Cassandra Campbell has narrated 565 audiobooks on Listento.it by 493 authors, with an average listener rating of 4.3★ across 19,477 ratings. The most-rated is Where the Crawdads Sing.
Soldiers of Fortune
Summary
From New York Times and USA Today best-selling author Jana DeLeon, the sixth installment in the best-selling Miss Fortune series. When Celia Arceneaux was elected mayor of Sinful, Louisiana, Fortune Redding expected trouble. The woman has an unmatched talent for making the worst of any situation, especially if it means getting revenge on her sworn enemies, Ida Belle and Gertie. At the Fourth of July celebration, an explosion rocks Sinful, and it's not from fireworks. Most people assume it was a moonshine still, but when evidence points to a meth lab deep in the bayous of Sinful, Fortune realizes how dire the situation is for the tiny town. With Carter on medical leave and no one left at the sheriff's department who can handle the investigation, Fortune, Ida Belle, and Gertie decide to take matters into their own hands. This is (another) mission for Swamp Team 3.
©2015 Jana DeLeon (P)2016 Audible, Inc.
Fortune Furlough
Summary
It’s not a vacation until there’s a murder. Fortune, Ida Belle, and Gertie are finally off to Florida on the vacation they’ve always talked about. Days filled with white sand, turquoise water, and fruity drinks are the only thing on the agenda. But when Gertie’s “hot date” turns up dead and she’s the number one suspect, they’re forced to hang up their bathing suits and shift to investigating mode. They soon discover that Gertie’s beau was up to all kinds of shady behavior, leaving them with a long list of people who are happy he’s dead. But which one resorted to murder?
©2019 Jane DeLeon (P)2019 Audible, Inc.
Fortune Hunter
Summary
From New York Times best-selling author Jana DeLeon, the eighth book in the Miss Fortune mystery series. Someone has created a fake social media identity and is online romancing the lonely women of Sinful in order to scam them out of money. Because he always seems to pick the perfect targets, Fortune, Ida Belle, and Gertie think he must be either a Sinful resident or someone with a close association to the town. Playing with emotions for pay is dirty pool, but the game turns deadly when one of the women is murdered. Fortune decides the victim must have figured out who the scam artist is and threatened him with exposure. Deputy Carter LeBlanc is hard at work to find the gunman, but sometimes it takes a woman to expose a lady-killer. Fortunately, Swamp Team 3 is on the job.
©Jana Jana DeLeon (P)2016 Audible, Inc.
Later Gator
Summary
A poacher is at work in Sinful, Louisiana, and Deputy Carter LeBlanc is hot on the trail of the outlaw, trying to apprehend him before the state gets wind of the crime and sends a game warden to take over his investigation. Unfortunately, he's hindered every step of the way by Sinful's current mayor and all-around horrible person, Celia Arceneaux, who wants nothing more than to drive Carter to resign. When a game warden turns up with evidence that implicates a relative of Gertie's, Carter is left with no choice but to arrest the boy, even though no one thinks he did it. With Carter under the watchful eye of Celia and the state, Fortune, Ida Belle, and Gertie decide to catch a poacher...before he gets away.
©2016 Jana DeLeon (P)2017 Audible, Inc.
The Baker's Secret
Summary
From the multiple-award-winning, critically acclaimed author of The Hummingbird and The Curiosity comes a dazzling novel of World War II - a shimmering tale of courage, determination, optimism, and the resilience of the human spirit, set in a small Normandy village on the eve of D-Day. On June 5, 1944, as dawn rises over a small town on the Normandy coast of France, Emmanuelle is making the bread that has sustained her fellow villagers in the dark days since the Germans invaded her country. Only 22, Emma learned to bake at the side of a master, Ezra Kuchen, the village baker since before she was born. Apprenticed to Ezra at 13, Emma watched with shame and anger as her kind mentor was forced to wear the six-pointed yellow star on his clothing. She was likewise powerless to help when they pulled Ezra from his shop at gunpoint, the first of many villagers stolen away and never seen again. In the years that her sleepy coastal village has suffered under the enemy, Emma has silently, stealthily fought back. Each day she receives an extra ration of flour to bake a dozen baguettes for the occupying troops. And each day she mixes that precious flour with ground straw to create enough dough for two extra loaves - contraband bread she shares with the hungry villagers. Under the cold, watchful eyes of armed soldiers, she builds a clandestine network of barter and trade that she and the villagers use to thwart their occupiers. But her gift to the village is more than these few crusty loaves. Emma gives the people a taste of hope - the faith that one day the Allies will arrive to save them.
