Hey Diddle Diddle, the Runaway Riddle

A Retired Sleuth and Dog Historical Cozy Mystery

By: P.C. James

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

He was forced to hang up his badge. Now, a kidnapping has raced into his retirement

England, 1960’s. Former inspector Tom Ramsay is taking advantage of having to step down. Invalided after getting shot in the line of duty, the plain-speaking man adopts a border collie and gets down to the serious business of hiking the scenic countryside of his ancestry. But after hearing over the radio about a missing local, the fifty-five-year-old ex-cop is shocked when a pleasant walk brings him face-to-face with the victim fleeing her captors.

With the young woman reported as a runaway and no ransom note issued, the experienced detective can’t resist investigating. But with a would-be fiancé, a pushy father, and tight-lipped suspects muddying the waters, Ramsay struggles to uncover the truth in the close-knit hamlet full of secrets.

Can he unmask the mastermind before meddling makes him a target?

Hey Diddle Diddle, the Runaway Riddle is the page-turning first book in the One Man and His Dog Cozy Mysteries series. If you like thoughtful and relatable heroes, bucolic backdrops, and puzzling crimes, then you’ll love P.C. James's clever tale.

Buy Hey Diddle Diddle, the Runaway Riddle to crack the case today!

Great main character & his dog!

I enjoyed the story and the characters. Definitely a cozy mystery. I did not enjoy the virtual voice!!

Nice voice, but poorly read. Ending was lacking.

The voice has a very pleasant sound, but puts pauses in the wrong places, changing the meaning. The most absurd this-is-a-computer-not-a-human mistake was in reading one of the chapter titles that included the word, "it." It's read as if referring to the Information Technology department, pronouncing it as, "I. T." instead of as "it." That was the only time I actually had to stop & look at the printed words to understand what was supposed to be read.

It felt like the story was written by computer also. There was no relationship between Tom & his dog. The dog didn't feel real; he only had stereotypical parts, like looking up when he hears his name. Sofia's belligerent attitude becomes annoying, consistently being against anything that wasn't her idea. Allister wanting to marry Sofia never made sense.

I kept listening because the voice was usually pleasant, & there was so much potential for this to be a good story. If it had a good ending, it probably would have been worth putting up with Sofia & even the weird reading.

I hesitated long before posting this, because I'd rather keep negative comments to myself if a real person wrote this, but I think this is too dry to not be computer generated, & I would have certainly appreciated being warned of the lack of human touch here.