Happy Birthday Murder

By: Rachel Woods

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

All journalist Roland "Beanie" Bean wanted was a peaceful thirtieth birthday party with his wife, Noelle, and twin sister, Robyn. His sons, four-year-old Ethan and two-year-old Evan, were safely at the babysitter's, the backyard was festooned with balloons, and the Soca music was pumping.

But between Ethan's lizard-catching antics before the party and Evan's nonstop "why" questions that morning, Beanie had learned that "peaceful" meant nobody crying before cake time. By the time guests arrived, he'd redefined birthday success as surviving until the candles were blown out.

When Henry Montague, Robyn's cardiac surgeon boyfriend, is shot and killed, Beanie's birthday celebration ends in tragedy. The dying man gasps three haunting words that accuse Robyn of being his killer.

As a reporter for the Palmchat Gazette, Beanie is assigned to cover Henry's death alongside the investigation into a murdered OB-GYN. Between interviewing witnesses at the hospital and wrangling bath time chaos when Evan floods the bathroom, Beanie uncovers that the two murders are connected and the trail leads straight to someone Beanie never suspected … his sister.

As the police build a case against Robyn, Beanie realizes that someone is trying to frame his sister for murder ...

Unless Beanie can prove Robyn's innocence and expose the real killer, she'll spend the rest of her life in prison, and he'll lose the big sister who always had his back.

A cozy mystery featuring a devoted dad and journalist navigating murder, mayhem, toddler meltdowns, and bedtime routines in the sun-drenched Caribbean. Perfect for readers seeking clever sleuthing with heart, family warmth, and a tropical twist. Can be read as a standalone.

This audio circumvents a pretty decent story.

The story itself isn't bad. it's a bit cliche and the language is repetitive to increase the page count, which is very annoying once you realize it's intentional.

The bevy of characters this book attemps to cover is interesting because some get names and others don't and there is no rhyme or reason to any of it. It's gotta be difficult to write so many voices.

There's a lot of "telling" to push the story along and even provide exposition, which is understandable, BUT not if you look at how certain things are done just to increase the page count.

I can't say I was fully immersed in the story, but I was definitely interested to see how it all worked out and found the principal characters interesting, especially the dynamic between Beanie and the detective.

Overall I thought it was "ok" on delivery, but the entire thing is made worse by that horrible AI narration. Next time, please splurge to get a proper narrator or a better program.