Reviewed by Annika
TITLE: The Mystery of Nevermore
SERIES: Snow & Winter #1
AUTHOR: C.S. Poe
NARRATOR: Derrick McClain
PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press
LENGTH: 7 hours, 58 minutes
RELEASE DATE: March 30, 2017
BLURB:
It’s Christmas, and all antique dealer Sebastian Snow wants is for his business to make money and to save his floundering relationship with closeted CSU detective Neil Millett. When Snow’s Antique Emporium is broken into and a heart is found under the floorboards, Sebastian can’t let the mystery rest.
He soon finds himself caught up in murder investigations that echo the macabre stories of Edgar Allan Poe. To make matters worse, Sebastian’s sleuthing is causing his relationship with Neil to crumble, while at the same time he’s falling hard for the lead detective on the case, Calvin Winter. Sebastian and Calvin must work together to unravel the mystery behind the killings, despite the mounting danger and sexual tension, before Sebastian becomes the next victim.
In the end, Sebastian only wants to get out of this mess alive and live happily ever after with Calvin.
REVIEW:
Soo… I should probably start with the elephant in the room so we can ignore that part later. This book and characters had a definite Josh Lanyon and Adrien English vibe to it. There are too many similarities to list, but then again Poe never made a secret of being inspired by the aforementioned author and series. Just don’t be surprised if you experience a sense of déjà vu when reading/listening.
I’m not in love with this book or the characters just yet. There is great potential but it wasn’t fulfilled with this book. The mystery was a good one, I just wish it had more focus. It was overshadowed by Sebastian and Calvin and Sebastian and Neil. And I have to say I’m not loving either pairing at this point, I would gladly have seen the romance part of this book taking backseat to the mystery. Because as it was the romance was a bit all over the place.
I like it when there is an implied history to the characters. That they have a past that shaped who they were. I like getting to know them in bits and pieces as the book goes along. But here we don’t get those titbits. The listener (or reader) is expected to know what happened in the past without the hints and clues, and I’m sorry, we just don’t. We can certainly guess, but for me that distracts from the story. So as it was, I couldn’t connect to either character. I didn’t see and even less feel the appeal. Everything happened so fast, kind of one minute to the next.
My other issue might be because of my own personal preferences and might be of no consequence to many, but to me copious amounts of sex does not a relationship make – or well, maybe for some. But again, not my preference and not when I supposed to believe in a lasting relationship between the two. The relationships were not for me in this book, and considering it took up most of the book it dimmed my enjoyment of it just a bit.
I said before that the mystery was a good one. And it was, I liked how it was inspired by Poe’s works. Gruesome for sure – especially finding the heart under the floorboards. But then again, it was different. I enjoyed trying to puzzle the clues and trying to make it all fit together. Sebastian might have put himself into a few too many situations that he had no business in or hopes of controlling, but again, my own personal preference.
Derrick McClain is a well-known and loved (and I think former?) narrator for a reason. He adds passion and feeling to his narration and engages the listener. He also has a range of voices for the characters which always makes it easy for the listener. Another thing that I love is that he changes the intensity of his narration after the situation at hand. By doing this he adds another layer to the listening experience.
I do think there are some good bones here. There’s no doubt that Ms. Poe knows how to write a great story – not long ago I listened to and loved one of them. So I will definitely listen to the next book and see what that will bring.
RATING:
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