Narrator Bahni Turpin provides complex portraits of this audiobook’s three heroes, the way their lives intersect, and the engaging mystery that unites them. Observant, curious Jin is a Korean-American who was orphaned early in life and raised by strict elderly gandparents. Jin is intrigued by prickly Alexandra, who appears to be poor—but Jin sees that she funds good deeds for those in need. A school project about the past of their Harlem community brings the two together. Soon they meet Elvin, a boy who seems homeless. Turpin excels at accents and emotions and at revealing obscured truths about the main characters. She ensures that listeners comprehend the story’s historical figures and quick-paced, suspenseful events. Turpin shows her gifts as she brings together diverse plots, characterizations, and themes.
(Mystery. 8-12)Pub Date: Jan. 31, 2017
Duration: 6 hrs, 45 mins
DD ISBN: 9781338119633
Publisher: Scholastic Audiobooks
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
Liam Aiken narrates this prequel to the Series of Unfortunate Events in a somber, deadpan tone that heightens its dark humor. As a teenaged Lemony Snicket investigates a series of arsons in a town called Stain’d-by-the-Sea, Aiken creates voices that delineate character and help keep clear the large cast of Snicket’s associates, enemies, and enemies that turn out to be associates. Aiken’s tone of quiet urgency will keep listeners hooked through wordplay, mysteries, good meals, romance, and the appearance of a new villain named Hangfire, who hoodwinks adults, frames a librarian, and kidnaps all the children in town. This smart and funny listen will please Snicket fans and create new ones.
(Mystery. 8-14)Pub Date: Sept. 30, 2014
Duration: 6 hrs
DD ISBN: 9781478955733
Publisher: Hachette Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
While narrator Liam Aiken evokes the wistful, dolorous tone of Snicket’s second mystery in his All the Wrong Questions series, he fails to deliver Snicket’s signature snark with appropriate vigor. In this episode, the main character, 12-year-old Lemony Snicket, continues the investigations that began in STAIN’D BY THE SEA with the case of the missing chemist, Cleo Knight. As Aiken delivers Snicket’s declarative sentences in a deadpan voice, his remote reading keeps listeners distant from the story. Furthermore, Aiken does not always play up the quirks of the town’s eccentric characters. When he does use individualized voicings, the story shakes off its languidness to some degree. Aiken’s melancholy narration echoes Snicket’s loneliness but doesn’t enliven the recording for young listeners. An attached PDF file includes the character Seth’s illustrations.
(Mystery. 8-14)Pub Date: Oct. 15, 2013
Duration: 4 hrs
DD ISBN: 9781478924845
Publisher: Hachette Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
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