Wednesday Earplugs- the Weekly audios

This week's audios were mostly mysteries...I also read Shanghai Girls  (my first Lisa See) and The Mysterious Affair at Styles (my first Agatha Christie) in an audio format.  Both of these got their own post (click the links) because they were Soooooo good.  I definitely intend to read more by both authors, either in paper or on audio.

The others I 'ear-read' were

Death is a Cabaret

Deborah Morgan
Narrated by Reed McColm


This was quite a nice little surprise. I chose this as my audio read to balance the heavier pschycological and fantasy reads I was doing: A Circle of Souls, and Spellbinder, were pretty meaty for me.

Anyway this delightful little cozy tells the story of an auction of the Empress Josephine's tea cabaret. I had no idea until I read this that a 'cabaret' is a tea set...and what a specimen this one was.

Our protagonist, antique dealer Jeff Talbott, a 'retired' FBI agent, who is trying to find the long lost Cabaret for an elderly client who claims it was her mother's, finds himself on Mackinaw Island  at a weekend auction when his rival 'picker' and then the auctioneer are found dead.

The supporting cast includes a rich couple who love to dress up, a trio of loony ladies from the South, a stuffy hotel staff, and the local police department who are all too happy to have a 'fed' solve the murders for them.....they haven't had one in almost 50 years!

It was a fun audio, well plotted, and a little deeper than I expected. I'm going to look for more in the series.
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Brass Verdict
Michael Connelly
narrated by Peter Giles

This was an ARC I received earlier from Hachette Audio.  I had never read any of the Harry Bosch stories, and was curious to see what all the hype was about.  This particular story actually has Harry in a secondary role to that of Mick Holler, a defense attorney who suddenly finds himself inheriting the entire caseload of a recently and unexpectedly deceased (as in murdered) fellow attorney.

Mick has been 'out of the loop' for over a year recovering from addiction to pain killers, but he accepts the appointment from the Chief Justice of the state superior court, rounds up his ex-wife (who is still a great case monitor) and her current significant other (who is a great investigator) and gets to work on the case load.  Paramount in his work schedule is the defense of a big money movie mogul who insists that his trial cannot be delayed.  He is accused of killing his wife and her lover.  Messy, messy....

As Mick clashes with Bosch, who is trying to investigate the original lawyer's murder, they both come to an understanding that the two murders may be related.  Connelly leads us on with tantalizing leads, excellent characters, and a story that can't be put down. 
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