My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Spoiler Alert: This is Sam Prichard Mystery #5. Anything said may spoil Sam Prichard Mysteries 1-4. I think they are an endearing and entertaining set of mysteries that might be fun for anyone to read, so if you think you might enjoy these G rated books in the future, stop after the next two or three paragraphs until you've read books 1-4.
This review included the ebook and audiobook narrated by the most excellent Mikael Naramore who makes the audiobook exceptionally pleasing. I liked it. 3 stars. I recommend "The Kill List" and the previous 4 mysteries.
In a previous Sam Prichard review I called these novels "Gum Shoe Musicals". While this one retains this moniker, I may be changing the moniker to "Gum Shoe Country Musicals" or possibly - in the future to "Gum Shoe Gospel Musicals". Guessing the trend goes as I presume (possibly incorrectly).
I gave them this label as Sam Prichard is a private investigator, aka Gum Shoe, and David Archer has added links to his ebooks that play songs on his website. You can sing along with the lyrics in the ebook. If you have purchased the audiobook, there's nothing to click, where the lyrics are in the ebook, they actually play the song on the audiobook making it, at least in part, a "music audio file".
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I'm giving this pretzel plotted gumshoe musical 3.1415926535 stars and recommending it as if it is a 5 star blockbuster to lovers of mysteries or people who know what an Edgar award is.
It is a very fast paced private eye detective novel that feels a bit like Father Knows Best, Mayberry R.F.D, or The Brady Bunch. I don't know how to explain that comparison. Hanging out with Sam Prichard, Indie and Kenzie while investigating mysteries rife with danger and intrigue is like playing Monopoly with a few of your good friends. It's entertainment. It's fun. You may or may not lose sleep with it but only because you won't mind returning to be with your friends again tomorrow. Ok then…
*Warning* contains spoilers related to Sam Prichard novels 1-3. How can you not write a spoiler about book 4 in a series? I'll try not to ruin your enjoyment of the earlier books.
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Again, I really liked another Sam Prichard Mystery. This book. That would be four stars. I liked its writing, and Mikael Naramore's reading of it. I'm reviewing both the ebook and the audio-book.
In this book we open with Sam singing in the shower with joy of his upcoming nuptials. Which reminds me of a review of the previous Sam Pricharcd novel, “ Death Sung Softly”. I’m reminded because I mention the previous novel is a “musical”. This book is also a musical in the same ways. The audio-book sings, the ebook has the lyrics and links to the singing, but it isn’t as extensive a musical as “Death Sung Softly” where Sam became the lead singer of band who hired him as a private investigator to find their missing lead singer.
I digress.
The Goodreads blurb tells more spoiler info than I like to provide in order to encourage folks to read a book. My additions will, however, spoil it further, sorry.
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Death Sung Softly by David Archer is my third Sam Prichard Mystery. I've really liked them. This one I give four stars and recommend it.
It is the first novel I've read that I actually stopped and thought, "This is a musical". Keep in mind that I am reviewing both the ebook and the audiobook. The lyrics are in the ebook, and they sing them in the audiobook. There's also a link in the ebook so you can click the link, go to David Archer's website, and listen to the song reproduced there.
To give you an idea how unique this is, I read over 130 Doc Savage Adventure Novels before I reached my teens and my actual reading love leans more to science fiction than adventures. So there's at least 5 more decades of ambitious reading since and this is the first I thought…. "This book is a musical." I suppose that is a comment on our time and our technology than anything else.
In this mystery Sam Prichard formally opens his Private Investigator business. On his first day of advertisement he gets a missing person job. The fellow is a musician and the rest the musicians want to find their missing lead singer.
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I really liked this book (four stars), its writing, and Mikael Naramore's reading of it. I'm reviewing both the ebook and the audio-book. As I mentioned only days ago, I'll always hear Sam Prichard in Mikael Maramore's voice.
Just days ago I said, "I am going to enjoy me some more Sam Prichard Mysteries in the future." In my mind I meant "Death Sung Softly". I ended up re-reading this book, "The Grave Man".
Since I had just read Fallback and recalled it is so closely related to "The Grave Man" I decided to put on the audio book while I did some chores that don't require much mental attention. I ended up listening until it was finished with the book, long after my boring chores were done.
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I liked this book, its writing, and Mikael Naramore's reading of it a great deal. I'm reviewing strictly the audiobook so the fact is, I'll always hear Sam Prichard in Mikael Naramore's voice, but the casual writing style or voice of David Archer is an integral part of Sam Prichard, a character I will enjoy through several books thanks to David Archer's productivity.
This four star book is primarily Sam Prichard's back story. One reason I didn't go with five stars is there's really no relationship with the first several chapters to the story which finally grabs the reader. It's interesting enough to read, but the tragedy of Sam Prichard's late teens love life is not terribly relevant to the story David Archer finally gets around to telling. I presume since he wrote a prequel after publishing a book or two, it will be relevant in future books.
