Welcome to Lauren Carr's Audiobook-a-palooza Blog Tour! To celebrate the release of Lauren Carr's mysteries in audiobook format, we have 14 books from her three series on tour!
The Mac Faraday Mystery Series:
Book Description:
Answer: when that man is the heir of the late mystery writer Robin Spencer, retired homicide detective Mac Faraday, you get him a cold case to solve.
In Shades of Murder, Mac Faraday is once again the heir to an unbelievable fortune. This time the benefactor is a collector of stolen art. But this isn't just any stolen work of art - it's a masterpiece with a murder attached to it.
Ilysa Ramsay was in the midst of taking the art world by storm with her artistic genius. Hours after unveiling her latest masterpiece, she is found dead in her Deep Creek Lake studio, and her painting is nowhere to be found.
Almost a decade later, the long lost Ilysa Ramsay masterpiece has found its way into Mac Faraday's hands and he can't resist the urge to delve into the case.
A world away, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, former JAG lawyer Joshua Thornton agrees to do a favor for the last person he would ever expect - a convicted serial killer.
The favor: solve the one murder wrongly attributed to him.
Joshua finds an unexpected ally in Cameron Gates, a spunky detective who has reason to believe the young woman known to the media only as Jane Doe, victim number four, was the victim of a copycat. Together, Joshua and Cameron set out to light a flame under the cold case only to find that someone behind the scenes wants the case to remain cold, and is willing to kill to keep it that way.
Little do these detectives know that the paths of their respective cases are on a collision course when they follow the clues to bring them together in a showdown with a killer who's got a talent for murder!
My Review:
Shades of Murder is book 3 in Lauren Carr's Mac Faraday Series. Each book in the series can be read as a stand alone. I am a huge fan of Lauren and have read or listened to several of her books. She is amazing. I love the characters n her book especially Gnarley. Gnarley is a huge German Shepherd and brings lots of humor to the series. This is one of my favorite books so far. All of hr books come with puzzles but this one wasn't a 500 piece puzzle it was a 1000 piece one. I really love playing detective along wit Mac while reading her books.
This book features the regular cast of characters as well as a few new ones. In this book a surprise package arrives at Mac's door. It is a the painting by a woman who's murder 7 years ago was never solved. The note with the painting says that it was to go to Robin, Mac's real mother or if she had passed away to her heir. The arrival of the painting has Mac reopening the cold case.
Meanwhile in Pittsburgh PA, a convicted murderer has contacted former JAG Lawyer Joshua Thornton to look into the only case he was not convicted of 8 years ago. There was one woman that was never proven he killed mainly because he dd not kill her. Joshua finds Cameron Gates who had worked on the case. Even though the powers that be does not want the case reopened Joshua and Cameron se out to solve the case.
Now comes the twists and turns. How can one woman be killed twice and so far apart in time and mileage. Joshua and Cameron follow their clues which brings them to Mac and his case. Now they need to work together to put the pieces of the puzzle together and solve the murders.
This is also not the first book I have listened to by Mike Alger. I really like listening to him. He does a great job with his voices. His energy in the story is a great. He grabs you with the feeling he puts into his reading.
Content Rating:
All of Lauren Carr's books are rated PG-13 because they are murder mysteries and will contains murder scenes. Some of the books contain violence associated with military assignments. There are some books that contain sex scenes which are not explicit. There is little profanity, no f-words.
Meet the Author:
Lauren Carr is the international best-selling author of the Mac Faraday, Lovers in Crime, and Thorny Rose Mysteries—over twenty titles across three fast-paced mystery series filled with twists and turns!
Book reviewers and readers alike rave about how Lauren Carr’s seamlessly crosses genres to include mystery, suspense, romance, and humor.
Lauren is a popular speaker who has made appearances at schools, youth groups, and on author panels at conventions. She lives with her husband and three dogs (including the real Gnarly’s klutzy nephew Sterling) on a mountain in Harpers Ferry, WV.
Meet the Narrators:
Over the past several years Dan Lawson has appeared in numerous spots for radio, television and the internet. He has worked with All-State, Sprint PCS, Mountain Dew and many more. His unique ability to mimic existing characters and celebrities has landed him diverse voice match work ranging from Charlie Sheen to Morgan Freeman.
In 2008 Dan was cast as the first American voice actor for the Korean video game company, Nexon. Over the next several years Dan was the flagship voice of the company, appearing in such titles as Mabinogi, Maple Story, Vindictus, Dragon Nest, Dungeon Fighter Online and Atlantica. In total he has voiced nearly 100 characters for Nexon.
In late 2012 Dan’s voice over career took an unexpected turn into book narration. His first audition landed him the job of narrating The Psychology of Twilight, a psychological look at the wide-spread obsession of the Twilight saga created by Stephanie Meyer. Eighteen more audiobook narrations have followed and show no signs of slowing down.
C.J. McAllister is an Audible Approved Producer -- "Audible Approved producers are the best audiobook producers in the business." Only a small number are awarded this honor.
C.J. has produced best-selling audiobooks in multiple genres/styles, TV commercials/promo teasers, animation projects, interviews (TV and radio), corporate presentations.
Another Audible Approved narrator, voice actor James Lewis has established a solid reputation in fiction as well as non-ficton audiobooks. At latest count, he's narrated nearly 50.
