The Birdwatcher

By: Jacquelyn Mitchard

Narrated by: Gail Shalan

A Zibby's Most Anticipated Book of Fall 2025!

From New York Times bestselling author Jacquelyn Mitchard comes a page-turning drama that explores the beauty of female friendship; the relationship between money, power, and sex; and the very human desire to protect the ones we love most.

When she is convicted of a double murder, Felicity Wild, a brilliant grad student turned high-priced escort, declares, “I may not be innocent, but I’m innocent of this.”

Reenie Bigelow never doubted it. A jury may have given Felicity a life sentence, but Reenie knows that her childhood best friend is not capable of murder. And so Reenie, a journalist, decides to use her deep connections to Felicity’s past to unravel the truth.

The more she uncovers, the more Reenie is convinced that the story the prosecution told is wrong, despite the puzzling fact that Felicity said not one single word in her own defense. But there's one thing Reenie knows for certain: Felicity would never lie.

Great story but I didn’t like the narration

Jacquelyn Mitchard has once again created a suspenseful story with well-crafted characters. Although the plot was a bit predictable, it was still thoroughly enjoyable. I rushed to reach the end too soon!
However, this book was almost ruined for me because of the narration. As are almost all of her stories, this book was set in Wisconsin. I would’ve enjoyed this story so much more if the narrator sounded like she was from the Midwest. She did so many different character voices in her reading, however not a single one of them sounded like they lived in Wisconsin. The character that had gone East and acquired “a Bryn Mawr accent” sounded more like a 1940s’ Transatlantic to English accent with no trace of Midwest in her. although that’s where she was from. Most of the male characters even sounded a touch Southern.
I’ve lived in Texas, New York, Illinois and Wisconsin, and states in the deep South. I absolutely love local dialects. I was expecting so much from this novel’s reading and I was disappointed.

Verbose needed editing

I enjoyed the core story but found the balance of the narrative too verbose; I recommend staying with the basic murder mystery/