Tag: DC Smith & Kings Lake Investigation Page 1 of 2

Another Girl (Audiobook) by Peter Grainger, Gildart Jackson: A Different Focus Keeps The Series Fresh

On February 19, 2024

In Audiobook, DC Smith & Kings Lake, Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller

Another Girl

by Peter Grainger, Gildart Jackson (Narrator)

DETAILS:
Series: A Kings Lake Investigation, #4
Publisher: Tantor Audio
Publication Date: January 23, 2024
Format: Unabridged Audiobook
Length: 8 hrs., 38 min.
Read Date: February 13-15, 2024

What’s Another Girl About?

Serena Butler is loaned out to do some plainclothes intelligence gathering in a nearby city. She misses a check-in with her handler, right after saying something tantalizing about making some new friends. This galvanizes her team back at King’s Lake and her DCI pushes her weight and rank around to get involved in the investigation into her disappearance–and the drugs investigation Butler was helping with.

At the same time, there’s an apparent hit and run for the Murder Squad to look in back at home–and while they do their due diligence with that, their concern for one of their own clearly has captured their attention (also, an absent pathologist means a delayed autopsy, so they can only do so much).

A Change of Focus

Initially, DCI Cara Freeman and DC Serena Butler carried most of this book–although DI Tom Green gets a lot more focus than he’s ever received before. And that was just great, I always liked him, but I wanted to see him get to shine a bit. Freeman and Butler are a great pairing and really establish this as a different kind of entry in this series.

Yes, when Waters shows up roughly mid-way through the book, he ends up getting a lot of the focus, as we’re used to. Still, the narrative really does take advantage of Waters’ absence and explores the team and uses the multiple POVs to a greater advantage than Grainger has in the past. I don’t want Waters to get pushed to the background on a regular basis–but man, I really appreciated this.

But this is Serena’s book, really. We start with her assignment hitting a bump in the road and we finish by it going deeper than she was ready for. But throughout, we get to learn a lot more about this character that’s been around for twelve books and really takes on new life and a greater depth. She’s been a favorite of mine from early on in her first appearance–and I like her more now that I understand her better. Honestly, if she got her own spin-off series in the future, I’d be game, or just for more books like this. (a book that uses Green more would also be welcome, but given the way his character typically operates, I’m not sure that’s possible).

DC’s Shadow

DC Smith (it still feels strange to call him David) has always loomed large over these King’s Lake books, but it seemed to me that it was a little larger this time than it had been since Songbird (but it’s not like I keep statistics or anything). He’s either mentioned in conversation (by people on all sides of the law) or thought of by Chris and Serena–who will remember some advice/guidance he gave them–which allows Granger to slip in a line or two using his DC voice–and I’m always going to be in favor of that.

Which, I guess, brings us to:

A Word About the Narration

This is an audiobook, so I need to talk about the narration. But as I keep saying, I don’t know what to say about Gildart Jackson’s work on this series that I haven’t said umpteen times.

When his voice starts coming out of my phone, my mind instantly settles in for a good time. There’s a calmness that he evokes in me almost instantly (note: it’s not his voice, I rarely felt calm during the Alex Verus books). He catches the humor, the tension, the camaraderie, the…I don’t know, the spirit of these books. I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again, I’m not picking these up in print (although, I know at least one non-audiobook person who says they’re great in print), I have to have Jackson’s voice.

So, what did I think about Another Girl?

Grainger doesn’t frequently put his King’s Lake characters in peril (I thought about listing exceptions to that rule, but I won’t–but the point stands), this series is about typical investigations. But when he does, he does it effectively. And boy howdy, he does so here. I haven’t been this concerned for the fate of a Grainger character since A Private Investigation‘s close.

But more than just the danger aspect, watching Serena deal with the pressures of working undercover (especially as she initially wasn’t supposed to go as deep as she ended up) was so well done. Equally well done was watching her team fret about her when they couldn’t contact her and weren’t sure what was going on.

The hit-and-run story never got the time I initially expected, but the way that Grainger worked it into the overall storyline was his typical well-done work. He was able to weave it into the drugs story and show how it is about much more than drugs.

This tied this particular novel into something we first saw in On Eden Street and will likely show up for at least one more novel. Which isn’t to say that this novel isn’t largely a stand-alone like the rest, but there’s something that will tie it to further books.

I think I’ve rambled enough–possibly too much. I had a great time with this one, and as always I strongly encourage you to give this one a try. It would serve as a fine jumping-on point to the series (like every book so far), but if you have the time and means, I’d suggest starting at the beginning. Or somewhere. Just start with Peter Grainger, Gildart Jackson, and the detectives in and around King’s Lake Central.

Clearing the Deck II: Tweet-length thoughts about books I can’t find time to write about

By HCNewton

On January 11, 2024

In Audiobook, Comics, DC Smith & Kings Lake, Don Winslow, Faith Hunter, Fantasy, Fiction, Fletch, General Fiction/Literature, Gregory Mcdonald, Harry Bosch, Harry Dresden, Humor, Jim Butcher, M. W. Craven, Michael Connelly, Michael R. Underwood, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller, Non-Fiction, Renée Ballard, Science Fiction, Theology/Christian Living, Urban Fantasy, Washington Poe, YA/MG/Children's Books

I did this back in January 2020, and need to do it again.

I frequently mention how looming Mt. TBR is getting for me, but what’s worse is my “To Write About” pile, I know I’m never going to catch up with that properly and it bugs me to no end. But in the interest of something being better than nothing, a dash of realism, and a heavy dose of self-care, I’m cutting myself some slack. So I’m clearing the deck of everything from 2020-2022 that I haven’t made time for. This was painful to do, I was looking forward to writing about most of these, and I have so much that I want to say. But I’m just not going to get to them—and other books are starting to pile up, too. So, in 144 characters or less, here’s me cutting myself some slack.

How bad am I at keeping up with my To-Write-Titles? I put together the list of books for this post in January 2023. And am just now getting to it. I wish that was a joke.

