Audiobook Review: Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie, narrated by David Suchet + Just Desserts reminder

Death on the Nile
by Agatha Christie, audiobook narrated by David Suchet (Compact Disc Christie – also available in Hoopla eAudiobook)

In the past couple of years, I made it a goal for myself to listen to all of the Hercule Poirot novels and short story collections by Agatha Christie, as audiobooks. The actor Hugh Fraser (who placed Captain Hastings in the long-running series of Poirot adaptations to television) narrates many of them, but for certain key titles, actor David Suchet (who played Poirot on television from 1989 to 2013) does the audio narration. That is the case with Death on the Nile.

 

Of all of Poirot’s famed cases, the two which are probably most recognizable to casual readers are Murder on the Orient Express and Death on the Nile. Death on the Nile is a twisty tale, with a group of characters all trapped on a luxury excursion boat on a tour of Egypt’s Nile river. When a wealthy young American heiress is murdered (following various threats against her), and her newlywed husband is badly injured, fellow passenger Hercule Poirot is called upon to solve the case. The suspects and motives are plenty. One of Christie’s other recurring sleuths, Col. Race, is also present to partner with Poirot. And the exotic location is put to good use.

Suchet’s voice as Poirot very effectively pulls you into the story, but it is his deftness at creating distinctive vocal personalities for every other character in the story that is truly amazing. I know that Kenneth Branagh narrated a new audiobook version in conjunction with his recent movie version of the story, but Suchet really inhabits Poirot much more successfully than Branagh, and I highly recommend his version of Death on the Nile. It is truly one of the “crown jewels” of Christie’s works.

 

(If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try Suchet’s audiobook version of Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie. There have been multiple film/tv adaptations of this story, starring actors such as Peter Ustinov, David Suchet and Kenneth Branagh in the role of Poirot.)

 

( official Agatha Christie web site )

 

Read Kristen A.'s review of Death on the Nile in the February 2017 Staff Recommendations here on BookGuide!

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Service

 

Have you read or listened to this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide Blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewer’s recommendations!

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If you're a mystery fan, you're invited to join us for this month's Just Desserts meeting tonight, March 28th, at 6:30 p.m. in the 4th floor auditorium of the Bennett Martin Public Library downtown at 14th & "N" St. -- this mystery-themed discussion group meets on the last Thursday of each month, January through October.

Tonight, we'll be discussing the the first six entries in the Flavia de Luce series by British author Alan Bradley.

 

Even if you haven't read any of the Flavia de Luce entries for this specific discussion, you can still participate, and learn about other great new mysteries to try! For more information, check out the Just Desserts schedule at https://lincolnlibraries.org/bookguide/book-groups/#justdesserts

Audiobook Review: Misery by Stephen King, narrated by Lindsay Crouse

Misery
by Stephen King (Compact Disc King)

Misery was best-selling author Stephen King’s 20th book (approximately), originally released in 1987. King, to that point, was known primarily as a horror writer who often featured supernatural elements in his stories — ‘Salem’s Lot, Carrie, The Shining, Cujo, Christine, The Stand, Firestarter, Pet Sematary — he wrote Misery in part as a reaction to being pigeonholed by his fans as a particular type of writer. His ardent fans did not gracefully appreciate his classical fantasy novel, Eyes of the Dragon, and insisted he return to what he was best known for. Also, and King has been clear about this in his own non-fiction writings, he had been dealing with drug addictions and abuse, and Misery was a chance to anthropomorphize those addictions as a destructive human character.

 

In Misery, Paul Sheldon is the author of a best-selling series of Victorian romantic suspense novels featuring plucky heroine Misery Chastain — a series he has grown to despise. Sheldon has just finished a personal writing retreat at a lodge in the Rocky Mountains, having completed what he believes to be his first “serious novel”, and after too much to drink, he drives off a mountain road, overturning his car and doing himself grave bodily harm. When he next awakens, he finds himself in the remote mountain home of ex-nurse Annie Wilkes, who identifies herself as “his #1 fan” and tells Paul she pulled him from the wreckage of his car and has been treating his two broken legs. Unfortunately, Annie has more than a few screws loose, and has a hair-trigger temper. When she discovers in the latest Misery Chastain novel that Sheldon has killed off her beloved literary hero, Annie goes off the deep end. Reliant on Annie for illicit pain meds and help surviving his injuries, and aware that no-one knows where he is, Paul Sheldon has no recourse but to agree, when Annie buys him a second-hand typewriter and demands that he write a new Misery novel, resurrecting the doomed character. What follows is a terrifying game of cat-and-mouse and psychological terror. But Paul has yet to realize just how demented Annie Wilkes truly is…and how many people may have died at her hands already.

