Damsels in Distress

By: Joan Hess

Narrated by: C. J. Critt

A renaissance fair is coming to the relatively quiet college town of Farberville, Arkansas. Though resistant to getting involved, Claire Malloy, local bookseller and mother of the perpetually petulant teen Caron, finds herself drawn into the strange inner workings of the group putting on the fair. But a dark mood falls over the festivities when one of the organizers is a victim of arson, and her body is found in the burned wreckage of her rented house. Someone is definitely dead - but is it murder?©2007 Joan Hess (P)2008 BBC Audiobooks America

It was OK

The book was pretty good. I expected it to be funnier, like Joan Hess' Arly Hanks series, but it was alright. It did get a little confusing when, about 6:45 into Chapter 11, Claire was magically transported from her couch with Peter to her office with Edward. Is that actually in the book, or did the narrator skip a page or 2?

Aggressive narration and unlikeable heroine

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

I wouldn't. While the story is interesting, the main character is not very likable (far too impressed with her own take-charge ways). But the real flaw hear is the narration. There isn't much shading in the narration. It is the same level of complaining aggressive the whole way through. This book would have been much better told in the third person with a lighter touch on the narration.

How could the performance have been better?

A less strident, negative tone. More levels... Everything is read as equally important... Even the mundane tasks of life.

narrator C. J. Critt perfected Malloy

narrator C. J. Critt captured Claire Malloy's humorous & snarky personally as portrayed by the writer Joan Hess ... sadly, that is missing in later in the seeies