©2017 Stephen P. Kiernan (P)2017 HarperCollins Publishers
V Wars
Summary
They are hunting us. In this sweeping, threaded narrative of the global phenomenon known as the Vampire Wars, mankind is unwittingly infected by a millennia-old bacteria unknowingly exhumed by a scientific expedition in Antarctica. Now, in some rare cases, a person’s so-called junk DNA becomes activated. Depending on their racial and ethnic heritage, they begin to manifest one of the many diverse forms of the "others" that are the true basis for the legends of supernatural creatures. These aren’t your usual vampires and werewolves - it goes much deeper than that. Conceived by Jonathan Maberry, V Wars features stories from various frontlines as reported by such contributors as Nancy Holder, Yvonne Navarro, James A. Moore, Gregory Frost, John Everson, Keith R. A. DeCandido, and Scott Nicholson - as well as Maberry himself, of course. The result is a compelling series of tales that creates a unique chronicle of mankind’s response to this sudden, hidden threat to humanity.
©2012 Idea and Design Works, LLC (P)2012 Blackstone Audio, Inc.
The Woman Who Smashed Codes
Summary
Joining the ranks of Hidden Figures and In the Garden of Beasts, the incredible true story of the greatest codebreaking duo that ever lived, an American woman and her husband who invented the modern science of cryptology together and used it to confront the evils of their time, solving puzzles that unmasked Nazi spies and helped win World War II. In 1912, at the height of World War I, brilliant Shakespeare expert Elizebeth Smith went to work for an eccentric tycoon on his estate outside Chicago. The tycoon had close ties to the US government, and he soon asked Elizebeth to apply her language skills to an exciting new venture: code breaking. There she met the man who would become her husband, groundbreaking cryptologist William Friedman. Though she and Friedman are in many ways the Adam and Eve of the NSA, Elizebeth's story, incredibly, has never been told. In The Woman Who Smashed Codes, Jason Fagone chronicles the life of this extraordinary woman, who played an integral role in our nation's history for 40 years. After World War I, Smith used her talents to catch gangsters and smugglers during Prohibition, then accepted a covert mission to discover and expose Nazi spy rings that were spreading like wildfire across South America, advancing ever closer to the United States. As World War II raged, Elizabeth fought a highly classified battle of wits against Hitler's Reich, cracking multiple versions of the Enigma machine used by German spies. Meanwhile, inside an army vault in Washington, William worked furiously to break Purple, the Japanese version of Enigma - and eventually succeeded, at a terrible cost to his personal life. Fagone unveils America's code-breaking history through the prism of Smith's life, bringing into focus the unforgettable events and colorful personalities that would help shape modern intelligence. Blending the lively pace and compelling detail that are the hallmarks of Erik Larson's best sellers with the atmosphere and intensity of The Imitation Game, The Woman Who Smashed Codes is riveting popular history at its finest. PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.