As the tagline for the novel Misery says, “Paul Sheldon used to write for a living. Now he’s writing to save his own life!”

 

I’ve seen the 1990 feature film adapted from King’s novel by Oscar-winning screenwriter William Goldman. That film starred James Caan as author Paul Sheldon and Kathy Bates as “his #1 fan”, the psychotically obsessive Annie Wilkes. Bates won the Best Actress Oscar as Wilkes, and most fans of King agree that the film Misery is probably one of the best adaptations of a King novel to film or TV. Screenwriter Goldman later also adapted his own film screenplay into a stage play, which premiered in a limited theatrical engagement in 2015, starring Bruce Willis as Paul Sheldon and Laurie Metcalfe as Annie Wilkes. The news that a local community theatre production of Misery is being mounted for early 2024 excited the actor in me, and made me realize I’d never actually read the original novel…so I fixed that by listening to the audiobook, narrated very effectively by actress Lindsay Crouse.

 

(The novel Misery is much like many of King’s early works from the late 1970s to the mid-1990s, though in this case there is no supernatural element, only an all-too-human psychopath. Considering that there's only two primary characters, and one of those is left by himself a lot of the time -- there's a LOT of internal monologues, frequently peppered with "adult language". It was intended to be released under King’s pseudonym Richard Bachman, but King was "outed" as Bachman before that could happen, so it came out under his own name. I do recommend seeing the Misery film, directed by Rob Reiner. You’ll never look at a sledgehammer the same way again, much like you’ll never look at an axe the same way after reading or listening to the novel.)

 

( official Misery page on the official Stephen King web site )

 

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Service

 

Have you read or listened to this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide Blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewer’s recommendations!

Audiobook Review: The River We Remember by William Kent Krueger, read by C.W. Wilson

The River We Remember
by William Kent Krueger (Compact Disc Krueger)

The River We Remember is Minnesota author William Kent Krueger’s third “stand-alone” novel in the past 10 years, outside of his Cork O’Connor series (which is at 19 volumes as of 2023). It follows in the wake of Ordinary Grace and This Tender Land. Set in 1958, The River We Remember is set in the fictional community of Jewel, Minnesota, in Black Earth County, along the banks of the Alabaster River. When Memorial Day celebrations are interrupted by the discovery of the body of one of Jewel’s most powerful men, half-eaten by catfish, in an eddy of the river, it is up to Sheriff Brody Dern to investigate. When a spot is discovered where Jimmy Quinn might have ended up in the river, with a large amount of blood, the question becomes: was this a suicide, a fatal accident, or was Jimmy Quinn murdered?

 

The narrative is told from several key characters’ points-of-view — Sheriff Dern, crusading female attorney Charlie Bauer, retired former sheriff and now part-time deputy Connie Graff, 14-year-old Scott Madison (with a hole in his heart, and a mother with secrets), and Scott’s mother Angie. When Sheriff Dern’s attempts to pass off the death as an accident aren’t successful, the ensuing investigation stirs up deep resentments and racial and ethic bigotry among the small, rural community’s citizens. Native American war hero Noah Bluestone is soon jailed for the crime, based on circumstantial evidence, and his Japanese wife Kayoko suffers harrassment. But there’s a long list of people who might wish hateful landowner Jimmy Quinn harm, and some of those people have really good reasons for their feelings.

 

Krueger is a master at creating real flesh-and-blood believable characters, with realistic dialog. His heroes and villains always have multiple layers and are never purely good or purely evil. Spreading out this story over several narrators allows a variety of different viewpoints on a complex issue, and it is sometimes the supporting cast whose experiences tug at the heartstrings the most. Krueger is also excellent at creating a “sense of place” in his novels, and The River We Remember is no exception. The streets of Jewel, the nearby farmsteads, and the various bends and eddies in the Alabaster River are brought into breathtaking life.

 

While nominally a mystery, The River We Remember is really a slice-of-life story — a character study. No matter what you may feel about some of the motives and actions of some of these characters, their lives will remain with you once you’re done with this novel. I listened to this as an audiobook-on-CD, narrated by Broadway actor C.W. Wilson, and have to commend him on doing a particularly excellent job. He creates distinctive voices for over 20 different characters, with only minor changes of accent or inflection. This was a superb “listen”…one of the most powerful books I’ve read in 2023.

 

(If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try Ordinary Grace and This Tender Land, also by William Kent Krueger.)

 

( official The River We Remember page on the official William Kent Krueger web site )

 

Read Scott C.’s review of William Kent Krueger’s first Cork O’Connor novel Iron Lake, in the June 2010 Staff Recommendations here on BookGuide!
Read Scott C.’s review of William Kent Krueger’s novel Ordinary Grace in the April 2015 Staff Recommendations here on BookGuide!
Read Jodi R.’s review of William Kent Krueger’s novel This Tender Land in the January 2020 Staff Recommendations here on BookGuide!
Read Scott C.’s review of William Kent Krueger’s novel This Tender Land in the June 2020 Staff Recommendations here on BookGuide!
Read Scott C.’s review of William Kent Krueger’s audio-only novella The Levee, in the June 2023 Staff Recommendations here on BookGuide!

