Good evening, dear hearts!
I have a brilliantly lovely conversation to share with you this afternoon! The lovely Clare Chase who wrote a rather intriguingly beguiling Romantic Suspense novel has recently released the first of a new Police Procedural Thriller series entitled: ‘Murder on the Marshes’! And, you know I couldn’t wait to get my *hands!* on the audiobook! I waited on pins for the title to appear inside my Audible Library – thinking it would arrive shortly after *midnight!* on the 1st of August, however, much to my elated joy it came just after 8pm on the 31st of July! Imagine my glee!? (see also Tweet)
A lot of times I have the pleasure of joy of #amlistening to a sampler of the audiobook I want to purchase – however, in rare instances, there is an embargo on having those available pre-publication. Ergo, I was wickedly itching to ‘hear’ the narrator, as listening to audiobooks for me is a brilliantly lovely visceral experience to where I feel pulled into the world a writer creates through the fusion of not just their written words which are eloquently interpreted & brought to life by the narrator – but the actual way in which the narrator voices the characters, sets the tone of the story and the ‘experience’ of hearing the story articulated through spoken dialogue – it’s a lovely immersion of bookish delight – so imagine, trying to ascertain ‘how’ this would sound without a guide? My curiosity nearly killed me,…
.@bookouture I've been so dearly EAGER to hear your #narrator, I can't help myself but read until the clock strikes twelve; pop into my #Audible library, see if I can🧐the #audiobook & sit here listening to the first bits whilst in full anticipation of what will start to unfold😁
— Jorie Story 📖🎧 (@joriestory) July 31, 2018
I’ve disclosed this before – a narrator can quite literally de-motivate me from listening to an author’s collective works even though I technically try to keep the door ajar to re-try another of their stories (similar of course, if I read a story in print, find it wasn’t my cuppa & try to find a different title of theirs to give a whirl of a chance of fitting my bookish wanderings). For me, the narrator makes/breaks the whole experience – I can give narrators a bone if say, the delivery isn’t quite posh or if it feels like their still gaining traction on their narration style – but overall, if their voice grates in my ears, if their approach is less than reasonable or even plausible – I can feel myself ‘pull out’.
Here’s how I reacted to hearing ‘Murder on the Marshes’ for the very first moment I found it available to ‘hear’:
A wicked good choice for #narrator – listened to a few minutes of the chapter, as I’m working on cooking dinner, but couldn’t not play the book!?She’s approaching #MurderOnTheMarshes in a similar vein as @EsmieMatthews approached #KayHunter I surmise I’ll be properly enthralled!
— Jorie, the Joyful Tweeter ?? (@joriestory) August 1, 2018
I am itching to return back inside ‘Murder on the Marshes’ as it is going to be my #nextlisten after I conclude the audiobooks I was listening to in July! Coming out of the #KayHunter series, I am fully bracing myself for this new Police Procedural Thriller! In fact, I’m rather grateful I discovered Kay Hunter, as it gave me a keen insight into my new boundaries of what I can personally ‘handle’ in Crime Fiction!
I knew I could handle Dramatic Crime Fiction through my readings of the Marjorie Trumaine series, the Anna Blanc series and the Samuel Craddock series – however, Kay Hunter is a bird of a completely different feather as it’s a lovely cross between my affection and appreciation for *ncis* (x3) and *law & order* (x3) of which I predominately watched throughout my twenties & early thirties!
Having become so dearly transfixed by Alison Campbell’s style of embracing Kay Hunter, I was primed for ‘meeting’ Lucy Brownhill! Even though I’ve heard only a smidge of the first Chapter, I already could *feel!* this was the right narrator – her approach into embracing Tara Thrope echoes Campbell’s Hunter. In finding this realisation, I knew my time spent within ‘Murder on the Marshes’ was going to be epic, brilliant & chilling!
As dear hearts, as find myself shifting a bit in the type of Crime Novels I love to be reading – I must brace my heart & mind! The further I dip into this kind of suspenseful Thriller, the more I realise my ‘short-list’ of favourite authors shall remain decidedly ‘short’ as I can’t tuck into these stories too much as they are emotionally convicting *but!* there is something to be said for today’s Contemporary Thriller & Suspense authors who are giving me *exactly!* what I am seeking in a novel when I am not dearly *attached!* to binge watching Crime Dramas on television! Irregardless if those series are American, Canadian, of the UK or Australian!
I am blessed to be able to celebrate the new series by Ms Chase as she was already on my ‘list’ of wicked good Romantic Suspense and now, I get to become acquainted with her ‘other’ side of the spectrum – the quirky matching of a DI with a journalist and the lovely complexities of such a relationship will let out as the series progresses forward!
Sit down with your favourite cuppa,
and read why the Tara Thrope series has caught my bookish eye!
