Ghost of a Chance

Cherringham. A Cosy Crime Series - Mystery Shorts 19

By: Matthew Costello, Neil Richards

Narrated by: Neil Dudgeon

Every Halloween, the supposedly haunted Bell Hotel hosts its famous 'Ghost-Hunters Dinner', complete with scary stories, spooky apparitions and things that go bump in the night. But this year's event ends in a terrifying accident, and suddenly everyone wonders... Is there a real ghost loose in the hotel? Jack and Sarah are convinced that the culprit must be human: who would want bad things to happen at the classic hotel? But soon they're forced to confront their own superstitions as they find themselves on the trail of an unsolved Victorian murder...

Cherringham is a serial novel à la Charles Dickens, with a new audio episode released every two weeks. Set in the sleepy English village of Cherringham, the detective series brings together an unlikely sleuthing duo: English web designer Sarah and American ex-cop Jack. Thrilling and deadly - but with a spot of tea - it's like Rosamunde Pilcher meets Inspector Barnaby.

Each of the self-contained episodes is a quick listen for the morning commute, while waiting for the doctor, or when curling up with a hot cuppa. For fans of Agatha Christie's Miss Marple series, Lilian Jackson Braun's "The Cat Who" series, Caroline Graham's "Midsomer Murders", and the American TV series "Murder She Wrote", starring Angela Lansbury.

Co-authors Neil Richards (based in the UK) and Matthew Costello (based in the US), have been writing together since the mid 90's, creating content and working on projects for the BBC, Disney Channel, Sony, ABC, Eidos, and Nintendo to name but a few. Their transatlantic collaboration has underpinned scores of TV drama scripts, computer games, radio shows, and - most recently - the successful crime fiction series Cherringham. The narrator of the audiobook, Neil Dudgeon, has been in many British television programmes including the roles of "DCI John Barnaby" in "Midsomer Murders" and "Jim Riley" in "The Life of Riley". He is also known for his film roles in "The Nativity", "Sorted" and "Son of Rambow". In 2012 Dudgeon starred as "Norman Birkett" on BBC Radio 4's Afternoon Play series written by Caroline and David Stafford.

©2018 Bastei Lübbe (Lübbe Audio) (P)2018 Lübbe Audio

different than usual

small-business, small-town, amateur-sleuth, ex-cop, cosy-mystery, Cotswolds, family-dynamics, family-business, friendship, investigation, secrets, serial, short, suspense, hotel, sly-humor, ghosts, ghost-hunting*****

It appears that the butler was murdered about a hundred years ago and has been haunting the building ever since, despite it having been turned into a family hotel which has fallen on hard times. Jack and Sarah get asked to investigate by the elderly hotel owner after a nearly devastating unexplained incident during the yearly demonstration by the ghost whisperer. Good sleuthing, surprising twists, unusual red herrings, and interesting characters round out this fun episode.

Love this idea of a series given in short bursts that are just the right size as well as so much more flexible than a whole novel! The ongoing sleuthing involves a retired and widowed older NYPD homicide cop who is finding life in the English countryside a fair antidote to his mourning, and a local recently divorced woman who has returned to her hometown with her children. They make a good sleuthing pair.
Voice actor Neil Dudgeon has been an excellent asset to my listening pleasure, making sure that
I know who's talking while I do mindless things.