 

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Service

 

Have you read or listened to this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide Blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewer’s recommendations!

Audiobook Review: Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt

Remarkably Bright Creatures

by Shelby Van Pelt, with audio narration by Marin Ireland and Michael Uhry (Compact Disc Van Pelt) (a 2023 One Book – One Lincoln finalist)

 

Seeing that it was one of the three finalists for One Book – One Lincoln in 2023, I managed to grab Remarkably Bright Creatures as an audiobook-on-cd, and am incredibly grateful that I did. I loved this book, but especially as an audiobook!

 

This shares the intersecting stories of three individuals (and the people in their immediate periphery) at a pivotal point in all their lives. Tova Sullivan is an active senior, who has been working at the Sowell Bay Aquarium, cleaning up after closing hours, since her husband passed away. The biggest mystery in her life is the question of what happened to her son, many years ago, who disappeared after his part-time job one night and was never seen again, though circumstantial evidence seems to indicate that he took a small boat out on the ocean and committed suicide. The second main character is Cameron, a young man who’s drifting through life without any real purpose, who ends up in Tova’s town in search of the man he thinks is his father, based on an old photo of his absent mother from her high school years. The third main character is Marcellus McSquiddles. That’s right. He’s a Giant Pacific Octopus, nearing the end of his 4-year lifespan, who’s on exhibit in the aquarium.

Each of these three characters narrates their own story. Tova’s and Marcellus’ stories intersect one night when Marcellus who’s a bit of an escape artist, is found outside his tank, tangled up and unable to save himself, by Tova, who rescues the arthropod. After circumstances force Tova to take a partial leave of absence from her aquarium job, Cameron (temporarily in town) ends up filling in for her.

 

Each of these characters is suffering grief, lonelieness and uncertainty about their futures. And each of them ultimately discovers that the other two characters fill a void in their life. To tell you more would be to spoil the joy of seeing the story unfold.

 

The one thing I was say is that the audiobook of Remarkably Bright Creatures features TWO narrators. Actress Marin Ireland does the bulk of the story, but actor Michael Uhry narrates the segments told in the voice of Marcellus, and he makes that octopus come to life. By the end of this novel, I was emotionally moved and 100% invested in the fates of everyone in the story. This isn’t a truly “deep” novel, but it is an incredible character study and left me fully satisfied in the end. Hopefully you will be too! And definitely give the audiobook a try!

 

( official Shelby Van Pelt web site )

 

 

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Service

 

Audiobook Review: The Weight of It All by N.R. Walker

The Weight of It All
by N.R. Walker (Downloadable Audio from Overdrive)

Henry Beckett is a successful actuary who has just been dumped by his long-time boyfriend. Graham complains that Henry has put on a lot of weight and isn’t accompanying him to hiking and biking events any more, and moves out. Henry is devastated, and recognizes that he much preferred the wine tasting and food activities, that he wasn’t as active as he had been eight years earlier, and he’s horrified at the amount of weight he’s put on. So he joins a gym with the goal of winning back Graham.

 

Enter Reed Henske. His new personal trainer.

 

Gee, how is this story going to end?

 

Henry and Reed hit it off right away. Both are quick-witted with terrific senses of humor. They initially bond over the new recipes Henry is trying. We spend the book watching Henry get over Graham and progress through his health and exercise routines, while he and Reed find more common ground as their friendship builds into a romantic relationship.

 

This is a low-heat, low angst story with likeable side characters that takes place in Australia. I enjoyed being able to simply follow the main characters and their friends as their stories unfolded without worrying how this was going to end. Much of the humor was laugh-out-loud and I liked the main characters and their friends, and appropriately disliked Graham (then later felt sorry for him) and his buddies. I was in the mood for a simple, easy tale that kept me involved and this fit the bill.

 

The narrator, Joel Leslie, does an excellent job of distinguishing between the main characters, and giving a sense of their emotions. Also, his Australian accent was not heavy enough to be unintelligible to a US reader.

 

( official N.R. Walker web site )

 

Recommended by Charlotte M.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Service

 

Have you read or listened to this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide Blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewer’s recommendations!

Audiobook Review: Twist of a Knife by Anthony Horowitz, narrated by Rory Kinnear

The Twist of a Knife
by Anthony Horowitz, with audio narration by Rory Kinnear (Compact Disc Horowitz)

After disappointing me a bit with his previous entry in the Hawthorne & Horowitz series, A Line to Kill, Anthony Horowitz returned in terrific form with this fourth installment, The Twist of a Knife. As usual, I listened to this as an audiobook-on-CD, which is narrated by British actor Rory Kinner, and he does a spectacular job.