(Click on the cover for an official site with more info)

	Battle Ground by Jim Butcher I just can’t talk about this one yet. I need more time. (yeah, they’re fictional characters, but I’ve spent too long with them to not be reeling)
	Desert Star by Michael Connelly Loved it while reading it. But I have more and more questions about all of it the longer I think about it. Not Connelly’s best but well worth it
	Dead Ground by M. W. Craven Not a typical Poe and Tilly case, just as good and gripping as the rest though.
	The Posthumous Memoirs of Brás Cubas by Machado de Assis, Flora Thomson-DeVeaux (Translator) A strange and somewhat humorous look at a ghost’s POV on his life. I want to read it a few more times to really get a handle on it. Heckuva read
	Nightwing: Year One Deluxe Edition by Chuck Dixon If there’s a better Nightwing writer out there, I’d like to see it. A great, great, great telling of his origin.
	Mythos by Stephen Fry Drags a little. Wish he could pick a tone for his retellings/commentary on the classic stories. Still, it’s Stephen Fry talking—worth the time.
	Heroes: Mortals and Monsters, Quests and Adventures by Stephen Fry See above, but felt it dragged a bit more.
	Teen Titans: Beast Boy by Kami Garcia, Gabriel Picolo (Penciller) A solid, believable update of Gar Logan’s backstory. Very promising follow-up to the Raven book. Really impressed with Picolo.
	Teen Titans: Beast Boy Loves Raven by Kami Garcia, Gabriel Picolo (Penciller) Bring the two together and it’s even better. I’m curious about the overall story, but would read just them being awkward together. Like the art.
	Missing Pieces: A Kings Lake Investigation by Peter Grainger, Gildart Jackosn (Narrator) The Murder Squad tackles a cold case and is as excellent as ever. I don’t know how to talk about this series w/o being redundant. I want more!
	Junkyard War by Faith Hunter, Khristine Hvam (Narrator) This was utterly fine. A lot didn’t go the way I expected. But I’m still in this series for the long haul.
	The Dime by Kathleen Kent One of the best first chapters ever. The rest is pretty good. Not sure I buy the motive for the murders, nor that I want to see what comes next.
	Batman: City of Crime by David Lapham If you buy (I can’t) Batman losing sight of his mission, this story about him recovering it is great. If you can’t…well, it’s pretty good.
	Bluebird, Bluebird by Attica Locke, J.D. Jackson (Narrator) A stunning work of fiction. Words fail me. A deeply compromised Texas Ranger tries to solve a potential hate crime and keep his job.
	Flynn by Gregory McDonald, Donald Corren (Narrator) I expected the Fletch narrator for some reason, but Corren won me over in minutes. One of my favorite novels of all-time. Great audio version.
	Son of Fletch by Gregory McDonald, Dan John Miller (Narrator) Oh, I wanted to love this. But I just liked it. I’ll probably hear Miller in my head anytime I read Fletch in print.
	Fletch Reflected by Gregory McDonald, Dan John Miller (Narrator) This is not the way the series should’ve ended. Some fantastic moments, but not sure it was worth it. Miller was solid as always.
	Last Couple Standing by Matthew Norman Norman’s best female characters (to date). Stupid premise, but it almost convinces me to like it by the end. Lots of great moments.
	Weakness Is the Way: Life with Christ Our Strength by J.I. Packer Packer’s great on 2 Corinthians and what Paul tells about weakness as a way of life for the Christian.
	The Monster in the Hollows by Andrew Peterson I’m not sure I loved the way the story went in this one, but I grew to appreciate it. Characters are still great.
	The Warden and the Wolf King by Andrew Peterson Whatever my misgivings about the last one, this was the right way to end the series. Just what I wanted (if mildly predictable)
	Deathstroke, Vol. 1: The Professional by Christopher J. Priest I prefer the version Wolfman and Perez initially told about his origin, but this ain’t a bad version. And I see why it was necessary. Good ’nuff
	There Goes The Neighborhood by S. Reed I stopped working with a book tour company because they wouldn’t let me be honest about this book ever. So I won’t be. Loved ALL of it. <3<3<3<3
	Percy Jackson’s Greek Gods by Rick Riordan, Jesse Bernstein (Narrator) If Percy Jackson edited D’Aulaires’s book you’d get this. A great way to introduce the myths to young readers. Bernstein is a spot-on Percy.
	Percy Jackson’s Greek Heroes by Rick Riordan, Jesse Bernstein (Narrator) See above, but with heroes.
	I Will Judge You by Your Bookshelf by Grant Snider If someone looked into my brain, took all of my ideas and feelings, and improved them, you’d get this book. But only one-third as good as this.
	All These Worlds by Dennis E. Taylor, Ray Porter (Narrator) Taylor and Porter are unbeatable together. This is funny (duh), and the grief and sadness are real. As is the anger. Is the ending too easy?
	The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien, Andy Serkis (Narrator) Serkis nails the narration (as you’d expect). Is there a better first book of a series in Fantasy?
	The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien, Andy Serkis (Narrator) Serkis is tremendous here. This whole book is ridiculously good.
	The Return of the King by by J.R.R. Tolkien, Andy Serkis (Narrator) One day the pacing on this won’t surprise me. The book gets better every time. Serkis was phenomenal.
	Annihilation Aria by Michael R. Underwood Found family stars in this fun, space opera about archeologists fighting an empire.
	The Cartel by Don Winslow The best of the trilogy. Shocking. Moving. Gripping. All-too-real—if you told me this was non-fiction, I’d almost believe it. A true classic.

My Favorite Audiobooks of 2023

By HCNewton

On January 4, 2024

In Audiobook, News/Misc.

My Favorite Audiobooks of 2023
How do I keep this from being just a rehash of my other year-end lists? By focusing on the audiobook experience over the content. What was it like to listen to it? How engaging was it, how did the narrator do? Was it a good match in terms of tone, content, and performance? All of these books are/were good—but the audiobooks are a bit better because of the narrator and the rest of the people involved in the production.

I’m very annoyed at how few of these I wrote about (if only because it means I had to think more about this post than I wanted to).

(in alphabetical order by author)

The Book That No One Wanted to Read

by Richard Ayoade
Narrated by Richard Ayoade, Jarvis Cocker, Lydia Fox

My original post The narration was great—Ayoade and Cocker were fantastic, Fox was probably as good, but didn’t get the best lines, so her work doesn’t stand out as much in my memory (although my original post suggests I forgot something great). This is one of those multi-narrator audiobooks where all the narrators are equally good—capturing the spirit and tone of the text and bringing it to life. This is a sweet little story “written by a book” about a lonely book in a large library. It’s goofy and strange, the humor is occasionally dry, it’s imaginative, it’s affirming and encouraging, it wraps you in a blanket of fun and makes you feel good.

4 1/2 Stars

Bookshops & Bonedust

by Travis Baldree

Of course, audiobook narrator-turned-author Baldree puts together a really strong audiobook. How could he do anything else? This is a sweet and (mostly) cozy little read taking place many years before Baldree’s breakout Legends & Lattes and sets the stage for Viv’s choices when she decides to retire from the mercenary biz. Here at the beginning of her career, she’s laid up for a few months in a small little town where she makes some friends, learns a lot, discovers that she can appreciate reading (when given the right book), and faces of against a deadly foe. It’s a very pleasant experience that will leave you wanting more like it.

