Ron McLarty has narrated 87 audiobooks on Listento.it by 49 authors, with an average listener rating of 4.6★ across 4,343 ratings. The most-rated is American Gods: The Tenth Anniversary Edition (A Full Cast Production).
Pagan Babies
Summary
Father Terry Dunn thought he'd seen everything on the mean streets of Detroit, but that was before he went on a little retreat to Rwanda to evade a tax-fraud indictment. Now the whiskey-drinking, Nine Inch Nails T-shirt-wearing padre is back trying to hustle up a score to help the little orphans of Rwanda. But the fund-raising gets complicated when a former tattletale cohort pops up on Terry's tail. And then there's the lovely Debbie Dewey. A freshly sprung ex-con turned stand-up comic, Debbie needs some fast cash, too, to settle an old score. Now they're in together for a bigger payoff than either could finagle alone. After all, it makes sense... unless Father Terry is working a con of his own.
©2000 Elmore Leonard, Inc. (P)2000 Recorded Books Inc.
Miracles and Massacres
Summary
Thomas Edison was a bad guy and bad guys usually lose in the end. World War II radio host Tokyo Rose was branded as a traitor by the U.S. government and served time in prison. In reality, she was a hero to many. Twenty U.S. soldiers received medals of honor at the Battle of Wounded Knee - yet it wasn't a battle at all; it was a massacre. Paul Revere's midnight ride was nothing compared to the ride made by a guy named Jack whom you've probably never heard of. History is about so much more than memorizing facts. It is, as more than half of the word suggests, about the story. And, told in the right way, it is the greatest one ever written: Good and evil, triumph and tragedy, despicable acts of barbarism and courageous acts of heroism. The things you've never learned about our past will shock you. The reason why gun control is so important to government elites can be found in a story about Athens that no one dares teach. Not the city in ancient Greece, but the one in 1946 Tennessee. The power of an individual who trusts his gut can be found in the story of the man who stopped the twentieth hijacker from being part of 9/11. And a lesson on what happens when an all-powerful president is in need of positive headlines is revealed in a story about eight saboteurs who invaded America during World War II. Miracles and Massacres is history as you've never heard it told. It's incredible events that you never knew existed. And it's stories are so important and relevant to today that you won't have to ask, Why didn't they teach me this? You will instantly know. If the truth shall set you free, then your freedom begins on at the start of this audiobook. By the end, your understanding of the lies and half-truths you've been taught may change, but your perception of who we are as Americans and where our country is headed definitely will.
©2013 Mercury Radio Arts, Inc. All rights reserved. (P)2013 Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved.
Mercy Watson #4
Summary
Mercy's in the pink for her fourth adventure! When the Watsons decide to zip their porcine wonder into a formfitting princess dress for Halloween, complete with a tiara, they are certain that Mercy will be beautiful beyond compare. Mercy is equally certain she likes the sound of trick-or-TREATING and can picture those piles of buttered toast already. As for the Lincoln Sisters next door, how could they know that their cat would get into the act and lead them all on a Halloween "parade" of hysterical proportions? Kate DiCamillo's beguiling pig is back in a tale full of treats, tricky turns, hijinks, and high humor.
©2007 Kate DiCamillo (P)2007 Random House Inc. Listening Library, an imprint of the Random House Audio Publishing Group
The Mercy Watson Collection
Summary
An exciting new series from Newbery Award-winning author Kate DiCamillo! Mercy Watson to the Rescue To Mr. and Mrs. Watson, Mercy is not just a pig, she's a porcine wonder. And to the portly and good-natured Mercy, the Watsons are an excellent source of buttered toast, not to mention that buttery-toasty feeling she gets when she snuggles into bed with them. This is not, however, so good for the Watsons' bed. BOOM! CRACK! Welcome to the wry and endearing world of Mercy Watson. Mercy Watson Goes for a Ride Mr. and Mrs. Watson's porcine wonder, Mercy, loves nothing more than a ride in the car. It takes a fair amount of nudging and bribing and a "You are such a good sport, darling" to get the portly pig out of the driver's seat, but once the convertible is on the road, Mercy loves the feel of the wind tickling her ears and sun on her snout.
©2006 Kate DiCamillo (P)2006 Random House, Inc. Listening Library, an imprint of the Random House Audio Publishing Group
Mercy Watson #3
Summary
Leroy Ninker is a small man with a big dream: he wants to be a cowboy, but for now, he's just a thief. In fact, Leroy is robbing the Watsons' kitchen right this minute! As he drags the toaster across the counter ( screeeeeech) and drops it into his bag ( clannngggg), little does he know that a certain large pig who loves toast with a great deal of butter is stirring from sleep. Even less could he guess that a comedy of errors (not to mention the buttery sweets in his pocket) will soon lead this little man on the wild and raucous rodeo ride he's always dreamed of! Nosy neighbors, astonished firemen, a puzzled policeman, and the return of the ever-doting Watsons make for a new tongue-in-snout adventure about Kate DiCamillo's delightfully single-minded pig.
