Sealfinger

Sam Applewhite, Book 1

By: Heide Goody, Iain Grant

Narrated by: Matthew Lloyd Davies

Some bodies just won’t stay buried.

When a client tells Sam Applewhite she’s seen ghosts in the nearby graveyard, Sam dismisses it as the ramblings of an old woman. She’s got bigger things to worry about. Keeping on top of her job at DefCon4 Security Services isn’t easy - particularly since her manager is a cactus, and no one will tell her what her job actually is.

But when the ghost-spotting client goes missing, and only Sam suspects foul play, she is compelled to dig deeper. Aided by her retired stage magician father and the owner of the most outlandish junk shop on the sea front, Sam dives into a mystery involving psychotic seals, unexploded air force munitions, DIY foot surgery, and a corpse that just won’t quit.

©2021 Heide Goody and Iain Grant (P)2021 Heide Goody and Iain Grant

Hilariously crazy story!

Excellent voice acting by the Narrator, Matthew Lloyd Davies- so many LOLs. On to book 2!!

I love this so much

I saw some negative reviews so I felt obligated to weigh in.

I LOVE these books. Everything written by this pair and read by this narrator. You’ll know if it’s for you. If it’s not then 🤷‍♀️ It’s definitely for a specific reader. If you like goofy British comedy… if you like Douglas Adams for instance… you’ll love this. But if you don’t like silly comedy you’ll hate it. I think if you give this a bad review you’re really revealing yourself as a careless selector. Pick stuff in your genre! Also if you love this look at their other books - the Odd Jobs series is pure gold.

A British version of Sick Puppy?

Another slam dunk by Heide Goody and Iain Grant!

It's been years since I read Carl Hiaasen's 'Sick Puppy' But this reminds me of it a little bit, with the mystery to be solved, humor/dark humor, and real estate development.

Goody & Grant turn out some good reading material, and they use a great narrator too! apparently Matthew Lloyd Davies is also an actor and director, I'm not surprised he does more than narration because he does such a fantastic job. Every time. Love him.

I loved the heroine and villainess and strong personalities of the women in the book. All around great job, gals!

Loved it

As alway a great book by Heide Goody and Iain Grant. Fun characters funny as always and a great tale. Would recommend to anyone who likes a good mystery and a bit of fun.

Excellent!

Loved every minute of this book. It was very dark - but hilariously so! I found myself staying up till 2 in the morning, because I just didn't want it to end. The authors, and the narrator, are a match made in heaven. Buying the next one in the series RIGHT NOW (who needs sleep?).

A fun and far out romp

I loved the zaniness of this story! Calamity is woven into this story of greed and shady business dealings that leads to murder. It's outlandish happenings is the charm of the story. This tale has a Maxwell Smart meets I Love Lucy---esk feel to it that just draws you in.

BLARGH! So says Mr. Frank the Seal

Haha! What a fun murder mystery! I was hooked with the first BLARGH! from the seal (Mr. Frank… Mr. Fred?) inadvertently taken on a Meals-on-Wheels run. lol I hope he enjoyed his carrot cake because I doubt he’ll get more anytime soon!

Sam Applewhite loves working with the elderly and enjoys delivering meals. Yet a series of unexpected and crazy circumstances pulls her directly into a murder mystery. Her dad, Marvin, is a retired magician and she’s helping sort through his clutter… and that involves a lot of ridiculous costumes. And a mannikin. And big feathers. I just laughed so often while reading this book!

So the title of the book, Sealfinger, of course is eye catching. Like seals don’t have fingers so I thought this might be referring to like fish fingers food item but made out of seal meat. Great for polar bears but not something I would enjoy. Anyhoo, it’s actually a well-documented infection that happens to people who handle seal meat and seal pelts. In this case, a very serious police office (Sergeant Cesar Hackett) gets bitten by our lovable seal Mr. Fred (Mr. Frank?). He’s going to need more than just first aid!

Oh! I have to mention Delia, who has an artistic eye. And there’s this large surplus of plastic dolls that have the ridiculous label of Communist Whore. Obviously, they didn’t sell well in the UK (where this story is set) and the ladies struggle to figure out something useful to do with them… like toast racks out of their limbs. lol

The story has 3 bad guys. There’s Cal (?) and his hapless sidekick Jimmy who do most of the dirty deeds. Then in the shadowy background is the mastermind (who we don’t meet until near the end so this person shall remain nameless here). Cal isn’t above doing some shady things but then things get out of hand with one shovel connecting to one head. Now he and Jimmy have a body to get rid of. Shenanigans ensue.

It’ a bit of a rambly plot, and sometimes I didn’t know where it was going, but I was always amused. Every character runs into unexpected problems, much to my amusement. 4.5/5 stars.

The Narration: Matthew Lloyd Davies was a good fit for this story even though most of the tale is told through Sam’s character. Davies had a believable female voice for Sam, and a variety of female voices for the other ladies in the story. He also had a variety of voices for the guys. I loved how he made the seal BLARGH! sound. Haha! At one point there was an instructional video for a home drone and the instructor was Californian and Davies gave it a try; it did sound more like a Minnesotan meets a Texan… but, hey, that could happen in California, right? The pacing was good and there were no tech issues with the recording. 4.5/5 stars.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. My opinions are 100% my own.

British Comedy Mystery

I picked up this book because I read “The Stranger Times”
It was extremely humorous with some quite bloody parts to pull it all together. Good use of characters and seemingly unimportant details in the story end up coming around later in a way that is fun.
Less “Over The Top” than what I was expecting. Much of the humor could be missed if you’re not actively listening for it.
Very much worth the read.

A Fun, Wild Ride

This is a delightful mix of villains facing a constant comedy of errors with a great protagonist. It was a great, lighthearted read!

OK for juvenile boys

I didn’t know what to expect but it’s not like anything I want to read again. There’s a lot of violence and gore “lovingly “ described. It’s all taken very lightly. I debated returning the book many times but it was free so no joy there.