4 Stars

Give the People What They Want and Other Stories of Sharp Wit, Cunning Women, and Wild Magic

by Alex Bledsoe, Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki, with Alex Bledsoe and Gabrielle de Cuir

This collection of short stories and a novella is just a great time. You start with short pieces in two of my favorite series, an interesting sample of another series, a couple of other things, and then a Zombie story that I really got into (no, really). Rudnicki did his usual bang-up job, de Cuir didn’t get enough to do (but was good with what little she had) and it’s always nice to hear from the author. I don’t know if it’ll work for people who aren’t fans of a series by Bledsoe, but it just might convince the listener to try one or two of them (and I’d heartily encourage that, too).

4 Stars

Brokedown Prophets

by S.A. Cosby and a full cast too long to list here

Cosby is a name you should expect to see again before I finish with this look back at ’23 (and likely at least once more this year). The performances that bring the Audible Original to life are fantastic. This is a dark tale of hope, desperation, and the opportunity to make a new life for yourself. It’s also violent, bloody, and likely to end poorly for all involved. The Russian assassin is one of my favorite characters of the year—it’d be easy to have made him a joke, but the performer and Crosby won’t let you write him off like that.

4 Stars

The Third Eye

by Felicia Day, and a full cast including Sean Astin, Felicia Day, Neil Gaiman, LilyPichu, London Hughes, and Wil Wheaton (and many others)

This was simply gobs of fun. Gaiman is just fantastic (no surprise there, I realize), Day plays the adorkable card like only she can, although Astin’s vampire comes close. Wheaton can play a jackwagon like nobody’s business, and…okay, I’m going to go on too long here (I really should’ve written a full post on this by now so I could’ve). You’ve got fun ‘n games with The Chosen One trope, satire and celebration of Urban Fantasy tropes and themes, some good action, and strong friendships. And a cheerful, optimistic feel that makes you just want more time in this world—even if there’s no story to be told (it’s even better during these almost 7 hours, though, because there is one).

4 Stars

Like, Literally, Dude: Arguing for the Good in Bad English

by Valerie Fridland, Narrated by Valerie Fridland, Joniece Abbott-Pratt, Keylor Leigh, Andrew Eiden, Christopher Ryan Grant, Ellen Archer, Eileen Stevens, and Nicky Endres

I’m a sucker for entertaining books about language, grammar, etc. Fridland’s apologetic for “Bad” English drives my inner prescriptivist, up the wall—but she joins the growing number of writers who are sealing up that prescriptivit’s coffin. How good is this book? Her chapter (or maybe it was a section of a chapter) on “Um” and “Uh” was fascinating. If she can pull that rabbit out of a hat, imagine how good she can be when she talks about the use/overuse of “like,” the history of “Dude,” or the figurative use of “literally”—and so much more. I spent most of the time listening to this book just geeking out in a way that made me regret not becoming a sociolinguist myself.

4 Stars

The Camera Man

by Peter Grainger, Gildart Jackson (Narrator)

It’s not surprising to see a Grainger/Jackson pairing on this list—they’re behind what is probably my favorite audiobook series (I refuse to read a book in this series as long as Jackson is recording them). The Camera Man shows that the idea of DC Smith, PI has legs. The first book about him as a PI was very much a “Can he adjust to not being a police detective to help out a friend?” This is “Can DC act as a PI?” And the answer is a resounding Yes! There’s good material with Jo and the Diver siblings. But most of the joy just comes from Smith digging into the case. Just like the old days, but different. Loved it.

4 Stars

Nasty, Brutish, and Short:
Adventures in Philosophy with My Kids

by Scott Hershovitz

My original post
This was a great listen—Hershovitz is the kind of lecturer you want to pay attention to (or so imagine based on this). This book succeeded on multiple fronts: it was frequently amusing, if not downright funny; it was educational; it was insightful (even when I disagreed with what he did with the insights); it was thoughtful; it offered (largely by example, not being didactic) good parental advice; and kept this particular listener fully engaged throughout. Just what you want from an audiobook.

3.5 Stars

Magpie Murders

by Anthony Horowitz, narrated by Samantha Bond, Allan Corduner

This book has been on my to-read list for a long time, but I kept not finding time for it. I finally gave up on going with the paper version and picked up the audio from the library. What a fantastic book! The concept was great, the hook was gripping, the execution was dynamite, the narration was spot-on, the….the…ugh. I’m just listing superlatives at this point. Which is pretty much why I haven’t finished my post about it (despite starting 11 months ago)—words fail me. Just loved this.

5 Stars

The Only Truly Dead

by Rob Parker, Warren Brown (Narrator)

My original post
So Warren Brown is just a fantastic narrator and fits the material perfectly—one of the best matches of voice and text I can remember. Parker’s text was everything I could’ve hoped for—everything he’s been building up over the previous two books gets paid off in a dramatic and compelling fashion. It’s a mix of hope and darkness, and a reminder that both have lasting effects.

4 Stars

My Favorite Audiobooks of 2022

By HCNewton

On January 3, 2023

In Audiobook, Fiction, News/Misc., Non-Fiction

My Favorite Audiobooks of 2022
Last year I kicked off my Year-End Retrospective with a look at my favorite audiobooks, I might as well repeat that this year. How do I keep this from being just a rehash of my other year-end lists? By focusing on the audiobook experience over the content. What was it like to listen to it? How engaging was it, how did the narrator do? Was it a good match in terms of tone, content, and performance? All of these books are/were good—but the audiobooks are a bit better because of the narrator and the rest of the people involved in the production.

(in alphabetical order by author)

The Law

by Jim Butcher

My original post
Sure, I love Harry Dresden—so it’s almost a given that this novella is going to show up somewhere on my end-of-year lists. The fact that Jim Butcher did the narration himself makes this something special (thankfully, he’s still fully intending on having James Marsters do the series). Butcher’s good at this, he’s not great, but he’s good. Hearing his idea about what the characters that we know and love sound like was a lot of fun. Also, after all the epic and emotional moments that Butcher’s put his fans through lately, having something non-epic or world-changing like this is such a nice breather.

4 Stars

Black Nerd Problems:
Essays

by William Evans & Omar Holmon

My original post
Funny, insightful, thoughtful, thought-provoking, passionate (about things both important and trivial). This collection of essays about pop culture, race, and the intersection of those two things was a surprise to me—I thought I’d have a good time with it, I didn’t know I’d have a great time and be moved, too. The authors narrated this themselves—both have backgrounds in poetry jams, and the panache from that shines through. I have quoted this and referred more people to various essays in this than probably anything else this year.

4 Stars

On Eden Street

by Peter Grainger, Gildart Jackson (Narrator)

My original post
This one makes the list due to the nature of the book and how well Jackson handled it. The previous book served as a transition point from the DC Smith Mysteries to the Kings Lake series—but this is the one that’s truly different. We have a bunch of new characters to deal with in addition to serving those we’ve grown accustomed to. The nature of the central character and his new boss underlines how different this is from the previous incarnation, but it’s the same books at their core. And Jackson gets both through to the listener. It’s all there in Grainger’s text, no doubt—but it’s the narration that solidifies it for the listener.