©2006 Kate DiCamillo (P)2007 Random House Inc. Listening Library, an imprint of the Random House Audio Publishing Group
Three Stations
Summary
A passenger train hurtling through the night. An unwed teenage mother headed to Moscow to seek a new life. A cruel-hearted soldier looking furtively, forcibly, for sex. An infant disappearing without a trace. So begins Martin Cruz Smith’s masterful Three Stations, a suspenseful, intricately constructed novel featuring Investigator Arkady Renko. For the last three decades, beginning with the trailblazing Gorky Park, Renko (and Smith) have captivated readers with detective tales set in Russia. Renko is the ironic, brilliantly observant cop who finds solutions to heinous crimes when other lawmen refuse to even acknowledge that crimes have occurred. He uses his biting humor and intuitive leaps to fight not only wrongdoers but the corrupt state apparatus as well. In Three Stations, Renko’s skills are put to their most severe test. Though he has been technically suspended from the prosecutor’s office for once again turning up unpleasant truths, he strives to solve a last case: the death of an elegant young woman whose body is found in a construction trailer on the perimeter of Moscow’s main rail hub. It looks like a simple drug overdose to everyone—except to Renko, whose examination of the crime scene turns up some inexplicable clues, most notably an invitation to Russia’s premier charity ball, the billionaires’ Nijinksy Fair. Thus a sordid death becomes interwoven with the lifestyles of Moscow’s rich and famous, many of whom are clinging to their cash in the face of Putin’s crackdown on the very oligarchs who placed him in power. Renko uncovers a web of death, money, madness. and a kidnapping that threatens the woman he is coming to love and the lives of children he is desperate to protect. In Three Stations, Smith produces a complex and haunting vision of an emergent Russia’s secret underclass of street urchins, greedy thugs, and a bureaucracy still paralyzed by power and fear.
©2010 Titanic Productions. All rights reserved. (P)2010 Simon & Schuster
Mercy Watson to the Rescue
Summary
To Mr. and Mrs. Watson, Mercy is not just a pig, she's a porcine wonder. And to the portly and good-natured Mercy, the Watsons are an excellent source of buttered toast, not to mention that buttery-toast feeling she gets when she snuggles into bed with them. This is not, however, so good for the Watsons' bed. BOOM! CRACK! Welcome to the wry and endearing world of Mercy Watson.
©2005 Kate DiCamillo (P)2006 Random House, Inc.
Ten Thousand Islands
Summary
Author of best-selling mysteries including Mangrove Coast, Randy Wayne White sets his novels in the Florida waters he knows so well - he is a veteran fishing guide and contributor to Outside magazine. Ten Thousand Islands is the seventh in the Doc Ford series. Fifteen years ago, a teenage girl found an ancient gold medallion on a small island off the Florida gulf coast. Soon she was having nightmares and later was found hanging from a tree. Although the death was ruled a suicide, the girl's mother, Della, is now sure there was foul play. Her trailer has been vandalized, and her daughter's coffin raided. When Della comes to Doc for help, the mysterious gold medallion plunges the Florida marine biologist into a perilous search for answers. Filled with suspense and highly charged atmosphere, Ten Thousand Islands received rave reviews from critics. Ron McLarty's dramatic narration highlights its gripping mixture of ancient ritual and modern evil.
©2000 Randy Wayne White (P)2005 Recorded Books, LLC
Money, Money, Money
Summary
It is Christmas in the city, but it isn't the giving season. A retired Gulf War pilot, a careless second-story man, a pair of angry Mexicans, and an equally shady pair of Secret Service agents are in town after a large stash of money, and no one is interested in sharing.The detectives at the 87th are already busy for the holidays. Steve Carella and Fat Ollie Weeks catch the squeal when the lions in the city zoo get an unauthorized feeding of a young woman's body. And then there's a trash can stuffed with a book salesman carrying a P-38 Walther and a wad of big bills.The bad bills and the dead book salesman lead to the offices of a respected publisher, Wadsworth and Dodds. This is good news for Fat Ollie, because he's working on a police novel - one written by a real cop - and he's sure it's going to be a best seller.Ed McBain returns to his legendary 87th Precinct with a suspenseful story of greed, conflict, and the eternal search for money, money, money.
©2001 HUI Corp., All Rights Reserved (P)2001 Simon & Schuster Inc., AUDIOWORKS Is an Imprint of Simon & Schuster Audio Division, Simon & Schuster Inc.