©2017 Jason Fagone (P)2017 HarperCollins Publishers
Nefertiti
Summary
Nefertiti and her younger sister, Mutnodjmet, have been raised in a powerful family that has provided wives to the rulers of Egypt for centuries. Ambitious, charismatic, and beautiful, Nefertiti is destined to marry Amunhotep, an unstable young pharaoh. It is hoped by all that her strong personality will temper the young Amunhotep's heretical desires. From the moment of her arrival in Thebes, Nefertiti is beloved by the people. But as she turns her attention to producing a son, she fails to see those plotting against her husband's rule. The only person wise enough to recognize the shift in political winds is Mutnodjmet. Observant and contemplative, Mutnodjmet has never shared her sister's desire for power. Her greatest hope is to share her life with the general who has won her heart. But as Nefertiti learns of the precariousness of her reign, she declares that her sister must remain at court and marry for political gain, not love. To achieve her independence, Mutnodjmet must defy her sister while also remaining loyal to her family. Love, betrayal, political unrest, plague, and religious conflict: Nefertiti brings ancient Egypt to life in vivid detail. Fast-paced and historically accurate, it is the dramatic story of two unforgettable women living through a remarkable period in history.
©2007 Michelle Moran (P)2007 Books on Tape
Cajun Fried Felony
Summary
Venus Thibodeaux had a reputation for being trouble. Some said she started at birth. When she finally left Sinful shortly after turning 18, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. When she blew back into town four years later, no one was happy about her return. She immediately launched into her same old scams, picking off Sinful residents with ease before disappearing again as quickly as she’d appeared. Everyone assumed she’d headed back to New Orleans. But when an accident at the annual Thanksgiving Turkey Run uncovers her body, everyone Venus took for a ride becomes a suspect. The man at the top of that list sees the writing on the wall and hires Fortune to figure out who killed Venus, before he goes to prison for a murder he didn’t commit. Fortune, Ida Belle, and Gertie start poking around into Venus’ complicated life, hoping to find the killer. And to solve their first official case.
©2019 Jana DeLeon (P)2019 Audible, Inc.
America's First Daughter
Summary
In a compelling, richly researched novel that draws from thousands of letters and original sources, best-selling authors Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamoie tell the fascinating, untold story of Thomas Jefferson's eldest daughter, Martha "Patsy" Jefferson Randolph - a woman who kept the secrets of our most enigmatic founding father and shaped an American legacy. From her earliest days, Patsy Jefferson knows that though her father loves his family dearly, his devotion to his country runs deeper still. As Thomas Jefferson's oldest daughter, she becomes his helpmate, protector, and constant companion in the wake of her mother's death, traveling with him when he becomes American minister to France. It is in Paris, at the glittering court and among the first tumultuous days of revolution, that 15-year-old Patsy learns about her father's troubling liaison with Sally Hemings, a slave girl her own age. Meanwhile Patsy has fallen in love - with her father's protégé, William Short, a staunch abolitionist and ambitious diplomat. Torn between love, principles, and the bonds of family, Patsy questions whether she can choose a life as William's wife and still be a devoted daughter. Her choice will follow her in the years to come to Virginia farmland, Monticello, and even the White House. And as scandal, tragedy, and poverty threaten her family, Patsy must decide how much she will sacrifice to protect her father's reputation, in the process defining not just his political legacy but that of the nation he founded.