4 1/2 Stars

A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking

by T. Kingfisher, Patricia Santomasso (Narrator)

My original post
I don’t know if I can put my finger on why this made the list, but as I was looking over the list of audiobooks I read in ’22, as soon as I saw this one, I knew it had to make the list.

Between Kingfisher’s text and Santomasso’s narration, this was just a great experience. The story is fun, the characters (particularly as embodied, or emvoiced?, by Santomasso) were endearing—as a whole, it was an immersive and pleasant time—just what you want in an audiobook.

3.5 Stars

The World Record Book
of Racist Stories

by Amber Ruffin & Lacey Lamar

My original post
My wife assures me that the paper version of this is well-worth reading, but I can’t imagine having the opportunity to listen to Ruffin and Lamar reading this and passing it up—the goofy voices they employ and little tunes they sing in addition to the reading adds a nice little layer to the book that you’re not going to get with the print edition.

This is a more serious, more somber, book than its predecessor was—by design. But because of that, it feels like they dialed the silliness up to help alleviate things. It can’t be an easy balancing act—discussing the horrors of everyday racism in a way that is entertaining enough that it can educate those that need it the most. Ruffin and Lamar hit that balance in both print and in audio.

4 Stars

How to Be Perfect:
The Correct Answer to
Every Moral Question

by Michael Schur (Writer, Narrator)
with: Michael Schur, Kristen Bell, D’Arcy Carden, Ted Danson, William Jackson Harper, Manny Jacinto, Marc Evan Jackson, Jameela Jamil, and Todd May

My original post
Yeah, that’s a huge cast—but 95+% of the work is done by Schur. The contributions of the rest shouldn’t be overlooked, but when you think about the narration, you’re going to be thinking about the author, Mike Schur. My appreciation for Schur’s writing goes back before I knew who he was on a baseball blog that I really enjoyed. After that, I got on board with this TV writing and became a huge fan. What puts this audiobook on this list is the way that Schur is able (thanks to his own writing) to make this introduction to ethics and philosophy so accessible. It doesn’t feel dry, or head-in-the-clouds at all. Yes, I have significant issues with a lot of the thinking in this book (he rules out theism or morality given to us by a deity from the get -go), but that doesn’t mean I can’t learn from it—I can’t gain an appreciation of the thinking through ethical dilemmas.

I had fun, and I think I learned something. You can’t ask for more.

4 Stars

Movies (And Other Things)

by Shea Serrano, Mario Toscano (Narrator)

My original post
There’s a little bit of the seriousness of Black Nerd Problems in this collection of essays about Movies (and things like it), but Serrano doesn’t spend that much time with it. Serrano’s approach to movies is a wonderful hybrid of fanboy and educated critic that can appeal to people all over that spectrum. This results in a book that’s a great combination of movie knowledge/insight, social commentary, and humor mixed throughout each of these. Even when it came to movies I’ve never seen, have no interest in seeing, or saw ages ago and don’t remember well, Serrano kept me pretty engaged and entertained. Toscano’s narration is so good, so convincing that you have to remind yourself that he’s reading Serrano’s words and isn’t speaking from the heart.

3.5 Stars

We Are Legion (We Are Bob)

by Dennis E. Taylor, Ray Porter (Narrator)

My original post
Stumbling across this series is one of the highlights of 2022 for me. Ray Porter doing the narration is what pushed me to give this story a shot, and I’d be happy I did if only for his narration. I can think of a handful of narrators that could’ve got this gig (based on their other work, etc.) and I’m not sure how many of them would’ve got me to come back so quickly—nothing against Taylor’s text, but it’s Porter’s skill and warmth that elevates this book (and the rest of the series) into something I can see myself revisiting often.

It’s not all about Porter, I should make clear—Taylor has a gift for SF comedy. Throw in Bob’s snark and optimism and the great premise that pretty much opens the door for Taylor to do just about anything he wants in the series for as long as he wants to, and you’ve got yourself a real winner.
3 Stars

The Hobbit, or
There and Back Again

by J.R.R. Tolkien, Andy Serkis (Narrator)

My original post
As soon as I read that Serkis was doing audiobook versions of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, I knew I had to listen to them—what could be better? I mean, for the scene between Bilbo and Gollum alone, you know that The Hobbit is going to be worth the time and expense. And it was.

The rest of the book is great, too, make no mistake. Serkis knows what he’s doing with his voice—because of the nature of a lot of his acting jobs, his voice has to carry the performance that his (own and natural) face can’t. It’s a great skill that he brings to bear on an audiobook’s narration. This is just a joy to listen to.

5 Stars

Free Billy

by Don Winslow, Ed Harris (Narrator)

My original post
Speaking of actors who can do a lot with their voice, here’s Ed Harris. There’s something so natural about his delivery of this short story that I have to wonder why he hasn’t been making audiobooks for years. It’s like Winslow’s words were written solely for him (I’ve heard three of these Audible Originals from this pair and could listen to another 20 this year). This book is a sequel to The Dawn Patrol—one of my All-Time Desert Island books. You get Ed Harris to do the narration on that, and you know I’m going to love it. People who aren’t me are likely going to enjoy it a lot, too.

(sure, there’s part of me that wishes Ray Porter had been used—his work on the audiobook for The Dawn Patrol was stellar, but why be greedy?)

5 Stars

The Truth (Audiobook) by Peter Grainger, Gildart Jackson DC Shakes the Dust Off and Steps Up for a Friend

By HCNewton

On November 7, 2022

In Audiobook, DC Smith & Kings Lake, Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller

The Truth

by Peter Grainger, Gildart Jackson (Narrator)

DETAILS:
A DC Smith Investigation, #9
Publisher: Tantor Audio
Publication Date: October 25, 2021
Format: Unabridged Audiobook
Length: 8 hrs., 56 min.
Read Date: September 19-21, 2022

What’s The Truth About?

Charlie Hills, the former Desk Sergeant at King’s Lake Central and verbal sparring partner of DC Smith has a problem—his son has been arrested on drug charges. Charlie’s retired, and apparently forgotten about by everyone at the station, so can get no favors pulled on his son’s behalf. The lawyer he’s hired for his son is one of the best around, and they think they’re in good shape. But Charlie doesn’t want to wait for that.

DC Smith gets wind of the trouble and volunteers to help out—he first has to get himself hired on (albeit temporarily) with PI firm so he can get standing to do any investigating. Then he dives in.

