Disappearance at Oare

Whitstable Pearl Mystery, Book 5

By: Julie Wassmer

Narrated by: Willow Nash

Disappearance at Oare is the fifth instalment in the popular Whitstable Pearl Mystery series, from best-selling author Julie Wassmer.

The Whitstable Pearl restaurant has been busy all summer while Pearl’s detective agency has brought few interesting cases - until a prospective client calls....

Christina Scott confides that seven years ago she had the perfect life with a seaside home, a confirmed pregnancy and Steven, a loving husband - until one morning, she woke to find herself alone. Christina’s husband had vanished, taking nothing with him but his car - which was later found abandoned at the beautifully mysterious Oare Marshes.

Now, with the legal presumption of Steven’s death about to be made, Christina shows a photograph to Pearl. It’s not of him, but of her young son, Martin, who has grown up without his father, but Christina is adamant he now deserves to know the truth. And will Pearl help her solve the riddle of Steven’s disappearance?

DCI Mike McGuire warns Pearl she’s on a fool’s errand, but the case resonates with Pearl, as she begins to uncover secrets and lies that take her on a dangerous journey back into her own past, as well as Christina’s....

©2018 Julie Wassmer (P)2019 Bolinda Publishing Pty Ltd

Critic reviews

"If you enjoy cosy crime fiction and you still haven't picked this series, then you are missing out." (Alba in Bookland)

"What Colin Dexter did for Oxford, Julie Wassmer is intent on doing for Whitstable." (Daily Mail)

Great story but the narrator...

Very interesting and somewhat relaxing for some reason. I really wish the narrator Willow Nash would check into pronouncing certain words. In my experience "paella" (pai-ay-uh.) the l's are silent.

She does Pearl's voice very well along with other female characters. But I found the way she did Mike McGuire's voice very grating. I wish he sounded a little more distinguished. He sounds like he has a constant cold.

Other than that, I have found this series very enjoyable.
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Narration is Killing the Story

I finally had to bail on this book—not the author’s fault, storyline captivating enough in the Cozy style. But!!! Between the narrator’s HORRIBLE and constant mispronunciation of words (over and over and over) and her decision to give McGuire the accent of a cockney longshoreman I just had to stop. I’m really torn because I’m glad these two (Pearl and McGuire) are finally getting together and making it work, but listening to this is like constant fingers on a blackboard! Please—someone pay attention to the reviews and get a new narrator!!!!

Repetition repetition

So much repetition as though one has never read her other books. This is a series, quit acting like every book stands on it own. It does not and spending fifty pages of repeating crap is frustrating to us readers and listeners. 65% to 70% of the book it about how things look smell tase feel but none of it has to do with the case.