Malice Domestic 2

An Anthology of Original Mystery Stories

By: Mary Higgins Clark - editor

Narrated by: Mason Adams, Susan Anspach, Mary Catlett, Samantha Eggar, Robert Forster, Richard Gilliland, Loryn Locklin

Following the success of Malice Domestic 1—recipient of the Agatha Award for Best Short Story and called "outstanding" by Publishers Weekly— acclaimed author Mary Higgins Clark serves a feast of original traditional mystery stories in classic Agatha Christie style. Featured writers include Amanda Cross, Frances Fyfield, and K.K. Beck. The stories included here are:

• " Who Shot Mrs. Bryon Boyd?" by Amanda Cross
• " The Return of Ma Barker" by Gary Alexander
• " Even Steven" by Taylor McCafferty
• " Cold and Deep" by Frances Fyfield
• " A Romance in the Rockies" by K.K. Beck
• " Goodbye, Sue Ellen" by Gillian Roberts
• " Kim' s Game" by M.D. Lake
• " The Neiman Marcus Body" by Lecretia Grindle
• " Water" by Sally Gunning
• " Arsenic and Old Ideas" by Jan Grape

©1996 Mary Higgins Clark (P)1996 Phoenix Books, Inc.

A very poor performance

What a disappointment this was. The harpsichord announcing each story is so out of place its grating.
The narrators read these stories so quickly as if they can’t wait to finish. It’s amateurish and low budget. The narration is so poor I skipped some of the stories.Mary Higgins Clark my want to take this off her resume. 👎🏻

A darker set of mysteries but good

I will say the various voice actors who did these stories did an overall good job. Really good work on capturing the mood and theme of their stories. Good delivery and the authors all enunciated and were clear with their words even when they spoke with heavy accents. Unlike the previous book while the harpsichord is back this time it is more subdued and doesn't play over the narrators and isn't so loud and distracting (also it plays in shorter intervals).

I will say overall these stories were a much darker edge. Unlike the previous Malice Domestic 1 which tried to keep to a more light hearted tone. There were comedic stories and moments, and one story was very light in tone, but overall this collection went a little darker and that worked well in this collection. I felt like the stories kept to a theme. Some very solid choices in authors and stories. Some excellent twists I was entertained.

My one complaint is that there was a random ghost story/haunting tale in this collection. It seemed out of place to the theme and style. I like some horror and frights and this one was rather tame. That said I do wonder why it was here and for me it was the weakest story.