It’s quite an adjustment having to rely on his own wits and guile, without any threat of official power behind him as he pokes around the evidence. On the other hand, when has DC not relied on his wits and guile more than anything?

The investigation brings him close to more than one unsavory character, a couple of faces from his past, and a little more danger than we’re accustomed to DC facing—along with a bit of international travel and our man having to figure out how Airbnb works. That last just might cause DC to retire for good.

What’s in a Name?

DC decides to do his PI work under his Christian name, David. If for no other reason, the joke wouldn’t work without any Detective Constables around. So apart from some old friends of his (and the series’ fans), he’s called David or Smith by everyone. This is a rather minor note, but imagine what it would be like if we actually learned Spenser’s name and everyone started using it.

I never adjusted to it—David will always be D.C. to me, and I didn’t stop doing audio double-takes every time anyone other than Jo referred to him as “David.” Neither in this post or any future ones (assuming there are future PI cases for him) will I call him anything but DC or Smith. It does make for a pretty clear line of demarcation between his two careers, but…ick.

Gildart Jackson’s Narration

I know I’m supposed to talk about the narration for this book—everyone who writes blog posts or articles about reviewing audiobooks says you have to. And, you really should—they are tasked to bring the author’s words to life, convey the characters, and keep the listener engaged.

But I’ve talked about Jackson’s work on the 8 previous Smith novels, 3 King’s Lake novels, and likely some Alex Verus stuff. I don’t know what to say about him that I haven’t said before. He’s perfect for this series and it’s fantastic to hear him spending this much time with DC and other old friends. But I don’t know how to say anything new about him and I’m tired of saying the same things over and over (and loyal readers are probably tired of my stretches toward novelty). So, I guess I have to take a pass on it this time.

So, what did I think about The Truth?

It’s great to see DC back in action again—such an old pro playing the fish-out-of-water is a nice touch, too. Sure, with Rebus and Bosch (among others), it’s not unheard of to see the retired police detective doing the PI thing. But it feels different (if inevitable) with DC. He’s been such a believer in the police services, and so denigrated PIs, that it’s striking to see him do this.

But oh, so good for the fans. It’s a good case for DC, no matter who is paying the bills. And it’s a good novel for the author—in particular, the last chapter or two are killers. Grainger’s firing on all cylinders here with DC back at the helm. It’s a joy to see.

It’s clear from what Jo’s said to Chris over the course of time in the King’s Lake books that DC needed something to do other than putter around the house and play around with the dog. So you knew something like this was coming. It also seemed like it’d take something like Charlie Hills being in trouble to get him moving. Now the hope has to be that he realizes how good it was for him, so that Grainger has to work in the occasional (or frequent, I’d be okay with frequent) case for DC between King’s Lake books.

I heartily recommend this one—it’d probably be best if you were familiar with the character before this novel, but not necessary. Come on in, the water’s fine.

4 Stars

This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, the opinions expressed are my own.

Roxanne (Audiobook) by Peter Grainger, Gildart Jackson: The Murder Squad Wades Through a Pool of Lies

By HCNewton

On September 30, 2022

In Audiobook, DC Smith & Kings Lake, Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller

Roxanne

by Peter Grainger, Gildart Jackson (Narrator)

DETAILS:
Series: A Kings Lake Investigation, #3
Publisher: Tantor Audio
Publication Date: March 2, 2021
Format: Unabridged Audiobook
Length: 10 hrs., 13 min.
Read Date: August 19-23, 2022

What’s Roxanne About?

Gregory “It’s not lupus” House, MD’s guiding dictum was “Everybody lies.” Every police officer/detective knows and expects this, too. But there are cases where the lies fly thicker than others—this is one of those.

DS Chris Waters and DCI Cara Freeman are called to sign off on an apparent suicide/accidental overdose. But because this isn’t a short story, they both notice some things that make those scenarios highly improbable/impossible, and the Murder Squad takes the case (incidentally, they haven’t had a lot of work to justify their existence, so it’s coincidentally good for them). They soon discover that the victim was a sex worker. This alone pretty much guarantees that everyone is going to be lying to them—her roommates, clients, the people at her former booking service.

Some good breaks, some lucky leaps of intuition—and a little advice from a certain retired detective—help the team get to the truth. A very nice touch was seeing how Waters being a decent guy with a good memory from a previous case or two pay off now. His training served him well.

Just Enough

We get a little more backstory for DCI Freeman here—rounding the character out a bit. It’s nice, but I don’t know that her character needs to be humanized or anything. She’s a driven and highly compartmentalized person, and if we really only see her at work, I think that’s enough. I clearly don’t think that’s the case for all characters in this series (I’m a huge fan of the current romantic subplot for Waters, can’t get enough of John Murray as father, etc.), but for her, I’m content as is.

But hey, if Grainger wants to shed some light on her? I’ll take it—and I thought it was a good way to show what made her into the person she is today.

I’m Not So Sure About This…

This could be spoiler-ish, but I’ll try to keep this detail-free. So when Grainger introduced a whole lot of new characters in On Eden Street, I wondered how he was going to serve them all—and so far, the answer is sparingly. But he’s not ignoring them, and they seem like better people to work with than the characters on the other side of the office back in the DC Smith series. We got to know some of them in On Eden Street, but there was one character Grainger didn’t do much with, but he addressed that this time.

I think it was better to ignore her. Her activities land Waters in some hot water—and it could’ve been interesting to see this play out. It also could’ve been annoying because there’s no way that any reader would believe Chris did something that questionable, and Grainger really couldn’t afford to damage the character at this point. At the same time, it seemed almost too easy for Waters to get out of that hot water. I knew he’d be okay, but he should’ve had to work a little harder for it.

Unless this storyline circles back in a future book, I just don’t understand why it happened. It’s the first time in 11 books that I’m really questioning something that Grainger did.

Gildart Jackson’s Work*

I don’t have anything new to say about Jackson at this point. I thoroughly enjoy his work, I can’t imagine listening to one of this series with anyone else, nor do I think I’d enjoy reading one on my own half as much.

* Yes, I’m just plagiarizing myself at this point—and will likely do so in the future, I’m not creative enough to find a new way to talk about how good he is.

So, what did I think about Roxanne?

This is another winner from Grainger and Jackson. Grainger has this gift for taking what looks like a “small” case, an everyday kind of thing—no grand conspiracy, serial killer, or especially violent death like we so often get in procedurals—the kind of case you expect the police to deal with on a pretty regular basis, and turning it into something as interesting for the reader as a “flashier” case would be in other series.

There’s not a lot of character development going on here—these are all adults who are good at their jobs—they’re gaining experience, getting better at them, and are progressing through their careers/personal lives as we all do. So at this point, it’s about us getting to know them better (this is not, in my mind, contradicting what I said about not needing to know more about Freeman outside of work), understanding them better, and seeing how the past builds on itself. Grainger is able to do this while telling stand-alone stories in a way that few others can. It’s one of the surest pleasures in my life watching him do this.

