Cats, Cannolis and a Curious Kidnapping by Cheryl Denise Bannerman ~ an Audiobook Review

by Donna Huber

I love cozy mysteries and I'm sure you know I love cats if you've seen my social media pictures. To start a new cozy series (with book 1) that has cats sounded like a win for me. I was also hoping for a cannoli recipe. So it was with some anticipation I that began Cats, Cannolis and a Curious Kidnapping.

Amazon affiliate links are used on this site. A free audiobook was provided for an honest review.

May 2020; Indie; 978-1735335223
audio, ebook, print (126 pages); cozy mystery

This was a short audiobook at 2 hours and 42 minutes. So if you like short, quick audiobooks then this one is for you. If you had a bit of a commute it will keep you entertained for a few trips. Though I thought a bit more time could have been spent on character development upfront. As this is book one in the Anna Romano series, it is important to have a good foundation of who the main characters are. This is particularly important for an audiobook where it isn't easy to flip back when you get confused.

The story itself moved really quick. I felt that if I was distracted for a second that I missed quite a bit and then was confused for a few minutes about what was happening. I had to fight to keep my attention on the story, again I think if there had been more character development then I would have cared more for the main character.

I think Anna could be a lot like Miss Marple. It's was hard to tell from this story as she was the victim and not really the detective. But as I do love Miss Marple and I saw a few glimmers of the same personality in Anna in the last couple of chapters that I'm willing to try more of this series. I really felt that it has the potential to be a cute series.

The narrator Robin Waters did a good job though occasionally I was confused about which character was which. But I think that had more to do with me just not knowing the characters well enough to assign non-verbal traits to.

Overall, I think this book would have been better had I read it myself instead of listening to it just because it is the first book in the series and it is so important to really get to know the characters and I'm easily distracted. I've done this with other cozy mysteries where I read the first book and then listen to the rest of the series as audiobooks.

Oh, and if you are wondering there wasn't a recipe for cannolis.

Buy Cats, Cannolis, and a Curious Kidnapping at Amazon

Donna Huber is an avid reader and natural encourager. She is the founder of Girl Who Reads and the author of how-to marketing book Secrets to a Successful Blog Tour.

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