©2016 Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamoie (P)2016 HarperCollins Publishers
The Mueller Report
Summary
The Crucial #1 New York Times Best Seller The only book with exclusive analysis by the Pulitzer Prize-winning staff of The Washington Post, and the most complete and authoritative available. Includes a PDF of documents and other reference materials. Listen to the findings of the Special Counsel’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, complete with accompanying analysis by the Post reporters who’ve covered the story from the beginning. This edition from The Washington Post, Scribner, and Simon & Schuster Audio contains: The long-awaited report An introduction by The Washington Post titled “A President, a Prosecutor, and the Protection of American Democracy” A timeline of the major events of the Special Counsel’s investigation from May 2017, when Robert Mueller was appointed, to the present day A guide to individuals involved, including in the Special Counsel’s Office, the Department of Justice, the FBI, the Trump Campaign, the White House, the Trump legal defense team, and the Russians Key documents in the Special Counsel’s investigation, including filings pertaining to General Michael T. Flynn, Paul Manafort, Michael Cohen, Roger Stone, and the Russian internet operation in St. Petersburg. Each document is introduced and explained by Washington Post reporters. One of the most urgent and important investigations ever conducted, the Mueller inquiry focuses on Donald Trump, his presidential campaign, and Russian interference in the 2016 election, and draws on the testimony of dozens of witnesses and the work of some of the country’s most seasoned prosecutors. The special counsel’s investigation looms as a turning point in American history. The Mueller Report is essential listening for all citizens concerned about the fate of the presidency and the future of our democracy. PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
©2019 The Washington Post (P)2019 Simon & Schuster Audio
Marilla of Green Gables
Summary
A bold, heartfelt tale of life at Green Gables...before Anne: A marvelously entertaining and moving historical novel, set in rural Prince Edward Island in the 19th century, that imagines the young life of spinster Marilla Cuthbert and the choices that will open her life to the possibility of heartbreak - and unimaginable greatness. Plucky and ambitious, Marilla Cuthbert is 13 years old when her world is turned upside down. Her beloved mother dies in childbirth, and Marilla suddenly must bear the responsibilities of a farm wife: cooking, sewing, keeping house, and overseeing the day-to-day life of Green Gables with her brother, Matthew, and father, Hugh. In Avonlea - a small, tight-knit farming town on a remote island - life holds few options for farm girls. Her one connection to the wider world is Aunt Elizabeth "Izzy" Johnson, her mother’s sister, who managed to escape from Avonlea to the bustling city of St. Catharines. An opinionated spinster, Aunt Izzy’s talent as a seamstress has allowed her to build a thriving business and make her own way in the world. Emboldened by her aunt, Marilla dares to venture beyond the safety of Green Gables and discovers new friends and new opportunities. Joining the Ladies Aid Society, she raises funds for an orphanage run by the Sisters of Charity in nearby Nova Scotia that secretly serves as a way station for runaway slaves from America. Her budding romance with John Blythe, the charming son of a neighbor, offers her a possibility of future happiness - Marilla is in no rush to trade one farm life for another. She soon finds herself caught up in the dangerous work of politics and abolition - jeopardizing all she cherishes, including her bond with her dearest John Blythe. Now, Marilla must face a reckoning between her dreams of making a difference in the wider world and the small-town reality of life at Green Gables.
©2018 Sarah McCoy (P)2018 HarperCollins Publishers
The Real Lolita
Summary
2019 Anthony Award
2019 Arthur Ellis Award
2019 Macavity Award - Best Nonfiction
A gripping true-crime investigation of the 1948 abduction of Sally Horner and how it inspired Vladimir Nabokov's classic novel Lolita.
Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita is one of the most beloved and notorious novels of all time, selling over 60 million copies worldwide to date. Yet very few of its readers know that the subject of the novel was derived from a real-life case: the 1948 abduction of 11-year-old Sally Horner.
Weaving together suspenseful crime narrative, cultural and social history, and literary investigation, The Real Lolita tells Sally Horner's full story for the very first time. Drawing upon extensive investigations, legal documents, old news stories, public records, and interviews with remaining relatives, Sarah Weinman establishes with authority how much Nabokov knew of the Sally Horner case and the efforts he took to disguise that knowledge during the process of writing and publishing Lolita. As she walks us through Sally's story, Weinman takes us on an intimate and panoramic tour of mid-century America, from Sally's home in Camden, New Jersey, to her place of rescue in California, and back to the East Coast again.
The story of Sally Horner echoes the stories of countless girls and women who never had the chance to speak for themselves. By diving deeper in the publication history of Lolita and restoring Sally to her rightful place in the lore of the novel's creation, The Real Lolita casts a new light on the dark inspiration for a modern classic.