A notation about Bookouture & Hachette Books:
In [2016] I created a series of interviews featuring #Bookouture authors: Teresa Driscoll (feat. ‘Last Kiss Goodnight’); Natalie Meg Evans (feat. ‘A Gown of Thorns’); Renita D’ Silva (feat. ‘A Mother’ Secret’); Debbie Rix (feat. ‘Daughters of the Silk Road’); Kerry Fisher (feat. ‘After the Lie’); Helen Pollard (feat. ‘The Little French Guesthouse’) and Tom Bale (feat. ‘See How They Run’). I’ve been striving to collect all of these stories for my personal library whilst intending to share my ruminative thoughts – as I personally love to showcase a guest feature ahead of reading the stories which intrigue my bookish heart! Of this list, as of Thanksgiving 2017 – I have happily acquired the audiobook version of ‘The Little French Guesthouse’ which is a next listen of mine this year! I have more to share about how I acquired this audiobook when I share my ruminations!
Whilst for the past few years I’ve been a book blogger reading INSPY (faith-based) and Motivational stories (of fiction and Non-Fiction) from Hachette Books (USA) imprints: FaithWords and Center Street. At the time of coordinating this interview with Ms Chase, I had missed the fact ‘Bookouture’ was acquired by Hachette UK. This marks my first guest feature and showcased story for Hachette UK : Bookouture! (see also the announcement of the acquisition)
Meanwhile, as per my announcement recently featured on The Sunday Post, No. 6 – I purchased a copy of the digital audiobook version of ‘Murder on the Marshes’ which I am looking forward to listening too. My ruminations are forthcoming on behalf of this first installment of the Tara Thrope series as being this is my own purchase I am not obliged to post my reflections on this novel, I am choosing to showcase my reactions as Ms Chase is an author I personally love reading! (see also my review of ‘You Think You Know Me’)
Previously, you will remember, I crossed paths with Ms Chase through my readings of ChocLitUK (of which I am a reviewer) whilst I have had the pleasure of getting to know her personally through my bi-monthly chat @SatBookChat (previously known as @ChocLitSaturday).
On my connection to Clare Chase: When I started a chat in [2014] my path crossed with Ms Chase as she was a regular chatter of what is now known as @SatBookChat. Ms Chase and I started to notice our reading habits were aligning with each other, and her conversations were happy editions to my week as I liked finding someone else who liked the same types of stories I was gravitating towards myself. We continued to ‘chat’ about our reading habits even outside of #ChocLitSaturday (the previous name of the chat), which was a blessed joy for me.
I am disclosing this, to assure you that I can formulate an honest opinion, even though I have interacted with Ms Chase through our respective love & passion of reading inside the twitterverse whilst I host #SatBookChat and privately as well. I treat each book as a ‘new experience’, whether I personally know the author OR whether I am reading a book by them for the first time or continuing to read their releases as they are available. This also applies to hosting a guest feature by the author I share a connection.
Murder on the Marshes
Subtitle: A gripping murder mystery thriller that will keep you turning the pages
by Clare Chase
Source: Purchased | Personal Library
Narrator: Lucy Brownhill
As the sun rises, a wealthy young woman – Samantha Seabrook – is found drowned in the ornamental fountain of a deserted Cambridge courtyard, the only clue – an antique silver chain wound tightly around her throat.
It’s Tara Thorpe’s job to discover what happened to Miss Seabrook – but the case becomes personal when she learns that Samantha had been receiving death threats… rather like the one that landed on Tara’s doorstep the night the woman died.
Together with Detective Inspector Garstin Blake, Tara tracks the killer to the dank and dangerous fens on the outskirts of the city. But there’s something Tara can’t quite admit to Blake about her past – and it could make all the difference to whether they live... or die.
Places to find the book:
ISBN: 9781786814319
ASIN: B07FPNP92B
Also by this author: You Think You Know Me, Murder on the Marshes, Death on the River
Published by Bookouture, Hachette UK
on 1st August, 2018
Format: Audiobook | Digital
Length: 10 hours and 45 minutes (unabridged)
As I was researching early reviews by readers and bloggers for ‘Murder on the Marshes’ one mentioned this new series has a touch of Inspector Morse about it. I was keenly interested in hearing this, as Morse is one of my favourite British detectives (by way of the BBC serial, sadly I’ve not yet read the novels) – aesthetically what do you think is pulling readers to feel a homage to Morse in your ‘Murder on the Marshes’?
Chase responds: I was delighted to see that comparison as I love Inspector Morse! If think it might have been made for a couple of reasons. Although my books are set in Cambridge, rather than Oxford, there are similarities between the two cities. In particular they are each home to ancient universities and everything that goes with them, from beautiful architecture to the high concentrations of academics, students and others associated with those institutions. Murder on the Marshes focuses on the academic world, as do a lot of the Inspector Morse mysteries. And I think my books also fall into a similar sub-section of the crime genre, in that they’re traditional detective fiction. Read More
