Twenty-Five Years Ago Today

By: Stacy Juba

Narrated by: Erin Moon

Should we dig for the truth when Pandora's Box is a coffin of buried secrets? For 25 years, Diana Ferguson's killer has gotten away with murder. When rookie obit writer and newsroom editorial assistant Kris Langley investigates the cold case of the artistic young cocktail waitress who was obsessed with Greek and Roman mythology, not only does she fall in love with Diana's sexy nephew, but she must also fight to stay off the obituary page herself.

Thousands of readers have been riveted by Twenty-Five Years Ago Today.

©2009 Stacy Juba (P)2013 Stacy Juba

Critic reviews

"Intriguing and captivating." ( Fresh Fiction)

"One of those books that you pick up and don't want to put down until the very end." ( Debbie Wiley Book Reviews)

"A gripping murder mystery with a touch of romance." ( Tifferz Book Review)

A great mystery that kept me guessing!

This was a great mystery that kept me guessing right up to the end!

Kris Langley is a young editorial assistant, who works for the Freemont Daily News in Massachusetts. In addition to typing up obituaries and birth announcements, she scopes out interesting historical tidbits from the paper’s microfilms for the “Twenty-Five Years Ago Today” feature. She comes across an unsolved murder of a young woman named Diana Ferguson, whose body was found bludgeoned to death in the Freemont State Woods. Tortured by guilt in connection with her own cousin’s murder when she was just 12 years old, Kris is driven to solve this cold case and she contacts the family as well as the police in an effort to piece together the circumstances that led up to the crime.

Kris is a great character, and I couldn’t help but feel sympathetic towards her. She is wracked with guilt over the death of her cousin, and she has never been the same since. When she contacts Diana Ferguson’s family, she is very compassionate and wants nothing more than to bring closure to the family and give them the peace that they so richly deserve. The many years of not knowing the who or why of the crime has tormented Diana’s mother, Irene, and Kris yearns to give her the finality that she needs. At first, Diana’s nephew, Eric, is angry at Kris for stirring things up and causing his grandmother to become hopeful again. He worries that she will be crushed when Kris’ digging will lead to what he believes will be more frustration and unanswered questions. As time goes on, Eric sees that Kris really does want to help and isn’t just doing this for the sake of making the headlines. There is a lot of chemistry between Kris and Eric, but their relationship progresses too quickly and complicates matters.

Juba is a new-to-me author, and she delivered a story that held my interest and made me analyze the evidence to try to figure out who did it. The ending blind-sided me, and I love it when an author can catch me off-guard like that!

Narrator Erin Moon is also new to me, and she did a pretty good job. There were a few awkward moments when she appears to nearly stumble over the words but catches herself and the result is a small pause in the narration. However, her pacing was good overall, and the slight inflections in her voice made each character distinctive.

I received this audiobook from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive any compensation for my review, and the views expressed herein are my own.

Mystery, romance, and suspense

This is a great mystery story. It grabbed me from the beginning as Kris comes across a twenty-five year old murder that fascinated her. I was pulled along as she followed clues and became involved with the family. The story kept me guessing. The romance was just enough and didn't take away from the mystery.
The audio was fantastic. The narrator did an excellent job. Very easy to listen to.

Good book

Overall, I enjoyed this book. It was a good mystery with lots of suspects and I did not guess the killer. I only had one problem with this audio version. The narrator sounded very young and I kept picturing her as a high school student. I had to remind myself she was old enough to be doing these things. Otherwise I enjoyed this book. I received a free copy of this audiobook in exchange for this review

Good mystery and surprising ending.

Im going for 3.8 rating just not quit 4 stars. Story well written. Nice mystery and a surprising ending I did not see coming.
I only liked 2 characters, others seemed a bit corny and the romance was to be expected.

All in all I did enjoy the book.

Twisty Mystery

Would you consider the audio edition of Twenty-Five Years Ago Today to be better than the print version?

The narrator did an excellent job!

Any additional comments?

Full Review -

This is really great!! I loved the mystery, and definitely wasn't expecting that ending! What a twist! Kris has just left a high powered job to be an assistant at her hometown newspaper because she's not happy. While working at the paper, she comes across an unsolved murder that she feels drawn to, so she decides that she is going to see if she can figure out the mystery, and she is also determined to solve the mystery because she is carrying around a lot of guilt from an incident when she was younger. Kris doesn't believe she deserves any happiness because of this incident, so she keeps herself closed off to connections with other; she's haunted by her guilt and it is really weighing her down. During her investigation, she meets up with the victims family, and the victim's nephew begins to help her with her investigation. The nephew and Kris begin to form a bond, but they have some obstacles in their way. I actually would've loved more scenes with the romance because I'm romance fiend, but I loved how the romance evolved. I really enjoyed the writing, and I found myself entertained through the whole story, and I loved how many different angles the story could have gone in, and I think Juba did an excellent job with the details of the story. I would have liked more of a resolution with Kris and her family because I felt like Kris' relationship with her family was a good sized part in the story, and it would've been nice to see more about Kris and her family. I also listened to the audio version of this story, and the narrator did an excellent job! Great story! I will definitely check out more books by Stacy Juba!

Highly Recommended!

Stacy Juba has a hit with Twenty-Five Years Ago Today! I was captivated immediately and looked for excuses to listen. The story has an easy flow and a natural progression, which made it very enjoyable. Ms. Juba’s characters are real and relatable. The story encompasses not only the mystery of the unsolved murder itself, but brings the listener into the personal lives and the backstories of the characters. It also has a sweet touch of romance. As I listened, I found myself following along with Kris (the lead character), trying to put together the clues and solve the case in my head. I thought I had it figured out; however, I was completely surprised by the ending. I did NOT see that coming! The book concludes in a very satisfying manner, as Ms. Juba doesn’t leave any loose ends to frustrate the listener, which I really appreciated. Erin Moon, the narrator, did an excellent job of reading the book. She was an asset to an already great story. I will be searching out more books by Ms. Juba and I highly recommend Twenty-Five Years Ago Today.