Narrator Danice Cabanela's energetic voice brings listeners back to Shady Palms in this second delicious installment of the Tita Rosie's Kitchen cozy mystery series. Lila Macapagal is still recovering from her recent entanglement in a murder at her family's Filipino restaurant. Cabanela's empathetic narration conveys all of Lila's anxieties and uncertainties as she balances opening a new café, judging her town's teen beauty pageant, possible romantic relationships--and unaddressed trauma. When a creepy fellow pageant judge is murdered and her cousin is implicated, Lila and her nosy aunties investigate, serving up plenty of mouthwatering dishes to help get possible suspects talking. Cabanela's dynamic narration captures the fun of the story. The audio includes a Filipino glossary and tempting recipes to cook while listening.
Pub Date: Feb. 8, 2022
Duration: 9 hrs
DD ISBN: 9780593554180
Publisher: Penguin Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
For someone whose vocal palette contains so few colors, Edward Asner is a surprisingly effective narrator. His familiar, pleasant growl compels attention and bespeaks authority. He has his faults though. As an audiobook performer, he has but one personality, whatever the narrative voice of his text. One gets the impression that he enters the studio underprepared, taking his time to discover the book as he reads it. Thus it is with An Isolated Incident, a taut, suspenseful murder mystery set in Puget Sound. Other readers could better explore all the beats of this rich page-turner, but few could hold an audience as effortlessly.
Pub Date: N/A
Duration: 3 hrs
Publisher: Time Warner AudioBooks
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
Kay Scarpetta takes on more than routine investigations as her job of medical examiner involves her once again in a search for an unknown killer. The story is riveting from the opening chapters, and Sheila Hart never lets the intrigue subside. However Hart doesn't use enough vocal range, and male voices sound tinny and high-pitched. The dialogues with tough yet, endearing, Lt. Pete Marino have perfect cadence, accent and speech pattern, but sound somewhat thin and insubstantial. Telephone conversations and flashbacks are set off by effective sound enhancement, a useful addition. The overall presentation is very good driven strongly by the author's contribution.
Pub Date: N/A
Duration: 9 hrs
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
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