Overdoses in Olympia

Capital City Murders, Book 1

By: Troy Lambert, Stuart Gustafson

Narrated by: Joseph L Stevenson

Nick O’Flannigan thought he was just starting out on a freelance photography assignment.

But when he arrives in Olympia, he learns that there have been two overdoses in hospitals in the last week, both seemingly connected. With his keen eye for detail, he notices something in the photos that no one else sees.

But how will he, an out of town photographer and amateur sleuth, get that information to the right authorities before another patient dies?

“A good whodunnit read.” (John Hussar)

You won’t find the answer until the very end of this powerful pause-resister of a travel mystery. If you love Jack McEvoy, you’ll love this debut in the Capital City Murders series.

©2019 Troy Lambert (P)2020 Troy Lambert

Site-Seeing and Murders In Olympia

Overdoses in Olympia is a short book and first book in the Capital City Murders series. The story starts with a crime of a patient who died of an overdose. Nick O'Flannigan is not introduced until the second chapter.

Nick O'Flannigan is a photographer who has a contract to visit all 50 capitals. One of the interesting thing about this book, it does describe the uniqueness of Olympia, good food, and sight-seeing if one have never been to Olympia. He get involved in the headline that a second patient has died in the same hospital of the first victim. As any good photographer, Nick has an eye for details but he would need to insert himself in to the case.

How Nick inserted himself into the case is like a slight of hand for the newspaper editor and police not being aware that they just picked up a passenger. It is interesting just for the listeners to hear it happens.

The information about Nick is limited in the story. The listeners/readers won't know how he became a photographer when Nick does have the height to be a basketball player and that he is a red head. If it was for the additional information about Nick's and his humble beginning, I would have thought that the listeners/readers would get to know Nick as he travels to all 50 capitals.

It is a good short story. I would be interested to find out how much information would be given to Nick in the second book.

The narrator, Joseph L Stevenson did a pretty good job for a short and simple story. Good voice for the characters.

I was given this audiobook by the author. I have decided to write an unbiased review for this book. I was not compensated or influenced in any way on writing this review.

Photographs and Murder

This premise is good but the execution rather dry and drawn our. We have Nick a Freelance photographer who just got a contract to photograph all 50 states Capitols. Because he is so observant, he spots minutely item in a photograph in Newspaper and contacts that paper. Now only because of this ability he pushes to be involved and eventually, again because of his ability Murder is solved. Narrator seems to be a First time narrator, because he Nesitates, starts and stops, and there is a Very much Lack of emotion in the voicing. ​This story could use more character and less descriptions.

An Entertaining Mystery

The first book in the Capital City Murders, the series is based on the travels of photographer and amateur detective, Nick O'Flannigan, as he visits each US capital city to take pictures for a magazine. Olympia is his first stop, and he showcases his sleuthing skills as he recognizes a tattoo on the latest overdose victim that is shown in the story of a local newspaper and he follows up on his on discovery. Although his initial suspicions don't  pan out, he continues to help the authorities with his keen eye and attention to detail. The story was interesting and nicely  narrated and I enjoyed listening to it. I would like definitely like to continue the series.


I received a free Audible copy via StoryOrigin and am voluntarily leaving me review.

Baskerville Book Reviews

Overdoses in Olympia is an odd example of a mystery. The mystery feels like it’s competing with the protagonist to be front and center at the start. After that, it starts to feel like a subplot while you live a day in the life of uninteresting protagonist as he takes pictures.

The summary says you won’t be able to solve the mystery until the end, which is likely true. It really doesn’t give you enough to work with if you want to actually solve it as you read (or listen). There was one small details I noticed early on that had me paying more attention to the details to see if I could figure it out. It was all for naught as there seriously wasn’t much to go on.

I think the character interaction dialogue leaves something to be desired. Though maybe it’s intended to be written less like a book and more like two people having a natural conversation.

Overall, the narration was good. I did get sick of the narrator mispronouncing prescription over and over. “Perscription” isn’t a word. I truly can’t stand narrators who mispronounce basic English words.

NOTE: This copy was provided to me free of charge as a digital review copy. The opinions stated in this review are mine and mine alone, I was not paid or requested to give this book a certain rating, suggestion, or approval.

Enjoyable listening

I enjoyed listening to this book. Short but had a good story line. Will listen to the next book.

Interesting but a little short

This is the first book in a new series. Nick is a freelance photographer whose assignment is to visit all 50 capital buildings and take pictures for a travel magazine. While he is in Olympia, Washington the local paper runs an article about recent overdoses in the hospital! He notices something that no one else does which leads to his helping the police solve the case. The book is rather short and rather strangely organized but not bad. It covers the mystery and than gives to the background of the story which is unusual.

I received a complimentary copy and this is my honest, unsolicited review.

Great Series Starter

This was a great start to a new series. The character work and story line were well written and kept my attention from beginning to end. The narrator did a fantastic job bringing this book to life and made it an enjoyable listen.

I received a copy of this audiobook and I am voluntarily leaving my honest review.

Might be off to a decent start....

I really like the idea of a free-lance photographer traveling from one capital city to another helping solve crime. In this one, we have some mysterious overdoses and one nurse is being investigated as the possible culprit. Nick enters the scene with an open mind and a curious nature, especially since he recognizes a tattoo on one of the victims at Mercy Hospital.

This is a short story so there’s not much time to develop the characters and the plot is pretty straight forward with a very abrupt ending. It does ramble a little, getting caught up in details sometimes that don’t add to the tory (ex: Nick going on about leaving a review for the hotel on a site and signing up for the rewards program). I think more time could have been spent on character and plot development.

Still, it’s nice to explore the setting, Olympia, as the Pacific Northwest is one of my favorite areas on the planet. Tho I did expect more photography stuff (of which I know almost nothing about). At this point in this series, Nick could be any dude with any generic job that requires him to travel. On one hand, that is a great base for a series to build on, but on the other hand it made this first story a little bland. Looking forward to giving book 2 a try. 3.5/5 stars.

The Narration: Joseph L. Stevenson did an OK job. He has a good voice for the main character (Nick the photographer) but he didn’t have much range in his voices overall. All the characters sounded very similar so I had to rely on the situation, setting, and the emotions Stevenson built into each character. For the most part, I was able to keep each character separate tho sometimes it was a little muddled. The ladies sounded softer and nicer than the guys and that’s how I distinguished them from the guys, tho their voices could have used a little more femininity. 3.5/5 stars.

I received this audiobook as part of my participation in a blog tour with Audiobookworm Promotions. The tour is being sponsored by Troy Lambert. The gifting of this audiobook did not affect my opinion of it.

Innovative Idea

This was my first experience with Troy Lambert's and Stuart Gustafson's collaboration regarding a photographer with a "keen eye for details" who uses this skill to aid the police in their investigations. I enjoyed the tale and recommend the novella to others who enjoy a pragmatic approach to a murder mystery without overt graphic details. Joseph L Stevenson's narration is fine as his voice is pleasant, but his style is not excessively expressive. I was given a free copy of the audiobook and I have voluntarily left this review.

Great start for Book one in a series

A young photographer on an assignment becomes interested in two suspicious deaths at a local hospital. His amateur detective skills are put to test as he helps solve the case. This shorty story starts out with an interesting story line which I felt could have been built upon a bit more. I would have liked to know more about all of the characters but considering it is a short story, the mystery was intriguing. I look forward to more mysteries with Nick. The narrator was good and I enjoyed listening to story.