The Unraveling of Violeta Bell

A Morgue Mama Mystery

By: C. R. Corwin

Narrated by: Lorna Raver

Maddy Sprowls, newspaper librarian for the Hannawa Herald-Union, prefers to stay in the newspaper morgue and do her job. But one Saturday, she sees four elderly women get out of a taxicab at a garage sale. She figures that those women must hire that cabby every week to drive them from garage sale to garage sale, and wouldn't that make a great feature story for the paper?

Shortly after the story runs, one of the four women, retired antiques dealer Violeta Bell, is murdered. Maddy wants no part of the investigation, but before she knows it, she's on another of her infamous snoopathons.

Was it bargains they were hunting or something else?

©2008 2008 by C.R. Corwin (P)2008 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Irascible, fearless and unapologetic, Maddy is a heroine cozy fans will embrace." ( Publishers Weekly)

Arghh! The narration! Ouch! Hard on the ears!

The shrill, bleating, sarcastic voice of the main female character was just too much. The character stated she was 69 years old. I am 64 and have many friends in their 60's and 70's. None of them sounds like the shrewish portrayal here. I know the reader was capable of a pleasant, low, soothing voice because she used it for other parts of the book. Horrible to listen to.

A little fun from a savvy old gal

If you could sum up The Unraveling of Violeta Bell in three words, what would they be?

Light, fun, mystery

Who was your favorite character and why?

Violetta's brother, 'the Prince'. I can't explain why without spoilers - let's just say he gets to know the victim better after her death.

Any additional comments?

This is no great novel, but is good fun. A female protagonist in her 60s is past giving a darn about what other people think, but cares very much about getting justice for a woman she never knew.

Most old ladies sound younger than this one!

This is a good story with a good plot, lots of humor, a bit predictable, but fun. What bothers me is the reader whose voice belongs to a cartoon version of a fuddy duddy old fart. I know many women in their late sixties and none have this old fashioned tone. I believe that his book would have more weight if we could imagine a smart, older woman and not an Xtreme Ms Marple.

The Unraveling of Violetta Bell: A Morgue Mama Boo

Enjoy this series! Morgue Mama is a fun character to envelope yourself in while doing daily chores, or relaxing in the evening to clear your mind. Written with perfect balance of humor and suspense, performance couldn't be more spot on if I imagined her speaking in my own mind while reading. That is so important for me in an audible book.

Nicf little cosy. Not much more.

This is light reading with a simple story line. Maddy Sprouls is the crotchety newspaper librarian in the prerequisite small town full of the usual eccentric characters with secrets to hide. A murder ensues. Maddy solves it. End of story.

It's a good book for light reading, very light.

grumpy and negative

The narrator did a good job portraying a person that I really didn't like. The story was OK, but I won't EVER get another book about Violeta Bell.

the unraveling of violetta bell

terrific story; wonderful narrator; wish audible had more of this author to listen too! highly recommend this book and heopefully will see more in the future!

Easy listen

An interesting but unremarkable whodunit. Easy to listen to. Morgue Mama comes across as a pretty shallow amateur detective.

Enoyable

This is a slow, easy story that reminds me of a modern day Miss Marple. The mystery revolves around the lost member of a royal family and hidden identities, all a little far-farfetched for me but the character building is well done and I found myself listening for that reason, even though I didn't care a fig for how the case ended.

Good Gravy, it's a bit of a caricature

Maddy is trying a little too hard to reincarnate Christie's Jane Marple, the sly, meddling old lady who is smart as a whip. It worked for Christie, because, back then, 60 was ancient. Even the recent TV portrayals of the old Marple character show an older, but even-toned sensible lady with a mind like a steel trap, rather than the wobbly, crackly voiced icon. Betty White is 90, and she has a lot of the sass of Maddy, but certainly not the crackly, formerly stereotypical "old lady" voice. And Maddy is only 69! That is younger than Jane Fonda. So, the crotchety crackly ancient voice narration is way over the top, and is distracting to the point of caricature. What 60-something woman do you know that says "good gravy"? The story is interesting, although drags on to allow further performance of the sassy crackly Maddy. It would be so much more consumable and relatable if Maddy were just a sage, smart older career woman who could match wits with the best of them--without the corney sayings and over the top charicaturization. Women in their 60s are former bra burners, and wouldn't be caught dead saying "good gravy" in a crackly witch's voice. The narrator is clearly talented; using a mature, clever characterization would be so much less offensive and more compelling. Also, the character of Maddy seemed to go to great lengths for shock value in everything she says or does. That also conflicts with the unexpected wisdom we expect from such a character. The appeal of the Miss Marple and even Betty White's personae are that these apparently sweet women come out with the most unexpected things. Maddy tries too hard.

I'm actually not done yet with the book, which I expected to be too short, as it was only one download; but it seems longer than actually longer ones. The murder still isn't solved, but so much time is taken up with Maddy's snoring and wisecracks, while the plot seems stalled for long periods of time. I'd probably read another of this author's books, but with more appropriate narration, and less time spent on Maddy's eccentricities. It's not really character development; rather caricature development.