Winter Takes All

A Seattle Wilderness Mystery, Book 1

By: ML Erdahl

Narrated by: Amy Landon

Crystal Rainey is aghast when she realizes her New Year's resolutions haven't changed one whit from the previous year. Wanting to escape a future as dreary as a Pacific Northwest winter, she walks out on her dead-end office job, despite her tenuous savings account.

Stumbling across a job opening posted by a wilderness guide outfit, an intrigued Crystal bluffs her way into the position. With her handsome fellow guide, the stalwart Conner Oakes, she leads a corporate retreat on a snowshoe hike to a majestic alpine chalet.

But when the company's detestable owner turns up dead in the snow, she fears her new life and budding romance slipping away. She finally has something worth fighting for and is determined to solve the murder and grab her chance at happiness before it's too late.

©2019 ML Erdahl (P)2019 The Wild Rose Press

3.5 stars

It was easy to listen to, nothing special or spectacular. It's a cozy "read", narrated at a good pace, and just interesting enough to keep listening to. A little outlandish and eye rolling sometimes, and the story seemed a little jagged or choppy, but none of that interrupted the flow to the point of annoyance.

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

A promising start to a fun cozy mystery series....

Winter Takes All is the first in what promises to be a fun and entertaining cozy mystery series. The protagonist, Crystal Rainey is a daring and almost foolhardy young woman. Fed up with her dull, dead-end office job, she quits and bluffs her way into a job as an outfitter and wilderness guide. Even though she has little to no experience, Crystal embraces this chance for a new life with such enthusiasm, that she wins over her coworkers and boss. Unfortunately, even her zest for life can't smooth over the disaster of her first guiding experience. When her client ends up dead on the first night of this corporate retreat, Crystal is benched until the murderer is caught. With her usual gumption, Crystal decides to find the killer on her own, and this leads to all kinds of dangerous encounters with multiple suspects. I never correctly guessed the identity of the murderer or the motive until Crystal finally reveals it at the end of the book. To me, this is the sign of an excellent mystery. Throw in a possible romantic interest with her incredibly sweet coworker, and I am excited to see what the author has in store for Crystal next.

Amy Landon's narration was excellent. I have listened to many of her performances, and this one was up to her usual high standards. Her delivery was crisp and flawless, and she added just the right level of emotion to keep the audiobook exciting without sounding over the top dramatic.

I received a copy of this audiobook at my request in exchange for this honest review.

Giggleworthy!

romantic, cozy-mystery, situational-humor, verbal-humor

She spontaneously quit her awful job and got a new job she was totally inexperienced in, what could possibly go wrong?
While shopping for snowshoes she meets a yummy guy who offers to teach her the skill, then it turns out that they work for the same company of winter guides. On the very first trip, the guests don't get along, drink to excess, and one of them winds up dead. The cozy mystery is pretty well done, the budding romance is entertaining, and the humor is really giggle worthy!
I requested and received a free ebook copy from Wild Rose Press via NetGalley. Thank you!
Later I won the audio!!!

Great narrator telling an even better story

I really enjoyed this narrator she captured the drama and suspense and even the romance. This book has a little bit for everyone.

Great Start to a New Series

When she realizes that her New Year's resolution is identical to last year and that nothing has improved, Crystal decides to go make a big change. After quitting a dead end job and exaggerating her experience with the outdoors, she lands a job as a wilderness guide. Unfortunately for her, on the first night of her first outing, one of the guests is found dead. Until the case is solved, all outings are placed on hold. Needing to keep her income, Crystal begins "assisting" the police in their investigation. This was a fun read/listen that included an quirky cast of characters, a little romance, humor and mystery.

This was my first experience with author M.L. Erdahl but I would love to hear more from him, especially the Seattle Wilderness Mystery series. This was a unique occupation for the lead in a cozy mystery and I would love to see more of Crystal as she tries to find her groove as a wilderness guide and to watch as her relationship with Connor develope. I would definitely recommend this book to others.

New Jobs Can Be Deadly

A young woman quits her office job and signs on as a guide for snow shoeing adventures, but her first outing goes horribly wrong and one of the participants ends up dead. When the death turns out to be murder she and her guiding partner turn sleuth to find the killer.
Chock full of meddling parents, dysfunctional office relationships, unreliable vehicles, a little romance and a whole lot of smiles, Winter Takes All is a fun romp through the cozy mystery genre.
Crystal is the perfect cozy mystery heroine; good-hearted, a bit naive, determined and very lucky as she works to piece together what happened on the fateful night when her first back-woods adventure went so horribly wrong all while dealing with the financial, vehicular, employment and romantic challenges that seem to plague today's young literary heroines.
I enjoyed puzzling out the events of this light-hearted cozy mystery.

Settle in for a masterful tale

Is there anything better than listening to a cozy mystery set in the Seattle area in winter?
Nope.
I loved how the author interspersed familiar places to give the listener a feel and an anchor for the Seattle area.
I enjoyed this heroine driven cozy where a young woman who just wants to hold on to the best job she’s ever had decides she’ll try to solve the murder that happens her first day on the job as a wilderness guide. She’s gutsy, some might say foolhardy but in true cozy style thinks and questions and figures out how to track and find the killer(s) and bc she is a modern woman she makes full use of the internet for all aspects of her life.
Each character is well drawn and unique and I had no trouble differentiating them all as Crystal our heroine figures out who “done” it.
Great narration completes this 5 star production.

Loved it!

This is my first cozy mystery. I adored it from beginning to end! The overall story and characters were so relatable and believable.

I’m not a very outdoorsy girl but I could picture the scenes vividly. The story was well crafted and pulls the reader (or listener in my case) in.

Great job!

Auticia

Love this charming character. Makes for a cozy winter read. Just the right amount of humor, mystery, and romance. Adding this author to my favorites.

Wonderful story great for the road

I have listened to this book over the past two weeks driving to and from work and around town. I don’t have high expectations from murder mysteries so I was thrilled and surprised at how well this story came together. The author did a fabulous job of weaving key points back into the story as it progressed, and I thought the ending was fabulous. I look forward to his next book.