Shady Place

By: David A. Byrne

Narrated by: Nik Magill

Shady Place is a 55-and-up planned community in Florida. It's full of vibrant seniors enjoying the sunset years of their lives. Shady Place the novel is about those people. Shady Place follows the antics and exploits of Jim Phillips, a retired police detective from Philadelphia, as he tries desperately to avoid contact with the outside world, but quickly finds himself sucked into the goings on around him. Upon his arrival Jim is shocked to discover his new neighbor is his old nemesis, former mob boss Mike Johnson. Sensing a second chance to get his old enemy, Jim decides to concoct a way to finally finish what he started and put Mike behind bars. Jim's actions set off a rivalry between the two that sees them competing at every turn, including for the affections of the beautiful widow Beverly Stanton. The unlikely duo is forced to work together when it appears murder is afoot, but only they can see what is happening.

©2017 David A Byrne (P)2017 David A Byrne

Shady Place

It's always a good sign when I look for chores to do so I can continue listening to an audiobook! 'Shady Place' was one of those books - an entertaining listen with a combo of humor, mystery, and action. An 'adult community' is certainly not a setting I'm used to as the main locale of a story, but David A. Byrne made it work perfectly! And Nik Magill's narration kept me intrigued not only with his rich voice, but also great pacing and some pretty stellar character voices! I look forward to hearing more from this combo!

Great book

I loved listening to this book very well written. Kept you wondering who did it.

a lovely, cute story about friendships and ...

Shady Place is a retirement community in Florida with some quirky inhabitants. Newcomer, Jim Phillips, a retired detective who is still trying to get over the death of his wife, is grumpy and stubborn but has a soft center. I loved Jim. His interactions with Mike kept me amused throughout. These two have history, and now, on top of their past issues, they are both vying for the affection of the very seductive Beverly while trying to investigate several mysterious deaths within their community.

This was a light, cozy mystery in which guessing who the murderer was, wasn't particularly difficult but I don't think it was meant to be either. The mystery felt like a minor point along the way at times. It was a lovely, cute story about friendships and starting anew. Perhaps a little slow moving at times and not very suspenseful, it was still an entertaining listen with interesting, likable characters and plenty of humor. A good pick if you enjoy fun, cozy mysteries without too much drama and like characters who are a little more mature. I believe this is David A. Byrne's debut work and as such, it is an accomplished piece of writing. The descriptive passages make it easy to imagine the locations and scenes in your head.

The narrator, Nik Magill,  did a nice job with the various accents but I would have appreciated a bit more variation between the male characters' voices. However, he won me over with his enthusiastic style. It is easy to become involved in the story when it is narrated with such passion and Mr Magill really seemed to enjoy the story and himself. This was my first time listening to any of his work and I would certainly try another book by this narrator.

There were no issues with the production of the audio.

Audiobook was provided for review by the author.

Please find this complete review and many others at my review blog.

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