Sweet and Deadly

By: Charlaine Harris

Narrated by: Suzy Jackson

Now best known for her New York Times best-selling Sookie Stackhouse novels, Charlaine Harris hit "a home run the first time out" (Birmingham News) with the story of a murder that embroils a small-town reporter in mystery that hits close to home.

Catherine Linton has returned to her hometown of Lowfield, Mississippi, unconvinced that the death of her parents in a car crash six months earlier was an accident. And her suspicions are confirmed when she stumbles upon the dead and beaten body of her doctor-father's longtime nurse. There are secrets being kept in Lowfield. And the town where Catherine grew up may be the same place where she is sent to her grave.

©1981 Charlaine Harris Schulz (P)2009 Recorded Books, LLC

Critic reviews

"A first-rate mystery with special character ... as convincing as it is surprising in the final revelation." ( Washington Post)

Rather Annoying

The narrator voice is too childish and doesn’t differentiate much between characters.
I really like CH books, and didn’t understand why this one was so annoying, but then found out that it was her first book made more sense.
It’s very “See spot run”
I’m glad I didn’t listen to this book until after I had listened to five or six she wrote much later in her career.
I stopped lafter one in 1/2 hours.

Debut Novel

Catherine Linton has returned to her hometown in Mississippi after the death of her parents. The police say they died in an accident, but Catherine isn't convinced. Taking a job at the local newspaper, she sticks around town in hopes she'll find some evidence of foul play. What she finds is the body of Leona Gates. Catherine's father was the local doctor and Leona was his nurse. Leona has obviously been murdered. Now Catherine is sure that there is something happening in this town that her parents and Leona were killed to cover up.

This was Charlaine Harris' debut novel. So many people loved it, but I had a hard time getting into this story. I never figured out why Catherine believed her parents were murdered. Was it just a feeling? Did I miss something? (Probably.) The story was full of appealing characters, but I never thought of any of them as suspects. My rating: 3 Stars.

Good story! Hard to figure out who the killer was!

Loved it! ☺😍 It was hard 2 figure out who the killer was! 😱💀Cool! I love Charlene Harris!

Not my favorite, but still a fun listen.

Huge CH fan, and this is the last of all her books I have listened to. It doesn’t compare to her series, but I respect it for what it was, an early stand alone book of a wonderful author.

Gave it another listen

Well I didn't enjoy this story the first time I listened to it However upon listening to it again I must say I did in fact enjoy it The narration was always good

Sweet/Deadly

Small town murder mystery. Lots of characters and suspects,all thoroughly portrayed
surprise ending. Nothing paranormal, very intertaining. Suzy Jackson performance
well suited to characters.

Great story but…

Great story but the presenters voice was very irritating. It was hard to care about the characters when the presenter sounded shallow and superficial Imagine a valley girl reading this book it’s a shame because I really like the author.

Narrator doesn't do the book justice

Any additional comments?

Having read the novel first, I was excited to have an audio book copy on hand for long days at work.
Unfortunately, the narrator.
Suzy Jackson's voice is very easy to listen to, which is not always the case with audio narrators. She enunciates clearly, and she would probably be great for novels set in Anywhere, America, which a book written in the first person.
This book, however, is set in the South. The main character, Southern. All but one character, Southern. Her voices are only hints at a Southern accent, and the main character herself has none. Even when the text states that the main character is speaking in an exaggerated drawl, Ms. Jackson continues to speak in a generic, accent-less tone.
As Ms. Jackson reads, it seems as though she is doing a blind reading,as her cadence doesn't match the words; rather, she seems to be trying to adapt as she reads, resulting in confusion over what is going on and who is speaking. Combined with her lack of accents (and lack of variety in characters), it is only the written cues in the book that gave me any idea she had switched from narrating to speaking in character.

I wish she had read the book several times before reciting. Perhaps then, the characters would sound like they were actual residents of the Southern delta where they are set, and the novel itself would have the subdued, tense atmosphere of the written book.

Okay

This was a good effort and first novel by Harris. I am glad that she continued writing because her books got better and better. In Sweet and Deadly the plot was a little thin and the characters were not fully developed. However, it was a good book. It's worth a credit if you are a fan of Charlaine Harris and want to read her first book.

Good Story

I loved the story but I had trouble for the first time focusing on who the character were. Suzy Jackson is amazing when it comes to voices but I feel this was not the case and I am surprised. I thought she used the same voice and I only kept listening to the stores because I paid $$$ for it.