Miss Mae

I do love a good dark, stormy, isolated murder mystery. The setting drew me right in. All these folks, most of them strangers to one another, are trapped at a small convention on a South Carolina island during a hurricane. Lois, our main female character, washes up on shore and is rescued by these convention goers. The plot thickens when a character ends up dead.

Then the characters do something smart: they all agree to move about in triples. This makes it rather hard for the murderer(s) to knock someone else off. Toss in some spyness-like intrigue, argumentative characters, various lies and pretenses, plus the lovable Retriever dog Mite, and you have a pretty entertaining tale.

In some ways, this story felt like a 1960s murder mystery. There’s several characters that fit well-worn (and well-loved) molds. Most of the ladies are beautiful and are of romantic interest. The guys range from the handsome but mysterious hero to the angry and sketchy but perhaps not a murderer type to the always flirtatious guy. If it wasn’t for the tech (the modern computer game Catch Me, etc.), I would have placed this story in the the 1940s-1960s based on the characters.

There were tons of reveals in this story. So many of the characters had ulterior motives that I actually became a little fatigued with all the people having ‘ah, ha!’ or ‘No! I may be a bad person but I’m not a murderer!’ moments as they accuse one another and respond. In the end, the big reveal of who is the murderer was a little surprising and then yet another surprise and then another. While I can appreciate the intricacy of plot, I did find it a bit of a whirlwind in such a short book where the characters have little time to develop.

Mite was one of my favorite characters. I’m glad there was a lovable furball in the mix. Lois was my next favorite because I didn’t know for the bulk of the book if she was simply a woman in need of assistance or if she was a schemer and potential murderer. While there was a good dose of canned, predictable dialogue, I was swept up in the story by the pace of the novel and the dark, stormy setting. 4/5 stars.

Narration: The narration and sound effects for this audiobook were top shelf. All the characters had unique voices complete with regional or national accents. I especially liked the voice for Jared, the flirtatious and rude (sometimes crude) arrogant jerk. The sound effects were well done along with the bits of music. They never overpowered the dialogue and they really kept me on the hurricane-drenched island. 5/5 stars.

I received this audiobook as part of my participation in a blog tour with Audiobookworm Promotions. The tour is being sponsored by Miss Mae. The gifting of this audiobook did not affect my opinion of it.… (plus d'informations)

Vexen Rheinhart and Remard are aboard a medical transport ship that is about to suffer some major mishaps. Computer viruses are a thing of the past and one has just wreaked chaos on Vexen’s ship. Unfortunately, there is also a homicidal alien that stowed away, lying in wait for the perfect moment. Several other things will go wrong before anything goes right.

There was plenty of action, a little humor, a touch of romance in this fast-paced space opera. Vexen, our main character, is quick-witted, dedicated, and not afraid to follow through on a good punch if it means saving her friends, ship, or herself. Remard, a blue fingered alien, makes a worthy sidekick. When the computer virus strikes Della, the ship’s computer, the ship drifts off course. This makes it impossible for Vexen’s husband Leland to transport over. So he sends a hologram instead. This hologram, unfortunately, has an identify crisis. This leads to both humor and tragedy.

I liked all the various tech involved in the tale. There’s a handful of weapons, especially once an alien ship demands to board the medical supply ship. Then there’s all the references to the computer virus. Next, at least one person will need doctoring before the tale is through. I definitely felt like we were in some far flung future aboard a snazzy medical space ship.

The stow-away alien was both scary and fascinating. It was a kind of blobby spider and it was unclear if it was sentient or not. Other than acting on it’s homicidal urges, there was no direct communication with it. Remard, who is also an alien, is obviously of a more rational and congenial sort. It’s obvious from the beginning that he and Vexen have a true friendship and have been in tough places together before. Then there is the evil alien commander Delphan, a reptilian race, that demands to board the drifting medical supply ship. I really liked that we had more than one alien variety.

The ending leaves a little up to the reader to decide and I was OK with that. Usually, I like it when the author has chosen a definite ending but in this case, it was well done. Over all, there was plenty here for scifi fans to enjoy. I am hoping the author revisits this little universe she has created, granting us more Vexen stories.

I received a copy of this audiobook at no cost from the narrator (via Theater of the Mind FB group) in exchange for an honest review.

The Narration: Owen McCuen was a good fit for this tale. At first, I was a little concerned because our main character is female, so why not a female narrator? But then I heard his voice for Vexen, which is very well done, and my concerns were laid to rest. He had a most excellent voice for Remard which consisted of this odd alien accent – very well done! Later on, he comes up with another, distinct, well done alien accent for the reptilian Delphan. There’s a handful of sound effects thrown in, mostly connected with Della the ship computer. The first loud beep startled me and the cats, but then the rest were well integrated into the narration.… (plus d'informations)