 

Once again, this series is one of the most "meta" fiction series being published. Anthony Horowitz is not only the author of the novel, but he is also the central character and narrator. In the first three books in the series, Horowitz was contacted by abrasive private investigator (and ex-cop) Daniel Hawthorne, who wants to hire Horowitz to accompany him on a case and write a book about him. This eventually leads to more of the same, and in the third book, the two men attend a book festival to promote the release of their first joint adventure.

 

In this fourth book, Anthony Horowitz would like to make a break from the taciturn Horowitz, and is happily participating in the production process of bringing his play, Mind Game, to the stage. After some successful tryouts in outlying communities, Mind Game is finally opening in London. But, after a seemingly bravura opening night, Sunday Times reviewer Harriet Throsby gives it a savage review. Then, the next morning, she's found dead in her home, with a cheap costume dagger sticking out of her chest — the dagger Horowitz and all the cast members received as opening night gifts — and Anthony's fingerprints are all over it. When the local police seem intent on railroading him for the crime, Horowitz' only option is to ask Hawthorne for helping in proving his innocence.

 

This was a funny, suspenseful tale, filled with quirky theatrical characters, and the relationship between Horowitz and Hawthorne adds some new layers. The mystery itself is clever — I didn't see the end coming until just before it was revealed. I would absolutely love to see this series of novels turned into a series of occasional TV-movies for British TV and PBS in the U.S. Though I'm sure Anthony Horowitz has no desire to portray Anthony Horowitz!

 

The Twist of a Knife is an absolutely terrific entry in this series...and I'm happy to know that there are more forthcoming!

 

(If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try the first three entries in this series — The Word is Murder, The Sentence is Death, and A Line to Kill by Anthony Horowitz, as well as his other current series featuring Magpie Murders and Moonflower Murders.)

 

( official Hawthorne & Horowitz page on the official Anthony Horowitz web site )

 

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Service

 

Have you read or listened to this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide Blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewer’s recommendations!

 

The print version of Magpie Murders was used as the book for discussion at a Just Desserts meeting in 2021.

 

If you're a mystery fan, you're invited to join us for this month's Just Desserts meeting tonight, March 30th, at 6:30 p.m. in the 4th floor auditorium of the Bennett Martin Public Library downtown at 14th & "N" St. -- this mystery-themed discussion group meets on the last Thursday of each month, January through October. This month's book assigned topic of discussion is: Science Fiction & Fantasy Murder Mysteries (check that link for a list of potential reads).

 

Even if you haven't read anything for this specific discussion, you can still participate, and learn about great new mysteries to try! For more information, check out the Just Desserts schedule at https://lincolnlibraries.org/bookguide/book-groups/#justdesserts

Audiobook Review: The Ocean at the End of the Lane written and narrated by Neil Gaiman

The Ocean at the End of the Lane

by Neil Gaiman (Compact Disc Gaiman)

 

The narrator of this story is a middle-aged man who’d returned to his childhood home in Sussex, England for a funeral, and suddenly recalls events of one summer when he was seven. A man committed suicide in a stolen vehicle, and began a series of magical, scary events. Living in a rundown farm at the end of the lane is 11-year-old Lettie Hempstock, her mother, and her grandmother.

 

A lot is going on in this quiet, little story — suicide, how to be a friend, sacrifice, and Other creatures. And Lettie, who has promised to protect that little boy no matter what.

 

Read by the author, Gaiman is one of the few authors who is capable of reading his own material. His soft, British voice knows his own work to add emphasis and pause in just the right manner in just the right places. If given the choice, always select a Gaiman-read story.

 

And he gives us a tale that slowly unfolds including witches, magic, paranormal, other universes, horror, and an epic battle near the end.

 

(If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try The Truth is a Cave in the Black Mountains: A Tale of Travel and Darkness also by Neil Gaiman, also available as an audiobook-on-cd.)

 

( official The Ocean at the End of the Lane page on the official Neil Gaiman web site )

 

See Wyatt P’s earlier review of the print edition of The Ocean at the End of the Lane in the August 2013 Staff Recommendations here on BookGuide.

 

Recommended by Charlotte M.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Services

 

Have you read or listened to this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide Blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewer’s recommendations!

