Book Review: Real Actors, Not People by Karen Musser Nortman

Posted January 8, 2020 by lomeraniel in Audiobooks, Cozy Mystery, Mystery, Review / 0 Comments

Book Review: Real Actors, Not People by Karen Musser NortmanReal Actors, Not People (Frannie Shoemaker Campground Mysteries #8) by Karen Musser Nortman
Narrator: Michelle Babb
Series: Frannie Shoemaker Campground Mysteries #8
Published by Self-published on 12-06-19
Genres: Cozy Mystery, Mystery
Length: 4 hrs and 7 mins
Format: Audiobook
Source: Narrator
Buy on Amazon/Audible
Goodreads
Overal Rating: four-stars

Frannie Shoemaker and her friends go camping to get away from the real world. So they are surprised and dismayed to find their wilderness campground the production site of a new 'reality' show--Celebrity Campout. Reality intrudes on their week in the form of accidents, nature, and even murder. They handle the situation with their usual humor, compassion, and mystery solving, because...camping can be murder.

This time, Frannie and her friends will be sharing the campground with a bunch of old actors and TV crew who are busy recording a reality show. They will witness staged conflicts but the corpse found is very real.

This time, Donna and Rob Nowak join the Shoemakers and the Ferraros. They do not meet snow in this book, but plenty of rain and cold, which creates funny situations among the actors participating in the reality show. The story was well written and it was entertaining, as previous books, but I felt somehow less engaged this time. I am not sure if it was due to the fact that I do not watch TV or because I suspected who the murder was already quite early in the story. I enjoyed the interactions between characters, and the fact that we have Donna in this book, makes for different situations and dialogues than the previous one.

The best part of this audiobooks, and also why I decided to listen to it, was Michelle Babb’s narration. Her casual tone and wonderful character’s interpretations make listening to her narrations a delight. It really matches this kind of book well,  emphasizing the light tone of the narrative, and bringing the characters to life. I confess that I would enjoy listening to Michelle Babb’s reading the phone book!

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Story (Plot)
three-stars
Narration
five-stars
Overall: four-stars