©2018 Sarah Weinman (P)2018 Knopf Canada
The Chicken Sisters
Summary
Instant New York Times Best Seller A Reese's Book Club Pick "A charming, hilarious, feel-good story about the kind of bonds and rivalries only sisters can share. Also, a great present for your sister for the holidays!!" (Reese Witherspoon) Three generations. Two chicken shacks. One recipe for disaster. In tiny Merinac, Kansas, Chicken Mimi's and Chicken Frannie's have spent a century vying to serve up the best fried chicken in the state - and the legendary feud between their respective owners, the Moores and the Pogociellos, has lasted just as long. No one feels the impact more than 35-year-old widow Amanda Moore, who grew up working for her mom at Mimi's before scandalously marrying Frank Pogociello and changing sides to work at Frannie's. Tired of being caught in the middle, Amanda sends an SOS to Food Wars, the reality TV restaurant competition that promises $100,000 to the winner. But in doing so, she launches both families out of the frying pan and directly into the fire.... The last thing Brooklyn-based organizational guru Mae Moore, Amanda's sister, wants is to go home to Kansas. But when her career implodes, helping the fading Mimi's look good on Food Wars becomes Mae's best chance to reclaim the limelight - even if doing so pits her against Amanda and Frannie's. Yet when family secrets become public knowledge, the sisters must choose: Will they fight with each other, or for their heritage?
©2020 KJ Dell'Antonia (P)2020 Penguin Audio
Yesterday's Gone: Season Six
Summary
The wait is over. On October 15, humanity went missing. A handful of scattered survivors woke up to find the world empty of friends, family, and neighbors. Now, they are home. But they're not alone. The Darkness has killed nearly everyone on the planet. But it is no longer the biggest threat to humanity. THERE IS SOMETHING ELSE. One final battle. One last shot to save the world. Can this band of survivors overcome an even greater threat before all is lost? In the stunning conclusion to the best-selling Yesterday’s Gone series, Sean Platt and David W. Wright challenge everything you thought you knew. Warning: This book is intended for mature audiences and contains disturbing and potentially offensive material. The full cast includes Ray Chase, R.C. Bray, Cassandra Campbell, Adam Verner, Em Eldridge, Tamara Marston, Brian Holsopple, James Patrick Cronin, Scott Aiello, Tara Sands, Christopher Gebauer, and John Wray.
©2015 Sean Platt and David Wright (P)2018 Podium Publishing
The Heretic Queen
Summary
In ancient Egypt, a forgotten princess must overcome her family's past and remake history. The winds of change are blowing through Thebes. A devastating palace fire has killed the 18th Dynasty's royal family, all with the exception of Nefertari, the niece of the reviled former queen, Nefertiti. The girl's deceased family has been branded as heretical, and no one in Egypt will speak their names. A relic of a previous reign, Nefertari is pushed aside, an unimportant princess left to run wild in the palace. But this changes when she is taken under the wing of the Pharaoh's aunt, then brought to the Temple of Hathor, where she is educated in a manner befitting a future queen. Soon Nefertari catches the eye of the Crown Prince, and despite her family's history, they fall in love and wish to marry. Yet all of Egypt opposes this union between the rising star of a new dynasty and the fading star of an old, heretical one. While political adversity sets the country on edge, Nefertari becomes the wife of Ramesses the Great. Destined to be the most powerful Pharaoh in Egypt, he is also the man who must confront the most famous exodus in history. Sweeping in scope and meticulous in detail, The Heretic Queen is a novel of passion and power, heartbreak and redemption.