Audiobook Review: The Dark Hours by Michael Connelly

The Dark Hours
by Michael Connelly, narrated by Christine Lakin and Titus Welliver (Compact Disc Connelly)

This is the fourth entry in Connelly’s Renee Ballard series, but it is also the 23rd entry in his Harry Bosch series. Unlike the previous volume, The Night Fire (2019), in which Renee and Harry took turns narrating the story, in The Dark Hours, Renee is the only point-of-view character. However, since this is an audiobook, in addition to Christine Lakin as the primary narrator, they did bring back Titus Welliver (the actor portraying Bosch in the recently-concluded Amazon Prime streaming series Bosch) to provide the voice of Harry Bosch any time his character speaks.

 

The Dark Hours follows Renee’s work on two simultaneous cases — first, she is reluctantly partnered up with a fellow female detective on the “Midnight Men” case — a pair of men working together to commit serial rape crimes against specifically targeted single women. And then, when a hispanic man, a former gang member who got out of that life, is killed by a gunshot during the chaos of midnight gunfire citywide as Angelinos go into the streets to fire their guns in the air at the toll of midnight on December 31st, 2020, Renee intuits that the death was not accidental but instead an intentional murder. Ballistics matches the gun used in the New Years Eve killing to an old, unsolved case from Bosch’s era — the retired detective and the young late shift detective combine notes and efforts to research that case. Meanwhile, Renee also follows a few promising leads on identifying a pattern to the tag-team rapists to try to predict their next move and prevent another woman from being victimized — while dealing with a burned-out colleague and lack of support from her supervisors.

 

Connelly is superb at creating realistic police procedurals, with compelling characters and tense plots. Renee Ballard has been a fascinating character to see evolve in her first four books, and her “unofficial” partnership with the older, retired Bosch as a mentor figure has been an interesting way for Connelly to keep his most-renowned character still active in recent years. I definitely appreciated the fact that in this book, we get to see how the L.A.P.D. is coping during the pandemic years — the bulk of the events take place in the first two weeks of January 2021, as even first responders in Los Angeles are mostly still awaiting COVID-19 vaccinations. With most contemporary series writers casting a blind eye towards the pandemic, it has been refreshing to see Connelly integrate the true reality of our world into his storytelling.

 

The Dark Hours is another superb Connelly title — he rarely disappoints!

 

(If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try the first three Renee Ballard novels by Connelly, particularly in audiobook format, all read by Christine Lakin and Titus Welliver.)

 

( official The Dark Hours page on the official Michael Connelly web site )

 

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Service

Have you read or listened to this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

 

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide Blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewer’s recommendations!

Audiobook Review: A Light Amongst Shadows by Kelley York and Rowan Altwood

A Light Amongst Shadows
by Kelley York and Rowan Altwood, narrated by Kale Williams (Hoopla Audio)

A Light Amongst Shadows is the first book in the Dark is the Night series, and takes place in 1860’s England at an isolated boarding school. I enjoyed this book so well I purchased all the titles (five so far) in the series.

James Spencer has been sent away by his family to Whisperwood School for Boys. This school is for boys unable to afford the high-end schools or who aren’t desired at home by their families. But James manages to find friends among his fellow students and settles in nicely — while he attempts to get used to the paranormal goings-on in the place such as the crying, screaming, and claws scratching at the door to his room at night.

The staff pretend none of this is going on, claiming any sounds heard are the result of the wind on an old building. But apparently these noises have been routine for decades. Then, one of the boys disappears. The head of the school claims the boy’s family took him home, but James and his friends know otherwise, especially when they learn boys have regularly turned up missing from this school.

 

A well-written story that gives you a feel for its time period, slowly unfolds the romance between the two major characters, and the chilling mystery of the ghostly activities. The narrator does an excellent job of quietly relating this gothic story. I liked this reader so well I also purchased the CD version of this book.

 

Don’t listen to this at night if you’re home alone.

 

( official Dark is the Night series page on the official Kelley York web site )

 

Recommended by Charlotte M.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Service

 

Have you read or listened to this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide Blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewer’s recommendations!

Audiobook Review: The Answer Is...Reflections on My Life by Alex Trebek

The Answer is…Reflections on My Life
by Alex Trebek, audiobook narrated by Ken Jennings and Alex Trebek (Compact Disc Biography Trebek)

Despite turning down multiple offers/requests for him to write his own autobiography over the years, Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek changed his mind and chose to write this charming little look back over the highlights of his life (and his time on Jeopardy!), in response to the outpouring of love and support he received after he publicly shared his diagnosis of stage four pancreatic cancer in early 2019. His reasoning was that all the people who were showering him with good wishes might like a peek into the real life of the person they admired so much.

