Ruby's books: Audiobook Tour Book Review: A Death In Duck by Mindy Quigley

The Mount Moriah Mysteries by Mindy Quigley

Author: Mindy Quigley

Narrator: Holly Adams

Length: 9 hours 13 minutes

Series: The Mount Moriah Mysteries, Book 2

Audience: Over 18

Genre: Cozy Mystery

Publisher: Mindy Quigley

Release Date: Dec. 22, 2015

My Rating: 5 Cups

Source: Audiobookworm Promotions

Blurb (from Goodreads):

With the new year approaching, hospital chaplain Lindsay Harding heads for a much-needed break in the peaceful resort town of Duck on North Carolina's outer banks. Her plan to attend the wedding of her friend, Anna, runs aground when a boatload of trouble washes ashore, and as the old year ticks down, the body count goes up. Thrust into the path of an increasingly desperate killer, Lindsay must uncover a sinister secret before she winds up swimming with the fishes.

Old family scandals, sunken World War II U-boats, obscene desserts, and a stolen Doberman all guarantee a far from restful break for the irreverent reverend, who makes her second appearance in this lively mystery.

*Disclaimer: I received this audiobook as part of my participation in a blog tour with Audiobookworm Promotions. The tour is being sponsored by Mindy Quigley. The gifting of this audiobook did not affect my opinion of it.

If I though I liked book 1, then the second installment was even better. Lindsay Harding has to deal with heartbreak, loss and more family drama in this book, and it was glorious.

The thing I loved most about this book was that even though it was just as funny as the previous one, it had a darker side and a more personal feel than A Murder On Mount Moriah. We get to learn more about Lindsay and her mother, and we get to understand who she is a little bit more.

As I said previously, we get to learn more about Lindsay's mother and their relationship. In the previous book we got to know that she and her mother didn't get along, and we find out how the animosity Lindsay feels for her mother started. A Death In Duck goes further to explore the sense of abandonment and disappointment Lindsay grew up with because of her mother. We get to learn that after being put in her aunt's care, Lindsay had had many encounters with her mother that proved that Sarah Bell was not fit to be a good mother. Lindsay is such a caring person, so I was a little bit heartbroken for her and for the childhood she had. Hearing these stories helped me understand her father a lot more, which was a surprise.

The murders this time hit close to home, and Lindsey has no idea how to react. I loved the fact that the author showed her confusion and her struggle with this loss and her reaction to it. Lindsey even wonder if there's something wrong with her because as a chaplain she has a duty towards everyone, and she can find words to say when a patient at the hospital she works at dies, but this time she just didn't know what to do. So she buries herself in the investigation into this latest death, and she discovers some pretty surprising things.

The plot involving family secrets was amazing. I love it when family secrets are revealed and explored. Not only do they show the younger years of some of the characters, but they show Lindsay's origins, it showed how little scenes throughout history meet and create the events we read about in this story, or in any story really.

The plot was really fast paced and I was sucked into this story so much, that I just couldn't stop listening. I loved seeing new and old faces, and I loved learning more about Lindsey's family. The ending was amazing and I was really sitting on the edge of my seat while listening to this book.

Holly Adams did an amazing job narrating this book, as I was expecting. I loved hearing her go from one character to another, I loved how different each voice she made was, and like before the accents were all different and I was always certain of which character spoke. The inflections of Holly Adams helped create the perfect atmosphere for a mystery book. I honestly would love it if she could narrate all cozy mysteries I'll ever read from now on, because her narrating style just has something that fits this genre perfectly.

All in all, I truly loved this book and I am very, very curious to see what happens in the third book of this series.

Mindy Quigley is the author of the Mount Moriah cozy mystery series, which is based in part on her time working with the chaplains at Duke University Medical Center. Her short stories have won awards including the 2013 Bloody Scotland Short Story Competition and the 2018 Artemis Journal/Lightbringer Prize. Her non-writing career has been stranger than fiction, taking her from the US to the UK, where she worked as the personal assistant to the scientist who cloned Dolly the sheep, and as project manager for a research clinic founded by the author J.K. Rowling. She now lives in Blacksburg, Virginia, with her Civil War history professor husband, their children, and their idiosyncratic miniature Schnauzer.

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An actress and physical theatre performer for many years before becoming a Voice Actor, Holly continues to divide her time between stage, screen, circus, and audiobook narration. Holly began her VO career doing radioplays and audiobook characters with the amazing Full Cast Audio company. Since then, Holly has voiced radio and web commercials, various e-learning projects, documentary shorts. . . and of course, audiobooks! She has been nominated for Best Fiction and Best Female Narrator. Holly has conservatory training; her attention to tone, energy and rhythm make her work personal and dynamic. Holly’s performance projects abroad (Italy, Afghanistan, Haiti, Russia, the UK, France, and the Middle East!) support her training and skill with dialects and languages. Holly records for Audible, Deyan Audio, Christian Audiobooks, Tantor, and more. Holly loves telling stories! When she’s not in the recording studio, she is on stage or screen; favorite projects include Richard II, A Midsummer Night's Dream, As You Like It, the films "Here Alone", "Gotham Blue" and "Your Loving, Virginia", working with girls in Kabul for the Afghan Children's Circus and with performers in Balan, Haiti, as well as with her ‘home circus’ Circus Culture. Holly is a SAG-AFTRA performer, a graduate of the International Dell 'Arte School, and holds a Master's in Theatre, Education and Social Change. Https://shearwaterproductions.com/voice-actor and on IMDb as Holly Adams III.

I received this audiobook as part of my participation in a blog tour with Audiobookworm Promotions. The tour is being sponsored by Mindy Quigley. The gifting of this audiobook did not affect my opinion of it.