Murder in Cottonwood Springs: A Cottonwood Springs Cozy Mystery

Cottonwood Springs Cozy Mystery Series, Book 1

By: Dianne Harman

Narrated by: Kasey Logan

Sheriff Rich got the call every lawman dreads – a relative’s murder. And it’s even worse when it’s your sister.

Brigid moved back to Cottonwood Springs to be with friends and family when her marriage and her publishing company both ended. When her best friend’s murdered, she’s determined to find the killer.

A new romance and an adopted big Newfoundland are pretty comforting at times like these. Recipes included!

This is the first book in the Cottonwood Springs Cozy Mystery Series by two-time USA Today best-selling Author, Dianne Harman. Scroll up this page, click "Buy", and download it now. Enjoy!

©2018 Dianne Harman (P)2020 Dianne Harman

First time author to me, I enjoyed the story!

This is the first book of Dianne Harman’s that I’ve listened to. Although I enjoyed the story, I struggled at times with the narration. Something about the dialect or inflection, I don’t know. I will read the print version, maybe I’ll grt a better feel for the characters. I hadn’t read a cozy mystery in a while and this was a good one to get back into the genre with. I liked how she set several people up to be suspects, it was easy to figure out who did it. The killer’s Name was never mentioned when the killer was talked about being a rural, small area someone would have remembered the name. I will be reading more of this author.

Enjoyable

What a great start to a wonderful series. Several twists to keep you guessing and great recipes too!

A new author to me that I enjoyed!

I have downloaded quite a few of Ms. Harman's cozy mysteries for free as a member of her newsletter but I have not read any of them yet so when I saw that I could get a free code from Audiobooks Unleashed to listen to one I thought it was the perfect opportunity to see what I thought of her writing. This review is my own honest opinion. I found that the writing was not quite what I like in a mystery, but this is not a fault of this book that is quoted as a cozy mystery. I personally like my books to be a Christian romantic suspense that keeps you on the edge of your seat. This book let us know what happened to the victim in the prologue and then gave us people that had a problem with the victim. So you just had to guess as the story went on to explain how they found out information. I have to say I did enjoy the book as it was much lighter than my usual reading, it was a nice break and I wouldn't mind reading some more books in this series to find out more about the characters that I was introduced to. All in all a good book I would recommend. I did listen to the audio version and the narrator Kasey Logan did a great job bringing the story to life lol although some of the voices could get on my nerves lol just like in life!

Murder in Cottonwood Springs

This is a short quick easy mystery. I thought it was a good storyline and it held my attention. It's not complicated and easy to follow. Kasey Logan does a good job narrating this book.

Cozy Mystery

*Reviewing after receiving a promotional audiobook.

Brigid Barnes, a book editor moves back to hometown of Cottonwood Springs, Colorado. Her good friend is murdered.

I was thrown a little by the murder happening first and then the possible suspects being introduced. Then back in time to tell the events leading up to the murder.

It was a typical cozy mystery. Light reading (listening) for when you're not in the mood for something deeper. I enjoyed it enough to try the next one.

The narrator did a good job with the voice of Brigid, but some of the other character voices made me want to cringe.

Meh

The narrator's reading was subpar with mini pauses throughout like she wasn't into the story, or not paying attention to her place, or try8ng not to read roo fast (not sure which one applies, if any). The voices were good though. The storyline was simple and predictable.

Great

Small town, people know one another here, when Bridget moved back, a welcome back party was held. She had been in LA and when publishing company went bankrupt, as editor she could legally now take her client with her. One was a close friend, Rachel calling to say she was having writers block. Bridget invites her to come, though now dreading it. Having a neighbor and a new close friend Link. She didn’t want that to change. The B&B was runnedby Lucy and Henri, though not all was perfect, he misses his homeland of France and more. For Rachel, she has other plans When visiting Cottonwood and is taking it as a sign for revenge.The author has once again given us a mystery, a touch of romance, and suspects to figure out who committed the murder. Narration was good by Kasey.
Given audio for my voluntary review

Entertaining

Murder in Cottonwood Springs is an entertaining clean cozy mystery that pulled me in from the beginning since the crime is revealed in the prologue. The characters and town are interesting and I anticipate a fun series. The narrator gave a nice performance.

Which One?

Unusual format with potential suspects’ motives and thoughts laid out in th beginning. Not a whole lot of character development. Any one of the suspects could have done it.
The narrator was very distracting. Her pauses and inflections chopped up the flow of sentences and thoughts.

A Very Good Cozy Mystery

I really enjoyed this audio book! The story was well-written. I really liked the character insights and learning about their psychological motivations. The book captured and held my attention from beginning to end. It had romance. It had villains and characters that are very likeable.

Although the narrator had a pleasant voice, a couple of the female character voices were performed as high pitched, baby like voices. Personally, I found this annoying and it got on my nerves. I would have preferred normal adult instead of overly cutesy. Fortunately, these characters had very minor roles and were barely part of the story.

I would definitely recommend this audio book to others. I look forward to listening to other books in the series.