 

The result is The Answer is…, a sweet, gentle look at the hurdles a young Canadian television entertainer had to jump over on his way towards ultimately achieving fame as the intellectual host of one of TV’s longest-running, and most-respected, game shows. Fully half of this book is Trebek’s memories from across the entire history of Jeopardy!, from the early days of first being cast as host of the revived show, to the many memorable competitors he met during his 30-year run behind the podium. However, interspersed among the Jeopardy! musings are Trebek’s memories of his early years on Canadian television, and the many failed US game shows he hosted before striking Jeopardy! gold. He shares candid comments about both of his marriages and his children, as well as his relationship to his divorced parents. And, he is frank about the difficulties in facing the threat of cancer.

 

Sadly, as we all know, Trebek succumbed to the disease in 2020, at the age of 80, but not before finishing his work on the audiobook version of The Answer is… However, due to his cancer treatments, he tired easily, and the audiobook’s producers brought in Jeopardy!‘s “greatest of all time” winner, Ken Jennings, to do 80% of the audiobook’s narration. Trebek himself takes over a few key chapters (including one about Jennings himself), but the two men share some witty banter as they exchange narrative duties. This was part of the charming nature of listening to this on audio, and I highly recommend The Answer is… as an audiobook! Trebek was a comforting presence for decades, and I enjoyed the opportunity to learn more about him…directly from his own memories.

 

(If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try Who is Alex Trebek? by Lisa Rogak, an unauthorized biography released about the same time as this autobiography from Trebek himself. Also The Jeopardy! Book: The Answers, the Questions, the Facts and the Stories of the Greatest Game Show in History credited to Alex Trebek, or Answers in the Form of Questions: A Definitive History and Insider’s Guide to Jeopardy! by Claire McNear.)

 

( publisher’s official The Answer Is… web page ) | ( Alex Trebek page on Wikipedia ) | ( official Jeopardy! web site )

 

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Service

 

Have you read or listened to this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide Blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewer’s recommendations!

Audiobook Review: A Line to Kill by Anthony Horowitz, narrated by Rory Kinnear

A Line to Kill

by Anthony Horowitz, narrated by Rory Kinnear (Compact Disc Horowitz)

 

Another excellent entry in the extremely “meta” Hawthorn & Horowitz series by Anthony Horowitz, in which he is a character in his own book. Horowitz the author once again serves as the reluctant “Watson” to the eccentric sleuth Daniel Hawthorne. This time, Horowitz and Hawthorne have been invite to the remote island of Alderney, to participate in a literary festival and to promote their first book collaboration (The Word is Murder). Horowitz is reluctant to be stuck with Hawthorne for a lengthy period (and is surprised when the normally taciturn ex-detective agrees to the publicity junket — but as an author, he’s always enjoyed literary festivals in the past.

 

But when they get to the island of Alderney, they discover that their fellow literary guests are an odd bunch, and there are hostilities rampant among the locals about a proposed real estate/technology project that threatens the quality of life for many of them. When a death occurs, associated with the festival, the lack of any significant local constabulary means that ex-police officer Hawthorne is asked to unofficially assist in the sudden murder investigation. But…Hawthorne has a stake in the case, as one of the suspects is the man whose injuries while in police custody led to Hawthorne’s being let go from the force.

 

As in the first two volumes, Horowitz does a terrific job making it seem like the events are “real life” and that he is relating events that actually happened to him. Rory Kinnear gives another perfect audiobook reading, creating unique and distinctive voices/personalities for all the characters. By the time I got to the stunning conclusion, I had to go back and make sure Horowitz played fair with us readers by planting the clues that led to the end of A Line to Kill…and he did. Very well-plotted, this character-driven story should appeal to fans of Holmesian fiction.

 

(It is fairly essential that you read/listen to the first two entries in this series before this one — The Word is Murder and The Sentence is Death both by Horowitz, and both narrated in audiobook format by Rory Kinnear, the format I recommend.)

 

( official Hawthorne & Horowitz page on the official Anthony Horowitz web site )

 

Read Scott C.’s reviews of The Word is Murder and The Sentence is Death, in the May 2019 and July 2019 Staff Recommendations on the libraries’ BookGuide resource pages!

 

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Service

 

Have you read or listened to this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide Blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewer’s recommendations!

Book and Audiobook Reviews: The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray

The Personal Librarian
by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray (Compact Disc Benedict)

Working in a library, as I do, I tend to flag any new books with “library” in the title, for my personal reading enjoyment. Sometimes they end up as duds, but sometimes you find a gem. This falls into the latter category.

The Personal Librarian is historical fiction, based mostly on historical fact. Born Belle Marion Greener, to black parents, under her mother’s influence, Belle changed her name to Belle da Costa Greene, and as a light-skinned woman of color, managed to pass her self off as “white” in early 1900s society. While working at the Princeton University Library, Belle was encouraged by a nephew of the great financier, J. Pierpont Morgan, to apply for the position as Morgan’s “personal librarian” at the eponymous library he was establishing to house his collection of rare manuscripts and art work. She was hired for the position, despite her young age.

