: Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, by Ransom Riggs (book and audiobook)

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, by Ransom Riggs

Narrated by Jesse Bernstein

Published by Quirk Books on June 7, 2011

Audiobook published by Random House Audio, June 10, 2011

Review first appeared on Cozy Little Book Journal on February 11, 2014

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I think this is my favourite book from Quirk Books to date. I've always thought of them as just a novelty publishing house, best known for the Worst-Case Scenario guides and all of those Pride and Prejudice and Zombies type books. They make funny gifts, but they're not...well, they're not going to make anybody's list of favourite books. That is until now.

BOOK REVIEW: The Anatomist's Apprentice, by Tessa Harris (audiobook)

The Anatomist's Apprentice:

The Dr. Thomas Silkstone Mysteries, Book 1

Author: Tessa Harris

Audiobook Narrator: Simon Vance

Publisher: Kensington

Audiobook Publisher: Blackstone Audio

Publication Date: December 27, 2011

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Is there any book that can't be made better by the narration of Simon Vance? No. No, there is not. Simon Vance is the absolute best. A lot of the other reviews I read for this book on Goodreads complained that the writing was poor or that the story was convoluted and overly complicated but I honestly didn't mind any of it. I could listen to Simon Vance tell me a story any time. I'm thinking of doing a project next year in which I read classics of literature and I think I may start with a list of any book that has an audiobook narrated by Simon Vance. I bet War and Peace wouldn't even seem that long, to hear him tell it.

To be perfectly fair, I did perhaps find the middle to the end of the book a bit convoluted and overly complicated, and I'm not sure I would have loved it as much as I did if I were simply reading it. 

BOOK REVIEW: The Silent Wife, by A.S.A. Harrison (book and audiobook)

The Silent Wife
Author: A.S.A. Harrison
Audiobook Narrators: Karen White and Donald Corren
Publisher: Penguin
Publication Date: June 25, 2013
Source: Goodreads (paperback from the publisher), audiobook from local library
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I just don't understand the hype about this book. I've had it on my shelf for months and I can't even recall how many times I've picked it up, tried to plough through a few more chapters, only to wonder--again--why it's so boring. Surely it should be better, after all the attention it's gotten? But the characters are not just unlikable, they're downright inscrutable. What is their motivation for anything they do? I couldn't get a handle on any of them, and I absolutely could not get myself to care.