A complimentary audio was provided in exchange for an honest review.
This is different from my usual reads and I had fun listening to it. I’m all for cute and entertaining, and this certainly fit the bill. The murder mystery was a little bizarre. Why would the killer wait till now to do what they did? They had all those years to kill, and then decided to do it where the murder would be discovered. I liked the characters though. They were well done and, aside from Fred (and others) focusing on her height (5’10” isn’t that weird folks), I thought they were realistic.
I am a cat lover myself and can say dogs are cute (small ones) from a distance but I would never want one in my home OR place of business, especially a place that sells food. That didn’t strike me as realistic but I just went with it. Fred as a amateur sleuth worked for me, and I did enjoy hearing her commentary with Watson about finding clues and his obsession with treats.
As for the narration, it was good. I don’t listen to a lot of female narrators and was worried about that, but Angie Hickman has a good voice and I thought it was very well suited to this story. The audio could have benefited from a male narrator to handle the step-father and cute cop, but Angie handled the male voices well. I would (and am) listen to Angie Hickman again.
I give the story 3 stars and the narration 3.75.