Not surprisingly to anyone who’s read me before—I strongly recommend this, and all of Grainger’s DC Smith/King’s Lake Investigations series. Solid, entertaining mysteries; characters that will endear themselves to you; and a reliably clever narration (the text itself and the audiobook narrator).

4 Stars

This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, the opinions expressed are my own.

On Eden Street (Audiobook) by Peter Grainger, Gildart Jackson: Grainger is at the Top of His Game for this one

By HCNewton

On July 28, 2022

In Audiobook, DC Smith & Kings Lake, Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller

On Eden Street

by Peter Grainger, Gildart Jackson (Narrator)

DETAILS:
Series: A Kings Lake Investigation, #2
Publisher: Tantor Audio
Publication Date: April 28, 2020
Format: Unabridged Audiobook
Length:10 hrs., 5 min.
Read Date: July 25-27, 2022

What’s On Eden Street About?

Sure, in Songbird we got a glimmer of what to expect from DCI Cara Freeman’s Murder Squad, but this book opens on the first day with the entire team in their office. They expect to get to know each other, spend some time chatting, hear something from Freeman and their new DI about how things are going to go for them—but that doesn’t happen. Before they can much further than hearing everyone’s name, they’re called to investigate a murder. A homeless man’s body has been discovered blocking the entrance to a restaurant downtown.

Instead of through awkward conversations, this squad gets to know each other by seeing them at work—canvassing for witnesses, looking for security cameras, dealing with the officers on-scene, and so on.

They will eventually uncover a connection to a previous case the King’s Lake Central detectives worked on—and encounter a witness that DS Chris Waters encountered in yet another case.

But mostly what they’ll learn is that nothing in this case—nothing—is what it seems. From a blind woman having to “rescue” the detectives from a dog guarding the body, to the identity of the victim, to how easily things can go astray when a helpful and efficient office worker does their job just a little too well…this new squad is going to get off to a very bumpy start.

The Murder Squad

Oh…I really like this new group. There are a bunch of new characters brought in here and we don’t get to spend enough time with them. But I appreciated what time we got with them—I think going forward this is going to be a group of characters I really enjoy—more than the King’s Lake detective squad and the petty rivalries (although those rivalries aren’t gone as is clear in the beginning of this book).

We get to know DCI Cara Freeman better as we spend more time with her—and as Chris gets to work with/evaluate her more. I’m seriously enjoying her.

There’s one new character (name withheld to prevent spoilers/lack thereof) in particular that we get less of than the rest. I think it was purposeful, and I can’t wait to see why that character is on board and what Grainger is going to eventually do with her. I trust that all will be revealed, and I’m super curious.

But the best new addition is the new Detective Inspector. Over the last handful of years, I’ve met a lot of fictional DIs, and I don’t think I’ve met one like DI Green. We don’t get to know him incredibly well or anything, we don’t know what makes him tick yet. But the ticking is a lot of fun to watch.

This is primarily Chris Waters’ series now, however, and we spend the most time with him—and I couldn’t be happier with that. It’s great to watch him develop as a detective and as a person. It’s similar to the evolution of Eve Ronin—this isn’t about the investigations of a seasoned pro, it’s about watching a promising young detective fulfill that promise.

Shadow of D.C.

I’m not sure at this stage of the series who’s having a harder time letting go of DC Smith—the detectives of King’s Lake, the readers, or Grainger.

I liked the way that DC himself appeared in this novel—it felt very natural. And, of course, Chris is going to think about his mentor a lot, as are old colleagues. But it just felt like we got too much about him overall. Too many callbacks, references to other cases, etc. But if you ran down a list of each reference/appearance of Smith in this book, and asked if they should be cut individually, I’d say no to each one—they fit, helped moved things along, served the character and moment…but the cumulative weight of them was too much.

Does that make sense? Any Grainger fans out there have some input for me?

Gildart Jackson’s Work

So, what did I think about On Eden Street?

Grainger had a healthy agenda going into this: introduce and begin to establish several new characters, help the existing characters settle into new roles, help us get a better handle on Freeman (who is both new and established at this point), touch base with DC, start a new personal arc for Chris, and, in between all that, tell a good story about a murder investigation. And he succeeds so well on all fronts.

Long-time readers/listeners of this series are used to the way that Grainger will give a resolution/solution to the investigation that will fly against expectations—both of the detectives at the beginning of the book and most of what Police Procedural fans expect to see. It’s largely a given for this series. But to start with a dead homeless veteran as this opens and to end where we do? Nope. No way did anyone see >98% of this coming.

But by the time the book closes, there is simply no other way for things to have gone. Grainger’s at the top of his game here, and it’s to be celebrated. My friends and/or readers—please take my advice and start reading these books, you don’t know what you’re missing.

4 1/2 Stars

This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, opinions are my own.

Songbird (Audiobook) by Peter Grainger, Gildart Jackson: Passing the Baton

By HCNewton

On July 14, 2022

In DC Smith & Kings Lake, Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller

Songbird

by Peter Grainger, Gildart Jackson (Narrator)

DETAILS:
Series: A Kings Lake Investigation, #1
Publisher: Tantor Audio
Publication Date: September 18, 2019
Format: Unabridged Audiobook
Length: 15 hrs., 6 min.
Read Date: June 27-July 1, 2022

DCI Reeve was in the room now, accompanied inevitably by Detective Chief Superintended Allen. Another promotion, how was that possible—what did he actually do all day but get in the way of more junior officers trying to solve crimes and bring about convictions. Waters stopped that train of thought. Over time, we all become our fathers and mothers, that’s a sort of natural process. But surely we don’t all become our first Detective Sergeant as well.

What’s Songbird About?

It’s the first murder that’s fallen under the jurisdiction of King’s Lake since Chris Waters was promoted to Detective Sergeant, and it’s time for him to step up.

There’s been a killing at a caravan site that’s well-known to Waters, and he knows the manager. This will both work for and against him, but early on it gives him some confidence—he knows this area and doesn’t have to learn anything about his surroundings. He needs all the confidence he can get.

DI Terek and DCI Reeve take the lead on this investigation (Reeve’s much more hands-on than her predecessor, and things are better for it). Some very convincing evidence leads them to focus on a suspect early, and they go about building their case.

For reasons he can explain, and some that remain ineffable, Chris Waters doesn’t believe in their suspect’s guilt and Waters follows his mentor’s example and sniffs around a little himself. He doesn’t have the relationship with his superiors that DC Smith did, though, so he has to be careful about it. Thankfully, Serena Butler (when she’s not giving him grief over his promotion), agrees with him and the two are able to come up with some compelling reasons to look elsewhere for the guilty man.

