loved it

I have fallen in love with Annabelle. it has been a brilliant series. I love that she just happens to be involved or discovering murders. it is also a love story between the vicar and the police officer. Set in some very lovely locations. In felt like I was right there with annbelll each step. A great listen.

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The most engaging reverend you'll ever meet!

Reverend Annabelle starts off turning a city parish around, but hankers for the country - so from the second book she's taken up a residency in a Cornish village where her talent for tripping over dead bodies brings her and Inspector Mike Nicholls head to head a little too often for her peace of mind ...

A wonderful series of thoroughly engaging mysteries that, as the author says, won't scare you to death - but will no doubt have you laughing as Reverend Annabelle makes her madcap way through to a thoroughly satisfying solution each time!

I 'read' an ARC copy of these books and this review is my honest opinion.

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spoilt by the narrator

These are good light hearted stories but the naarator...ugh. That voice! Far too high pitched and grating. Might be ok reading children's stories. I had to return this one and buy it on kindle.

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Oh dear!

Pleasant, light hearted if somewhat predictable cozy mysteries but why on earth did they choose this narrator. Dreadful, twee, high pitched squeak, besides which no one could think that a vicar whose parents were a London cabby and a cleaning lady would ever sound remotely like this. Completely ruined it for me.

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Spoiled by dreadful narration

Wow! This narrators voice is high pitched - as I gathered from other reviews and the snippet I could listen to before purchasing- but boy does it get squeaky! Im having to fast-forward through swathes of these books because the narrators chosen voices for some characters are positively ear splitting! I’m stunned that the author had all the books narrated by the same person. Imagine a female children’s tv presenter doing a “mouse voice” and you’ve got it! It’s absolutely unbearable in places. I’m going to slow the narration speed down to x0.7 and attempt to plough through the rest of them because the stories themselves seem quite interesting.

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Screaming female voices

These may be good stories in a genre where one does not expect too much seriousness and realism. Cosy Crime is for relaxation and entertainment, after all. But the reader of these books makes the female characters sound like children’s TV at its worst, and brings the stories into caricature. Especially the nun Mary sounds like a stupid 5-year old. A less “cartoonish” approach on the the readers part would have brought the book within what I could have swallowed. I gave the first book a chance, but then decided I could not stand any more and tried to return the title, which was not possible for this book. Now I am stuck with 33 more hours of screaming, and my credit is lost.

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okay stories

the plots were ok but very "samey". the reader was awful at doing different voices, some extremely annoying. Book 7 set in France...no words to describe the accents!!!!😱

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I prefer this series to the Inspector Graham mysteries by the same author

A bit of fluff and fun to take me away from the carnage of politics in what is turning out to be an earlier general election than was expected.

I’d previously read the author’s Inspector Graham mysteries and was a bit ambivalent about them so was pleasantly surprised to totally enjoy this series. I think it was the epilogues of the other series that bothered me.

The Reverend Annabelle is an altogether more enjoyable character to me. Just the best balance of humour and seriousness for me in this book series.

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Don’t bother

Why the narrator chose to do the simpering voices of pre-pubescent girls for a priest and a nub is the biggest mystery. The policeman’s voice was straight out of the Victorian, Cockney copper playbook.
If you’re going to write a book about CofE clergy, at least have a vague idea about how they are trained and appointed. Don’t bother!

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Cliched Characters

Having enjoyed other books by the author I was looking forward to these, but we were very disappointed. The main character is a cliched stereotype. I feel the author did not do sufficient research, and most female Anglican clergy I know would be horrified at such a portrayal. The archbishop has a national brief and would have no say in the appointment of a local incumbent - that is the role of the bishop of the diocese. The Revd Annabelle Dixon has more in common with the fictitious Vicar of Dibley than any real cleric. Despite the portrayal of an effective caring pastor, she comes across as a simpering stereotype of a single woman. My wife and I hoped the character would "mature" by book 2, but realised this would not be the case and gave up.
We also felt that the Police Inspector in book 2 was yet another stereotype and could not imagine him giving such access to a witness. Our personal opinions, of course!

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