All time favorite ....

Von meiner Entdeckung des Jahres 2018 hat sich die Reihe zu einem All time favorite entwickelt, den ich wieder und wieder höre ...
H. Y. Hanna hat einen wundervollen Stil, ihre Geschichten sind humorvoll, spannend, romantisch und vieles mehr. In einer sehr schweren Zeit haben mir ihre Bücher sehr geholfen und damit eine in meinen Augen wichtige Aufgabe großartiger Literatur erfüllt.
Pearl Hewitt ist eine fantastische Sprecherin, die sich in einzelne Charaktere einfühlt - selbst Muesli ;)) - und dadurch glaubwürdig und immer wieder hörenswert ist.
Das Setting spricht für sich selbst und Hannas Beschreibung der wunderschönen Kulisse ihrer Bücher zeugen von Authentizität ... been there, done this and didn't burn the T-shirt, cause I loved it!
Die Detektiv-Story ist cozy und stimmig, ohne zu offensichtlich auf den Täter hinzudeuten.
Lesens-, Hörens-, und natürlich "Kaufens-wert"!

9 Leute fanden das hilfreich

Nice read but childish writing

i love to listen to british english and therefore i liked this audiobook. but the writing is rather poor. i dont know, how often Gemma's heart "skipped a beat", Dr. and Policeman, everybody tells confidental informations to Gemma... to be honest it's a little bit like a story written by a little child...

7 Leute fanden das hilfreich

dumm und dümmer

Die Hauptfigur ist leicht dämlich
Alles ist so vorhersehbar und wir uns dreimal verdaut vorgesetzt sodass wir es jaa kapieren. Niemand ist charakterlich interessant, alle Charaktere bleiben farblos.
Es ist einfach fad

Der einhige Grund warum ich es - fast - fertig habe ist, dass ich eingeschlafen bin....

5 Leute fanden das hilfreich

😡Technikfehler!!!😡

Die Geschichten sind sehr gut, aber wieder mal macht die Technik das Hören nicht leichter:
Es gibt zwar "Kapitel ", aber die haben rein gar nichts mit den Kapiteln der Geschichte zu tun und vor allem gibt es keine Möglichkeit, festzustellen, wo das nächste Buch (die nächste Geschichte der Sammlung) beginnt 🙄
Navigieren ist problematisch und gelegentlich werden Sätze wiederholt, ohne daß es einen logischen Grund dafür gibt.

Die Geschichten selbst sind absolut hörenswert und Pearl Hewitt muss selber "Katzenpersonal" sein, um Mueslis verschiedene Äußerungen so perfekt wiederzugeben.

2 Leute fanden das hilfreich

Schönstes Englisch und leichte Unterhaltung

Anfangs schleppend und vorhersehbar, dann wird es von Geschichte zu Geschichte doch noch spannender.

1 Person fand das hilfreich

Ich liebe Gemma Rose

Die Cozys um Gemma Rose sind sehr liebevoll geschrieben. Man möchte sich sofort in den Tearoom setzen und mit den alten Biddies die Köpfe zusammen stecken. Sehr gut gelesen und leicht zu verstehen, auch wenn man lediglich Schulenglisch beherrscht.

Cheap stuff, but good for light entertainment

After having listened to the complete audiobook I must agree with one of the other reviewers: these mysteries give the impression they were written by a child - or at least for children.
The plots are not overly clever to begin with and feel like they were based on blackstories (of the less credible kind). About half of the clues are so bl***y obvious that having to listen to them being pointed out in painful detail made me cringe. The other half is so absurd, unrealistic and frankly ridiculous I couldn't decide whether to shake my head in amusement or frustration. It may be an intentional satire of the Agatha Christie kind of crime novels, I suppose, but then it is not a very good one.
While some aspects appear logical and well-researched others are far-fetched and silly. For example, if I were threatenend with a knife in my own tea room I would call the police or have the person removed at the very least, certainly not serve him a scone and flash him a smile. And does an Oxford librarian really conduct a thorough search of the archives if any nosy old person asked her for information on former students via phone?
Apart from these little moments of frustration inbetween and some unanswered questions, none of the endings seemed a convincing conclusion to me ... - but I don't want to spoiler you too much, so judge for yourself.

The protagonist Gemma Rose - a mixture of a Jane Austen heroine, Bridget Jones and a younger version of Miss Marple - is a charming and easily relatable character. However it is quite hard to believe she is smart enough to have studied at Oxford but dumb enough to seek out and challenge potentially dangerous murder suspects all on her own - repeatedly. At times she has moments of almost godlike omniscience, at others she has to be scolded or instructed like a five-year-old. Most embarrassing, however, are the moments in which Gemma explains things in an expert fashion with people admiring her ingenuity - that every person with a half-functioning brain should have worked out by that time.
Most of the other characters remain colourless and typish. The mother IS funny, though far from authentic, "the old biddies" are a rather amusing and useful plot device, and DCI Devlin O'Connor (Mr. Darcy) is deliciously dark and sweet. But the friend, I forgot her name already, who is said to be so very different from Gemma never comes alive for me. And it is getting on my nerves that every second character has a secret connection to Oxford University. Even people who can hardly put more than two sentences together turn out to have studied ot taught at Oxford. It would be funny - if the plot and narrative voice didn't want you to take it seriously. I am not sure whether it is praise for a book when a little tabbycat named Muesli is the most engaging character apart from the protagonist.
Also some of the times don't add up for me. I am not from England but can you really be a teacher at Oxford University and even already going on your first sabbatical at the tender age of 20-something?

Having said that, the story moves along at a pleasant pace, is always entertaining and does manage to create a lovely Cotswolds atmosphere that makes you want to have a cuppa. The I-narrator's tone is charming, with a light touch of irony here and there (I hope, it is irony, anyway!), the plot is easy to follow and does include the occasional twist. The narrator herself does a good job trying to make the characters, especially Gemma, come alive, but not all of her voices are nuanced enough to be instantly recognisable, e.g. the men all sound the same to me.

All in all, I can recommend this audiobook for a bit of light entertainment, maybe for a holiday, as a sleeping aid, to brighten up a housework chore or to pass the time during an illness.
But don't expect a Rhys Bowen or a T.E Kinsey (which I both highly recommend for lovers of British cozy crime.)

Narrator the only good out of this production

The Story and Characters are weak. It’s not the worst writing I have ever experienced but It doesn’t compel me to try any other of the author’s products. The Narrator has a lovely voice and try’s her best with what is given to her.