Passing the Baton

It’s a tricky thing that Grainger tries here—the series protagonist is gone, and yet it continues. It reminded me of when Kyra Sedgwick’s Deputy Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson left The Closer and the show became Major Crimes, and the team was then led by Mary McDonnell’s Capt. Sharon Raydor. The tone shifted, the characters got to grow and develop in different ways, the team functioned differently, and the approach they took to closing cases changed, too. But the show still worked.

Grainger’s always kept a broad view of the characters while focusing on DC Smith in the past—now we spend a little more time with everyone, but the focus is on Chris. That alone will change how things go—Chris has less experience to draw upon, he’s not quite as jaded (but he’s getting there), and generally sees things differently. The introduction of Cara Freeman and her methods to the mix also changes things (sure, she’s been around for a while, but we really see her at work here).

So the series continues, it just looks and feels a little different. But the core of the storytelling seems like it’s going to persevere.

Gildart Jackson’s Narration

It’s a subtle thing, but I thought I picked up a little change in the narration—it’s got less of “DC’s voice” but it’s still distinct from other books that Jackson’s narrated. Maybe it’s all in my head, but I think I can tell the difference in his approach to the books. It doesn’t matter, Jackson’s voice and characterizations bring me to King’s Lake Central they bring the world to life. Another great job by Jackson.

So, what did I think about Songbird?

Okay, the initial suspect was clearly innocent—and it took far, far too long for someone to figure out where the evidence that implicated him came from—it was maddening yelling at my phone, waiting for them to get there. But it was satisfying very satisfying when they finally put two and two together.

And for readers of procedurals, the guilty party was pretty clear all along—but getting to the motive and then working the case so that they had evidence to arrest, that was great. Watching Waters and the rest carry on Smith’s mission was exactly what a fan wants—and the new DCI in charge of the Murder Squad, Cara Freeman has her own style and pace that makes for a pleasant new dynamic.

The plot part of this novel wasn’t Grainger at his best, but it was close enough (so close). But the heart of this book was on the transitions—the team moving on from DC, the further establishment of the Murder Squad, Waters transitioning to DS (and people getting used to that), DC transitioning to his new life—plus some personal stuff that I don’t want to spoil. And Grainger absolutely nailed it.

As this is a transition point—it’s a great time to jump in. Yeah, there’s a lot of backstory, but none of it is necessary to get 98% of this book.

This had to be a tricky needle to thread for the series (singular or plural, take your pick), and Songbird pulled it off. I’m not at all surprised to see it, but I’m very pleased.

4 Stars

This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, the opinions expressed are my own.

A Private Investigation (Audiobook) by Peter Grainger, Gildart Jackson: A Change is Coming

By HCNewton

On January 18, 2022

In Audiobook, DC Smith & Kings Lake, Fiction

A Private Investigation

by Peter Grainger, Gildart Jackson (Narrator)

DETAILS:
Series: A DC Smith Investigation, #8
Publisher: Tantor Audio
Publication Date: Nov 13, 2018
Format: Unabridged Audiobook
Length: 10 hrs., 40 min.
Read Date: December 13-15, 2022

But now, change is coming, and change is inevitable.

Except from vending machines.

What’s A Private Investigation About?

I haven’t really talked much about the Andretti case and the book that Jo Emerson is working on about the investigation—with Smith as a significant source. I haven’t talked much about Jo Emerson at all, either. Mostly because I wasn’t really sure where Grainger was going with this storyline. It’s the biggest case of Smith’s career, and in many ways defined it. It’s also the case that led to Chris Murray’s father leaving the police. There was a serial killer preying on young women. Smith and Murray stopped the killer, put him away years ago–—but questions have lingered.

But now, a young woman has gone missing in King’s Lake—so here in the last three weeks of Smith’s career, he’s pulled off the bench to take point on it—he’s headed a search for missing girls—no one else around has. At a certain point, Smith starts to see similarities between this missing girl and some of those related to the Andretti case. Then there’s an individual who popped up during both investigations. Suddenly the one man the police need to run things, the man who knows more about the Andretti case than anyone else alive is prevented from taking part in this new case. A logic that I don’t quite follow, but am sure it makes sense to someone.

Smith, however, keeps working the case—as off the radar as he can. What’s going to happen to him if he ignores an order or two at this point?

A Matter of Budget

It’s realistic, I’m sure, but there’s a lot of discussion about the budget for this investigation and what King’s Lake Central can spend on the search for this teen. While it’s come up before in this series—in almost every book—it’s very prominent here.

It’s also despair-inducing, while I understand that governments have to take this kind of thing into account—when a missing teen’s life could possibly be endangered, to think that the efforts to find her are governed by a financial report as much as—even more than—clues the investigation has picked up is hard to come to terms with.

Except for the cost of forensic tests, I don’t remember too many American procedurals hitting this point as hard as Grainger and other UK authors do (am thinking Rankin and Aaronovich in particular—even Paul Cornell’s <b>Shadow Police</b>series). I wonder if that’s more to do with the state of procedural fiction or if it’s the way different governments think about such things.

Smith’s Train of Thought

One of my favorite parts of these books is when we follow along with Smith’s Stream of Consciousness as he works through a part of a puzzle—or when he guides DC Chris Murray through something similar to help him build the same patterns. There’s something idiosyncratic about Smith’s thinking (although it never seems that way while listening, it seems like the only possible way to work through it) that is addicting.

We’re treated to multiple sessions of that this time out, and I thoroughly enjoyed them all. Even when I didn’t like the actions that Smith was taking after those trains of thought.

A Neat Cliffhanger that Time Ruined

This is slightly spoilery, unless you can do the very basic math. Still, feel free to skip to the next heading.

We all clear now? Last chance to skip ahead…

DC’s fate is very uncertain at the end of this book—it could very easily go either way, and with this very clearly the end of the series, it felt like Grainger was hinting in one direction.

However, this was published in late 2018, in 2021—book nine of the series came out (and there are some indications that Smith was a presence in at least the first of the Kings Lake Investigations series that came out after this book–I’ll be listening to that soon). This kind of kills the suspense for me—which is a shame, because that ending really could’ve gone either way and I’d have been going crazy if I listened to it new.

So, what did I think about A Private Investigation?

I’m so, so, so glad that we’ll get to hear what happens next with the group from King’s Lake Central in a new series. I don’t want to leave this world and these characters behind. I got too busy last year to stay on my schedule of listening to them, but I’m pretty sure that’s over.

This book was bittersweet, while the last book felt like the last gasp of DC Smith’s career, this definitely is. The case was compelling, the search for the girl was tense, and the emotions of Smith’s team—and Smith himself—were so well-depicted to make this a knockout of a book. But man…I just didn’t want to deal with Smith being done. Police procedurals don’t normally get that emotional for me—but several of these books have got me wrapped up in the characters’ lives–and this more than the rest.