 

This novel, based on what historical records have survived, explores Belle’s life and experiences as she helps J.P. Morgan create one of the world’s foremost libraries, and her efforts to continue their work after his passing, all while she has to conceal her true heritage from the world at large. This is 50% “love letter” to the passion for the preservation of knowledge, and 50% about Belle’s personal life and the challenges she faces maintaining a public persona that differs from her true self.

 

All in all, I enjoyed The Personal Librarian quite a lot. There are lots of great “moments” or “scenes” throughout the book, though in the end I felt that the driving central plot was a bit lackluster. I found Belle’s on-again/off-again relationship with a distant suitor to be a bit tiresome and overwrought. Fans of historical fiction, and of literature exploring the sacrifices made by those of African-American descent in order to fit into a racist and demeaning society, will both find much to appreciate in this one. I listened to the book-on-CD audio adaptation of The Personal Librarian, narrated by actress Robin Miles, and she does a terrific job with this novel.

 

( US publisher’s official The Personal Librarian web page ) | ( official Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray web sites )

 

Recommended on audio by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Service

 

When twenty-six-year-old Belle da Costa Greene interviews with J. P. Morgan in 1905 for the position of personal librarian to help collect rare manuscripts and art for his private Pierpont Morgan Library, she has to speak carefully. In part, she is hiding her limited library experience working at Princeton University Library and her teacher’s education. However she also is hiding a much bigger and dangerous secret. Belle is not who she seems. Her middle name is not da Costa and she doesn’t get her dark complexion from a Portuguese grandmother. Belle da Costa Greene is actually Belle Marion Greener. Her heritage is African American and her father was the first Black graduate from Harvard and a vocal advocate of equal rights. Although the book is fiction, authors Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray create a story of what it must have been like for real-life Belle Marion Greener to work with the out-spoken Morgan, act as an intelligent and witty competitor in a world of men, and all the while keep her true identity protected. Some women celebrate her accomplishments and use her as a model as they fight for equal rights; others would prefer to see her fail. In addition, she has to keep her romantic relationship discreet because of his heritage and her employer’s dislike and competition with the man.

 

As a historical fiction novel, I enjoyed the opportunity to learn more about this strong, clever, and inspiring woman, as well as the rare manuscript and art collection she helped assemble and eventually make available to the general public. Although there was always the underlying threat that Belle might be discovered, I didn’t feel an overwhelming urgency to the story. I didn’t find myself racing to get to the next chapter. Perhaps the two authors felt that it was important to put together a book to educate its reader rather than entice. I will say that if you are a lover of historic fiction, this is one to put on your reading list just to learn about this inspiring woman.

 

(If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try The Paris Library by Janet Skeslian Charles or The Last Bookshop in London by Madeline Martin.)

 

Recommended in print by Cindy K.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Service

 

Have you read or listened to this one? What did you think? Did you find these reviews helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide Blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewer’s recommendations!

Audiobook Review: The Bounty by Janet Evanovich and Steve Hamilton

The Bounty

by Janet Evanovich and Steve Hamilton (Compact Disc Evanovich)

 

This is a grudging recommendation for The Bounty. As a general action/adventure novel, it is fine, though perhaps a bit simplistic and predictable. However, as a “Fox & O’Hare” novel, it really misses the mark.

 

This is technically the seventh novel in the series. The series began in 2013 with The Heist — the first five were co-written by Lee Goldberg. Goldberg went on to focus on his own original works after that and Janet Evanovich co-wrote #6 (The Big Kahuna) in 2019 with her son, Peter — that entry was a train wreck. The Bounty teams Evanovich with best-selling thriller writer Steven Hamilton and almost feels like a rebooting of the whole series.

 

In the first book in the series, straight-laced no-nonsense FBI agent Kate O’Hare has finally caught Nick Fox, a professional con-man who she’s been chasing for years. But instead of him being locked away behind bars, Kate’s superiors decided to put Nick’s glib, larcenous skills to good use — having him set up “big fish” targets that might be outside the FBI’s grasp — Nick is going to con them into giving up their secrets and their fortunes. But he needs an FBI “handler” to watch over him and make sure he doesn’t break too many laws in the process of taking down the bigger bad guys — and Kate is assigned to be that handler, against her wishes.

The first five books were a brilliant mix of romantic comedy/romantic suspense (these are Janet Evanovich stories — and that’s what she excels at!), and an almost Mission: Impossible feel — Nick would put together the biggest con jobs imaginable, tapping into an extensive network of friends and fellows con artists when needed. The cons always seemed to have hiccups and the fun was in seeing the team of con artists (and the reluctant Kate O’Hare) pull off a seemingly impossible job.