Although his specialty is noir fiction, James has done several non-fiction books as well on a range of people and subjects: Butch and Sundance, General Custer, Revolutionary War, psychic development, taxes.
James Lewis has been awarded the AudioFile Earphone Award for narration, "The Last Outlaws". It's about Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.
A broadcast veteran of over 30 years, Mike Alger is best known as the award-winning Chief Meteorologist for KTVN-TV in Reno, NV. He is also a successful author, having penned the Mystery-Thriller novel "Snow Storm," and is the narrator of the audiobook of the same name.
interview with Mike Alger
Tell me a little about your background: I’ve been in broadcasting for over 30 years, most of which as the Chief Meteorologist for KTVN-TV in Reno, NV. A TV Meteorologist is kind of a funny combination of being a scientist and a performer, which is kind of a rare set of character traits, but which fits me quite well. Since I’ve been talking “professionally” for the better portion of my life, book narration is a pretty natural field for me.
How did you start narrating audiobooks?: That’s a long story. Several years ago, I wrote a mystery-thriller novel called “Snow Storm.” It was a fairly popular novel, especially here locally, and I had some requests to turn it into a ‘talking book,’ as they were known back then. So I recorded it and tried to produce and market it myself. This was back in the days of CDs being the main media for talking books. I soon found out that burning, labeling and quality controlling CDs wasn’t very practical, and I abandoned the project, but still kept the digital files. Fast forward about 14 years, and being an audiobook fan myself (I always have one playing while I am driving), I stumbled on the ACX website (Audible’s Audiobook Creation Exchange website), and they mentioned if you have an audiobook you’d like to market, you could do so through them. I sent mine in and they picked it up. But they also said they had a lot of titles that were looking for narrators and producers, and I thought that was something I should look into. I sent out some auditions, and now 12 audiobook titles later, I’m finding all the work I can handle.
Is there a learning curve to narrating?: Most definitely. Both from a performance standpoint as well as a production standpoint. There are a lot of subtle things you learn about creating variety in voices, but not overdoing it. Pace and flow are so important. And there are so many technical things that I have learned when it comes to editing and mastering. I think I’ve grown a lot, but there’s always more to learn.
What’s the hardest part of narrating a book?: I think the most challenging part of narration is being consistent with all the different voices. Some characters that appear early in a book may pop up again well into it, and it might be weeks before you do them again. I like to take notes as any new character appears in a book, with some key words (“think Samuel Jackson” or “old, raspy and slow” or some such) that will help me remember how I did them. Then it’s important to keep the “narrator’s” voice consistent, which can be hard when you’ve just spoken with a different voice.
Learning different accents and dialects is also a challenge. You’ll never know when a character pops up with an Irish, Russian, Latino, or even southern US accent. There’s a natural tendency to overdo it, and it can take a lot of practice to be believable.
What’s your favorite genre to narrate?: That’s kind of like asking which of my children are my favorite. I’m not sure that the genre matters as much as the quality of the writing. Lauren Carr’s books are so much fun to read, that the narrating becomes fun as well. I’ve always enjoyed the mystery genre, and to have the freedom to create and add to the character development is an absolute kick in the pants. But I’ve also done science fiction and fantasy as well…I enjoy it all as long as the writing is solid.
Are the authors (rights holders) difficult to work with?: I’m not sure why, but I have been incredibly lucky with the authors with whom I’ve collaborated. Every one so far has been very supportive and a joy to work with. Lauren Carr especially has been awesome to team up with. They all make corrections when I misinterpret, mispronounce or miss-out on something that they have in mind, but for the most part, they are incredibly supportive, and seem to enjoy hearing their works come to life as much as I do helping them to make it happen.
What do you offer that other narrators don’t?: That’s always a tough question to answer, since every narrator offers a unique set of talents, but I do think that it’s important to not only be flexible as a narrator, but to also add special touches. I am fortunate to have a talented composer/musician create unique opening and closing credit music for each of my productions…and the fact that she happens to be my beautiful wife Anita makes it even more fun. Samples used in some of our productions can be found at the following link: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/bb6p0jxj8qxvx23/AAB9RCp_IryhRZ1vmwjLDDPVa?dl=0
Do you have any advice for someone who wants to try their hand at narration?: I think the first bit of advice is be patient…both with getting jobs and also with the production process. You will likely have to send out many auditions before you get your first job, but keep at it. And keep refining your craft. There are several on-line resources for producers and narrators, from performance tips for narrators to technical help for producers. And realize it all takes time. If you are an experienced narrator/producer, you can probably expect to spend 4 or more hours to produce 1 hour of finished product.
And finally, only do this if you enjoy it…especially to begin with. There is some money to be made, but you will likely spend your first year or two “paying your dues,” so make sure that it is enjoyable. Be creative. Most of all, have fun, and keep learning.
Enter the Giveaway!
Ends July 22
Thank you so much for the fabulous review for SHADES OF MURDER. I am so glad you enjoyed the book and that you, too, have discovered what a wonderfully talented narrator Mike Alger is. I love working with him. Here's wishing each of your followers luck in the giveaway for the $100 Amazon gift card.
ReplyDeleteI love your books Lauren!! Can't wait to get my hands on more. Keep up the amazing story lines and the great series.
ReplyDeleteWow! Excellent post! I really enjoyed reading the interview and the review! Looking forward to checking out all these exciting and intriguing reads!
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