A Shell of a Problem

Sanibel Island Mysteries, Book 1

By: Jennifer Lonoff Schiff

Narrated by: Amy Gordon

When investigative reporter Guinivere Jones finds herself out of a husband and a job, she decides to leave dreary New England and move to sunny Sanibel Island, Florida, the seashell capital of the United States.

But all is not sunshine and seashells on Sanibel. And when the star attraction of the annual Shell Show, a rare shell known as the Golden Junonia goes missing, and Guin stumbles across the dead body of the chief suspect a few days later, she is determined to find the missing mollusk and the murderer. Along the way, she finds buckets of shells and suspects - and a little romance, too.

The first book in the Sanibel Island Mystery series, A Shell of a Problem introduces listeners to Guinivere Jones, ace reporter for the Sanibel-Captiva Sun-Times, her two faithful feline companions Flora and Fauna, the beautiful island of Sanibel, and a host of memorable characters.

©2017 Jennifer Lonoff Schiff (P)2020 Jennifer Lonoff Schiff

Lively & fun. Loved the characters & dialogue

Narrator Amy Gordon did an excellent job of bringing Jennifer Schiff's great characters to life in her lively reading of the first book in the Sanibel Island Mystery series. The interplay between the main cast of characters (Guin, the Detective, Ris, Shelly, Craig, and Ginny), and other islanders, translates especially well to the audio format. Over the last two years, I had worked my way through the Kindle versions of the entire 6-book series, and it was a lot of fun to return to book 1 as a listener.

Sanibel holds a special place in the heart of visitors (and locals) and the book does a great job of using the island and region as a backdrop to an entertaining whodunit. Highly recommended.

I wanted to love it

Carrie

Sanibel is my happy place so I really wanted to love it. I liked hearing of places and agreeing or disagreeing of the authors description. I could’ve even gotten beyond the predictable plot. The narrator. I couldn’t get over it. She always sounded like she was smiling when she was reading and I just couldn’t get past it. It started irritating me and then the over use of certain adjectives bothered me too. I could only get halfway through before quitting. Love the nostalgia. Not so much the performance.

This was a Shell of a Book!

I had no idea there were so many shell puns available in this world until I listened to this book. Even numerous characters in the book had shell in their names in one form or another. I can't imagine how difficult and fun this book must have been to write. It really was a fun listen, I gave it four stars because I wasn't really sure if I liked the main character, or her current love interest at all. There were so many times in the book when she treated her best friend like she just plain didn't like her, and that bugged me. A lot. And her love interest, well, something's fishy about him. I do think I would like to listen to the next book in the series just so I can make a more educated and thought out decision on how I feel about this series. I'm from the south, and the book is full of nothing but northerners. I know it sounds odd, but I would like to meet some southerners living in Florida. Maybe they would add a dose of southern humor and hospitality that this book seemed to be missing for me. The narrator was great. I don't know how she would do with a southern accent, but she definitely has a wide range of northern accents and she put them to good use in this book. She enunciated well and didn't make any noticeable pronunciation errors, which thrills me. I would definitely enjoy listening to her again. I received this book for free at my request from Audiobook Boom and have voluntarily left this review.

A Shell of a Problem

Guinevere has moved tho Florida after a divorce. She takes a job with a local paper and makes friends. Aaaand discovers there can be fun in looking for seashells. She makes an appointment to interview a retired dentist about his discovery of a rare Shell. Little does she know from this one point that her life will get turned topsy turvy involving murder and theft. But she also discovers two eligible men both different from each other but each intriguing!
Amy Gordon doors a remarkable job of portraying each character and her ability to mimic each person's accent is remarkable!!
Fantastic audio and story!!!

A Shell of a Problem Review

Entertaining storyline and characters. As a repeat vacationer to Sanibel/Captiva Islands, the references to all the hot spots kept me fully engaged. I did feel this first book ended too abruptly, but I have read other books in this series so I know this author keeps getting better and better. The person selected to narrate this audiobook was an excellent choice. Looking forward to the next mystery in this series!

I loved this story!

I can't believe how much I loved this story. With sea shell collecting at front and center, and not being of the sea shell collecting sort, I didn't think I would. I was wrong.

This is a wonderful little mystery about a stolen sea shell. I loved the cast of characters. I loved the mystery. I loved the whodunnit. I really love that there was no instalove.

The narrator was very well-suited and did an excellent job bringing this wonderful story to life.

A Good Mystery Romance

This was my first Jennifer Lonoff Schiff's book. This is the first book in the Sanibel Island Mysteries. The characters are well developed, and the storyline is intriguing, and entertaining. This is a good cozy mystery. Amy Gordon did a good job with the narration. I was given a free review copy of the audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Ok ok We know ….

The shell is a Golden Junonis for crying out loud! Bring verbal beaten over the head with name is major overkill. Could have referred to it as The Shell.

Horrible!

Hard as I tried, I couldn't even finish this book!!!! Extremely slow, ridiculous story line. This book was a waste of time and money.