Lauren Fortgang delivers Southern accents as thick as Spanish moss for the host of quirky characters who inhabit Tupelo Landing, North Carolina. With customary impulsiveness, Mo LoBeau volunteers herself and her best friend, Dale, to interview the ghost who is haunting the Tupelo Inn. If they can't interview the ghost, they may fail sixth-grade history. Fortgang sometimes rushes Mo's first-person commentary, but her youthful, no-nonsense delivery is true to Mo's plucky character and is a perfect contrast to her huskier, unhurried presentation of Dale's amusing dialogue. Droll humor abounds, delivered with top-notch comedic timing, as Mo and Dale, the Desperado Detectives, uncover small-town secrets. It's hard to top the late Michal Friedman's award-winning rendition of Mo LoBeau in THREE TIMES LUCKY, but Fortgang makes a strong effort. Listeners will be won over by Southern charm and eccentricity.
. (Mystery. 10-14)Pub Date: Feb. 4, 2014
Duration: 8 hrs, 15 mins
DD ISBN: 9780698146709
Publisher: Penguin Audio
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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