 

The Bounty has a totally different feel — Kate and Nick are still working together, and their mutual attraction continues to smolder — but this time they are teamed up with their respective fathers — Jake O’Hare is an ex-marine who’s always ready to help Kate with a black ops mission, and Quentin Fox is an arts and antiquities dealer who (unknown to his son Nick) has a background in the intelligence field. Through a complicated series of events, the four of them end up on the run, with part of a treasure map that leads to 400,000 tons of hidden Nazi gold…and only one step ahead of the grandson of one of the original Nazis who hid it (and who wants to launch a new modern Fourth Reich).

 

This novel features no big scale con games — it is a global adventure race against cartoonish Nazi-like villains. Kate and Nick resemble the Kate and Nick from the earlier novels, but only in superficial ways. This is an entertaining romp, and Scott Brick is my favorite audiobook narrator, so he effectively brings the characters to life. But it is NOT like the marvelous first five books in the series. I recommend it for what it is. But wish it was more like what it had been. Nick and Kate (and Jake and Quentin) are passably competent action adventure heroes, but I’d much rather go back to the con game plots.

[If you haven’t already sampled the first five books in the Fox & O’Hare series co-authored by Lee Goldberg, you’ll want to go back and read those. Skip #6.]

[ official The Bounty page on the official Janet Evanovich web site | official Steve Hamilton web site ]

 

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Services

 

Have you read or listened to this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide Blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewer’s recommendations!

If you're a mystery fan, join us for the next Just Desserts meeting tonight, August 26th, where we'll be discussing the suspense novel The Red Lotus by Chris Bohjalian. The Just Desserts group has returned to in-person meetings as of June 2021. Join us at 6:30 p.m. to 7:45 p.m. in the 4th floor auditorium of the Bennett Martin Public Library downtown at 14th & "N" St. on the last Thursday of each upcoming month. For more information, check out the Just Desserts schedule at https://lincolnlibraries.org/bookguide/book-groups/#justdesserts

Audiobook Review: One by One by Ruth Ware

One by One

by Ruth Ware (Compact Disc Ware)

 

When the libraries’ Just Desserts mystery fiction discussion group read and discussed One by One by Ruth Ware for our July meeting, it was my first time to sample a Ruth Ware novel, after numerous readers have recommended her to me over the past three to four years. In this case, I listened to One by One, narrated by Imogen Church, as a book-on-CD in my car on my way to-and-from work in 25 minute segments each day.

I’ll have to admit, I wasn’t pulled into the story quickly — I’d gotten over 2 full discs into the 11-disc audiobook, and was thinking the story was moving very slowly, with too much descriptive text, and then, suddenly, I discovered I was invested in the story and the characters, and bad things started to happen.

 

In the tradition of Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None, One by One features a group of disparate characters, trapped in a remote and inaccessible location, when emotions and hostilities erupt and the group members begin dying off…one by one. In this case, it’s a remote, rustic ski chalet high in the French Alps, the group of characters is formed of a bunch of co-workers at a trendy internet tech company on a corporate retreat, along with a former company employee, and the two workers (a chef and a housekeeper/manager) that are employees of the chalet. Emotions run ragged when a buyout option for the company comes up, but discussions are pushed back until after everyone can go skiing. Only…there’s a snowstorm coming, not everyone returns from the ski outing, and as they all hunker down at the chalet to try to figure out what happened to the missing group member, an avalanche hits, causing injuries and knocking out the power. And then people start dying, in unnatural ways.

 

The story is told from two different women’s points-of-view, and in the audiobook, narrator Church gives each of those distinctly different “voices” and temperaments. The tension and fear keep ratcheting up, with each consecutive chapter, and I found myself not wanting to stop listening to the book-on-cd, when I’d pull up to the curb at home after work.

 

Strong recommendation from me on this one…though you need to stick with it past the early doldrums. The audiobook was terrific. Most mystery/suspense works I tend to read are parts of series, but One by One is a stand-alone, without question. I’ll definitely be looking forward to reading/listening-to more Ruth Ware titles in the future!

[ official One by One page on the official Ruth Ware web site ]

 

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Services

 

Have you read or listened to this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide Blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewer’s recommendations!

Scott listened to this one for the Just Desserts mystery fiction discussion group discussion online in July 2021.

 

If you're a mystery fan, join us for the next group meeting on August 26th, where we'll be discussing the suspense novel The Red Lotus by Chris Bohjalian. The Just Desserts group has returned to in-person meetings as of June 2021. Join us at 6:30 p.m. to 7:45 p.m. in the 4th floor auditorium of the Bennett Martin Public Library downtown at 14th & "N" St. on the last Thursday of each upcoming month. For more information, check out the Just Desserts schedule at https://lincolnlibraries.org/bookguide/book-groups/#justdesserts