Past Tense

By: Catherine Aird

Narrated by: Ric Jerrom

Detectives Sloan and Crosby find themselves assigned two rather puzzling cases. First, there's the young woman's body which has been discovered in the River Alm. And then there's the mysterious break-in at the Berebury Nursing Home. To be precise, it's Josephine Short's room at the nursing home that's been entered, although nothing seems to be missing. What could the intruder have been after? It becomes apparent to Sloan and Crosby that the two cases are connected—but who can the killer be?

©2010 Catherine Aird (P)2011 AudioGo

Light and enjoyable!

A light mystery without being silly. Smartly written and very entertaining. The reoccurring characters are a lot of fun and well developed!

Good, but predictable

I actually enjoyed this book, and it kept my interest more than some of the other “later installments” from this series. The early ones were excellent, but the later ones tend to be dull and all over the place. This one was good, but I figured out whodunnit early on (and why)😂😂😂

One of my favorite Inspector Sloan mysteries

I very much enjoyed the plot of this book! The only drawback is the narrator. I particularly dislike the voice he does for Constable Crosby.

A modern classic

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes, for anyone who enjoys old style classic formula

What about Ric Jerrom’s performance did you like?

He is the third reader, perhaps I would have liked him more had he done the entire series, but I miss the first and second.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

The stories are short so one listening in a day was almost a given?.

Any additional comments?

In these troubled times, it is nice to escape into a series that is not political, with language children could listen to, and romance mildly suggested, but not important. I listened to all the audible books, many have not yet been made available. Aird keeps her characters at the same age, not unlike the old Dagwwod comic, but easily mentions new technology as online and email without missing a beat. The mysteries are easy to solve but a pleasant read anyway.

ok

A bit predictable but an enjoyable cozy mystery all the same. I would have preferred Derek Perkins as the narrator, however.

Great narration almost compensates for lackluster mystery

The narrator was excellent, the story? not so much. I figured out the ending within the first few chapters and I wasn’t particularly interested in any of the characters except CD Sloan, but I still listened to the rest of the story - partly because I hoped that I was wrong but mostly because of the performance. The narrator did a great job narrating the story, consistently differentiating between each character’s voice and mannerisms and he paid attention to the emotional cues included in the text. I wish he’d done more of the books in this series.

Narrator kills this one

After listening to 20 previous titles in this series (I quite obviously enjoy them), I am going to quit this book with just an hour left to finish. The narrator just grates on my nerves, he is over-the-top melodramatic and makes all the characters irritating, whereas Derek Perkins makes them quirky, yet still likable. He also pronounces the superintendent's name as Lays rather than Lees, and after 20 books of Lees, it's a constant sour note. I swear the man is in love with his own voice and I just can't listen to any more of it. I see other reviewers have enjoyed his reading, but I can only be thankful he hasn't narrated more of this fine series.

One of my favourites!

This is the first book I’d ever read by Aird, and it started me on a journey to find them all. This is the one I based my understanding of the characters on.

Narrator my favourite for this this series.

Catherine Aird wrote great mysteries.

Lots of twists and turns for the reader to figure out. Love the Inspector Sloan character.

Weird

I had trouble finishing it. thank goodness I fell asleep 😴 I'm going on to book 2 & see if it gets any better