Caught Dead Handed

Witch City Mystery, Book 1

De: Carol J. Perry

Narrado por: C.S.E Cooney

Most folks associate the city of Salem, Massachusetts, with witches, but for Lee Barrett it's home. This October she's returned to her hometown - where her beloved Aunt Ibby still lives - to interview for a job as a reporter at WICH-TV. But the only opening is for a call-in psychic to host the late-night horror movies. It seems the previous host, Ariel Constellation, never saw her own murder coming.

Lee reluctantly takes the job, but when she starts seeing real events in the obsidian ball she's using as a prop, she wonders if she might really have psychic abilities. To make things even spookier, it's starting to look like Ariel may have been an actual practicing witch - especially when O'Ryan, the cat Lee and Aunt Ibby inherited from her, exhibits some strange powers of his own.

With Halloween fast approaching, Lee must focus on unmasking a killer - or her career as a psychic may be very short lived.

©2014 Carol J. Perry (P)2015 Tantor

Reseñas de la Crítica

"The atmosphere of this mystery is delightfully spooky, and the psychic elements add mystical touches that enhance the plot." ( RT Book Reviews)

Unusual and interesting story, awful reader

A few aspects of this book made it especially unusual. Without giving too much away, what I mean, are the psychological history and relationships of some of the main characters.
Unfortunately, the person who read the book was the worst reader I've ever heard! She read the book in a completely flat voice, and at the same time, over-annunciated constantly. This distracted from enjoying the story. It might have been much better than I thought it was, had it been read by a professional.

Good read

enjoyed the book,wished reader voice wasn't so flat, but plot was great. will get the next one ,
, since I already have the print one.

Predictable

I enjoyed this audible book but I could see the “big plot twist” a mile off. The other annoying thing is the narrators breathy performance. It’s like she’s trying to make every female sound like Marilyn Monroe.

Shows promise, but...

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

Sadly, I can't recommend this particular book. The writing is perfectly serviceable and the character is fairly likable. However (CONTAINS SPOILERS)



The solution to the mystery is A) fairly obvious and the protagonist just remains oblivious for far longer than she should.
B) Incredibly transphobic. This is the sort of story that we saw all over the place in the mid-90's thrillers like Sliver. It's outdated and unfortunate and kept me from enjoying the story.

Cats Meow

Great book. Reader has very nice voice. Classic style mystery which is interesting and yet makes you smile.

Really good book!

Loved the characters and the story. A few sad topics but thoroughly enjoyed! Get it!

My kind of cozy mystery series

A great find! Stumbled over this series while searching for cozy mysteries to listen to. I am super happy I did. I enjoyed the characters, really like the plot. And I like the twist on the supernatural power angle. Most cozy books are all about someone learning they are a witch or something and bam, magic galore starts. This book has witches, but our lead is not one of them. In fact she isn’t sure what she is. And it makes me look forward to listening to the other books to see where her story takes her.

The narrator was a bit odd at the start, like she was trying to find her voice and the voice of her characters, but she figured it out. It wasn’t bad, just noticeable. I assure her next reading will only help her hone her craft.

Good mystery read /listen

I enjoyed listening to book. I couldn’t stop once started. Especially good if you are interested in a great story line. I did figure it out before book ended however I recommend book.

Such Bad Pacing

Would you try another book from Carol J. Perry and/or C.S.E Cooney?

Unlikely.

Would you recommend Caught Dead Handed to your friends? Why or why not?

I can't recommend this book for the simple reason that the placing is simply abysmal it takes far to long to get to the meat of the story and when it does it is WAY to padded out.

Did C.S.E Cooney do a good job differentiating all the characters? How?

I will give Mrs. Cooney credit on this end of things. Using different tone and inflection she is able make each character distinguished.

Did Caught Dead Handed inspire you to do anything?

no

Any additional comments?

While C.S.E. Cooney does keep each character distinguished her over all narration only adds the bad pacing

This book really needed a better editor. The actual story is interesting as are most of the characters. It also does not go the normal route of "hero discovers they have powers".

Had the pacing been better I might have enjoyed this book quick a lot but as it is I can't recommend it book at all

Loved it!

I’m not usually a mystery reader, but this looked fun. I loved it! I thought I had figured it out pretty early because of a hint she gave, but there were enough questions to keep me guessing and a bit of a twist, so it wasn’t as easy as I first thought. I really enjoyed the characters and was a bit sad that it ended. I am very happy to discover that it is a series and I’ve already bought the sequel on audible.