This is absolutely, positively, not the book to start with for this series—almost any of the others would be, but the first would be best. But you absolutely, positively start this series if you haven’t yet. Jackson’s narration is outstanding, making the audiobooks my strongest recommendation, but I bet the charm of the characters would be evident in the print version as well.

4 Stars

This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, opinions are my own.

My Favorite Audiobooks of 2021

By HCNewton

On January 4, 2022

In Audiobook, Fantasy, Fiction, History, Humor, Kevin Hearne, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller, News/Misc., Non-Fiction, Politics/Current Affairs, Rick Riordan, Science Fiction, Seanan McGuire, Toby Daye, Tufa, Urban Fantasy

My Favorite Audiobooks of 2021
Last year I kicked off my Year-End Retrospective with a look at my favorite audiobooks, I might as well repeat that this year. How do I keep this from being just a rehash of my other year-end lists? By focusing on the audiobook experience over the content. What was it like to listen to it? How engaging was it, how did the narrator do? Was it a good match in terms of tone, content, and performance? All of these books are/were good—but the audiobooks are a bit better because of the narrator and the rest of the people involved in the production.

(in alphabetical order by author)

The Hum and the Shiver

by Alex Bledsoe, Emily Janice Card(Narrator), Stefan Rudnicki (Narrator)

This was my third or fourth trip through this book (maybe, fifth, but I don’t think so). I’m not sure if that means it was easy for me to be impressed—or maybe it was really hard because I had high expectations. Regardless, Rudnicki and Card took me to Cloud County and the land of the Tufa. I could believe that these people lived, breathed, and walked around in this world—and yet were otherworldly, as they ought to be. I knew Rudnicki could make me believe in a Fantasy world—it turns out that he can make me believe in this one, too. Card was right there with him.

4 Stars

Finlay Donovan Is Killing It

by Elle Cosimano, Angela Dawe (Narration)

My original post
This is on the list because of Dawe’s narration. The text was entertaining enough, sure, but her narration is what made sure I remembered the book during the list-making time. The novel was a tricky balancing act between the various tones and characters, and Dawe makes you believe it. She captured the comedic sense of the novel along with the tension and emotional moments. There were a few accents involved and she did a believable job with them, too.

3.5 Stars

A Christmas Carol: A Signature Performance by Tim Curry

by Charles Dickens, Tim Curry (Narrator)

My original post
I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again: all you need to know about this is: Tim Curry. This wasn’t the performance I expected—I figured I was in for something near to over-the-top, with Curry going to town with the text. Instead, we’re treated to a respectful, restrained performance giving Dickens’ classic just the right emotional weight, sentimentality, personality, and life.

5 Stars

In This Bright Future

by Peter Grainger, Gildart Jackson (Narrator)

My original post
Grainger and Jackson together have made this one of my Top 3 audiobook series, period. So my only question was how many of the books would end up on this list. I ended up limiting myself to one, and therefore it had to be this one—we get so little of our typical characters and settings, but Jackson is able to make Belfast as warm and homey as King’s Lake. There are elevated dangers and emotions in this book that we don’t typically get with D.C. Smith, but Jackson doesn’t miss a beat. Grainger puts D.C. through his paces, too. Both are at the top of their game—making D.C. at the top of his, too.

4 Stars

Ink & Sigil

by Kevin Hearne, Luke Daniels (Narrator)

Even though a pro like Luke Daniels is constantly doing voices/accents for his characters and the narration is almost never his “natural” voice (assuming he even has one anymore), I have to think that maintaining a Glaswegian accent for as long as he did for this book (ten hours and change, I think) has to be an added level of difficulty. Not that you can tell from listening to this. I thought the novel was a rollicking good time and just the way you should introduce a new series. The audiobook version just cemented that.

4 1/2 Stars

The Unkindest Tide

by Seanan McGuire, Mary Robinette Kowal (Narrator)

This novel was the payoff (as far as we know so far, I wouldn’t put it past McGuire to turn it upside down later) to a storyline that had been lingering and building for years, I remember being stunned when reading it—just that aspect of The Unkindest Tide brought a great combination of anticipation, grief, suspense, and surprise. The story of the novel—the trip to the Duchy of Ships, the intrigue around Dianda, etc. was as solid as it gets, too. I remembered all this going in, so it was all teed up for Kowal—and she nailed it, it almost felt like I hadn’t read the book before and was discovering it fresh. A narrator who can do that is tops in my book.

4 1/2 Stars

We Had a Little Real Estate Problem: The Unheralded Story of Native Americans and Comedy

by Kliph Nesteroff

My original post
As I was trimming down the list of audiobooks I listened to last year for this list, I didn’t expect that this would stay on the list. A history of Native Americans in Comedy, really? But I kept not deleting it…so I started thinking of it—there’s a social history, an entertainment history, with individual profiles mixed it—it has it all. What’s more, despite a pretty dry (but never boring) narration, and not using clips of original performances, the comedy of these individuals comes through. In the midst of hardship, suffering, prejudice, and hard breaks, there are some solid laughs. It’s hard not to keep thinking about that.

4 Stars

Percy Jackson’s Greek Gods

by Rick Riordan, Jesse Bernstein (Narrator)

I started working on a post last year about contemporary myth retellings (and I intend on finishing it before my unconceived grandkids are ready to read it), and listened to this as part of that. In many ways, the book and the information didn’t fare well compared to things like Gaiman and Fry have recently produced. But this is here and they’re not—because as an audiobook this is a great experience. Bernstein is Percy Jackson here, and it felt like something ol’ Percy was sitting down and relating to future Camp Halfblood residents. It inspired me to listen to the original Percy Jackson series again just so I can listen to Bernstein perform this character.

3 Stars

You’ll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey: Crazy Stories about Racism

by Amber Ruffin, Lacey Lamar

My original post
I’m still telling people about this audiobook/book nine months later. I can’t think of a book that made me angrier, sadder, or made me laugh as much in 2021 (or a few years before it, either). This did all three. Ruffin’s narration, Lamar’s stories, their hurt, and their optimism make this a must-listen.

4 1/2 Stars

The Salvage Crew

by Yudhanjaya Wijeratne, Nathan Fillion (Narrator)

My original post
This is a very strange SF story about a sentient AI (based on the memories and personality of an engineer). I think I’d have enjoyed the story had I read the novel, but it’s Nathan Fillion that brought it to life. That same charm that makes you like Caleb, Mal, Castle, and Nolan shines forth and makes you believe in this malfunctioning (at least eccentrically-functioning) AI and get invested in the AI’s survival and that of his ragtag crew.

4 Stars