©2008 Michelle Moran (P)2008 Books on Tape
True Refuge
Summary
How do you cope when facing life-threatening illness, family conflict, faltering relationships, old trauma, obsessive thinking, overwhelming emotion, or inevitable loss? If you're like most people, chances are you react with fear and confusion, falling back on timeworn strategies: anger, self-judgment, and addictive behaviors. Though these old, conditioned attempts to control our life may offer fleeting relief, ultimately they leave us feeling isolated and mired in pain. There is another way. Beneath the turbulence of our thoughts and emotions exists a profound stillness, a silent awareness capable of limitless love. Tara Brach, author of the award-winning Radical Acceptance, calls this awareness our true refuge, because it is available to every one of us, at any moment, no exceptions. In this book, Brach offers a practical guide to finding our inner sanctuary of peace and wisdom in the midst of difficulty. Based on a fresh interpretation of the three classic Buddhist gateways to freedom - truth, love, and awareness - True Refuge shows us the way not just to heal our suffering, but also to cultivate our capacity for genuine happiness. Through spiritual teachings, guided meditations, and inspirational stories of people who discovered loving presence during times of great struggle, Brach invites us to connect more deeply with our own inner life, one another, and the world around us. True Refuge is essential listening for anyone encountering hardship or crisis; anyone dedicated to a path of spiritual awakening. The book reminds us of our own innate intelligence and goodness, making possible an enduring trust in ourselves and our lives. We realize that what we seek is within us, and regardless of circumstances, "there is always a way to take refuge in a healing and liberating presence".
©2013 Tara Brach (P)2013 Tantor
Homicide in Hardcover
Summary
Murder is always a bestseller… first in the new bibliophile mystery series! The streets of San Francisco would be lined with hardcovers if rare book expert Brooklyn Wainwright had her way. And her mentor wouldn't be lying in a pool of his own blood on the eve of a celebration for his latest book restoration. With his final breath he leaves Brooklyn a cryptic message, and gives her a priceless - and supposedly cursed - copy of Goethe's Faust for safekeeping. Brooklyn suddenly finds herself accused of murder and theft, thanks to the humorless - but attractive - British security officer who finds her kneeling over the body. Now she has to read the clues left behind by her mentor if she is going to restore justice.
©2009 Kathleen Beaver (P)2010 Audible, Inc.
The Memory Box
Summary
What would you do if you googled yourself and uncovered something shocking? In this gripping psychological thriller, a group of privileged suburban moms amuse themselves by googling everyone in town, digging up dirt to fuel thorny gossip. Caroline Thompson, devoted mother of two, sticks to the moral high ground and attempts to avoid these women. She's relieved to hear her name appears only three times, citing her philanthropy. Despite being grateful that she has nothing to hide, a delayed pang of insecurity prods Caroline to google her maiden name - which none of the others know. The hits cascade like a tsunami. Caroline's terrified by what she reads. An obituary for her sister, JD? That's absurd. With every click the revelations grow more alarming. They can't be right. She'd know. Caroline is hurled into a state of paranoia, upending her blissful family life, desperate to prove these allegations false before someone discovers they're true. The disturbing underpinnings of The Memory Box expose a story of deceit, misconceptions, and an obsession with control. With its twists, taut pacing, and psychological tenor, Natiello's pause-resisting suspense cautions: Be careful what you search for.
©2014 Eva Lesko Natiello (P)2016 Blackstone Audio, Inc.
Gators and Garters
Summary
Til death do us part? Ida Belle, Fortune, and Gertie are gearing up for the big day - Ida Belle’s wedding to Walter - but when the caterer goes missing just a week before the big day, it puts a huge black mark on the joyous celebration. Molly Broussard is no stranger to being in the limelight, so when the former cage fighter turned in her boxing gloves for pots and pans, everyone who knew her was surprised...until they ate her food. From all appearances, Molly took her boat out that day and simply never returned. An extensive search of the bayous finally produces the boat, but there is no sign of Molly. With no evidence of foul play, Sinful residents are ready to conclude that this is simply another tragic and all-too-common accident. Nickel Bordelon spent half of his time in trouble and the other half paying for it. But one thing he knows for certain - Molly was murdered. When he asks Fortune to take the case, she isn’t sure there’s anything to find, but his emotional plea has her agreeing to look into it. As Swamp Team 3 begin their investigation, they find more layers to Molly’s disappearance than in Ida Belle’s wedding cake.
©2020 Jana DeLeon (P)2020 Audible, Inc.