American Studies
Summary
What was the real significance of William James's breakdown? Of the anti-Semitism in T.S. Eliot's writing? What's the connection between Larry Flynt's Hustler and Jerry Falwell's evangelism? Why doesn't Norman Mailer "get" Madonna? And who else but Louis Menand would describe former Vice President Al Gore as "a holist, a post-postmodernist, and a goo-goo"? At each step in his latest journey through American culture history, Menand has an original point to make. Like The Metaphysical Club, American Studies (the second volume in a projected three-volume intellectual history of America) is game and detached, with a strong curiosity about the reasons ideas insinuate themselves into the culture at large. Menand explores the rise and fall of the TV network, the importance of Richard Wright, Pauline Kael, and Rolling Stone, and why we dropped the bomb. He lends an ear to Al Gore in the White House as the Starr Report is presented to the public. And he makes us look more closely at our world and ourselves.
©2002 Louis Menand (P)2002 Highbridge Company
Known Dead
Summary
Donald Harstad, a 26-year police veteran, has firsthand knowledge of small-town police departments. This background enables him to create the authentic details, realistic dialogue, and suspenseful twists in Known Dead. Deputy Sheriff Carl Houseman is dozing in his cruiser near parklands in Nation County, Iowa, when he hears popping sounds. Immediately, his radio screams to life with a call for assistance. What started as a simple raid on a marijuana patch has erupted into high-powered gunfire. As the air clears, two men are known dead. But who was firing, and what else are they protecting? Houseman will find few heroes as he follows a convoluted trail that leads from the marijuana plants to an elusive international operator. By the time the case is closed, “known dead” has taken on a new meaning for him. Ron McLarty’s dramatic narration highlights Houseman’s increasingly ironic attitude toward life and his profession.
©1999 Donald Harstad (P)2000 Recorded Books, LLC
The Snow Angel
Summary
A heartwarming novel from Glenn Beck, the #1 New York Times best-selling author of The Christmas Sweater and phenomenally popular radio and television host. Rachel Price’s one happy memory from her childhood is of playing outside with her father, Mitch, on a cold and snowy day. In that moment he took her hands in his and called her his angel. She felt safe, loved, and protected. Rachel’s mother dies in a car crash a few years later - a sudden and unresolved ending to a complicated relationship. Mitch’s reaction to certain realities surrounding the death pushes Rachel away and confirms her fear that Mitch never truly loved her at all. Years later, Rachel’s daughter, Lily, is the only light in her dark life. Rachel is consumed by an abusive marriage but too afraid to escape. On Christmas Eve, Rachel’s husband raises a hand to Lily in a moment of aggression that finally snaps Rachel out of her docile state. She realizes immediately that she must protect her daughter in ways her own parents didn’t protect her and remove Lily from the situation. Through the help of an old and dear friend, Rachel has a safe place to go, but first, she must say goodbye to her father. As the snow falls on this Christmas Eve, Rachel learns that it’s never too late to start over. The Snow Angel is a tale about family, forgiveness, and learning to treasure our memories while allowing ourselves sto move forward.
©2011 Mercury Radio Arts, Inc. All rights reserved. (P)2011 Simon & Schuster, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Fat Ollie's Book
Summary
Murders happen every day in the big bad city. They're not such a big deal, you know. Even when the victim is a city councilman as well-known as Lester Henderson.But this is the first time Fat Ollie Weeks of the 88th Precinct has written a novel, ah yes. Called Report to the Commissioner, it follows a cunning detective named Olivia Wesley Watts, who, apart from being female and slim, is rather like Fat Ollie himself. While Ollie's responding to the squeal about the dead councilman, his leather dispatch case is stolen from the back of his car - and in it, the only copy of his precious manuscript.Joined by Carella and Kling from the neighboring 87th Precinct, Ollie investigates the homicide with all the exquisite crudeness, insensitivity, and determination for which he is famous. But the theft of his first novel fills Ollie with a renewed passion for old-fashioned detective work.Following the exploits of one of Ed McBain's most beloved detectives, this lively and complicated tale - the 52nd in the award-winning 87th Precinct series - is McBain at his best.
©2003 HUI Corp., All Rights Reserved (P)2003 Simon & Schuster Inc., All Rights Reserved, AUDIOWORKS Is an Imprint of Simon & Schuster Audio Division, Simon & Schuster Inc.
The Naked Detective
Summary
Popular crime novelist Laurence Shames consistently draws favorable comparisons to Elmore Leonard and Carl Hiaasen. In his Key West tales, Shames paints vivid, hilarious portraits of the sun-splashed “paradise” he calls home. The retired Pete Amsterdam isn’t really a private investigator. But he has a license, a gun, and a listing in the phone book—all so he can write-off his wine cellar as an “office.” While soaking in his hot tub and rethinking his earlier tennis match, the inevitable blonde in distress comes calling, and Pete is reluctantly pulled into his first case. Feeling trapped by the conventions of detective stories, Pete stumbles his way through the Key West crime scene, hardly realizing the danger he’s in. The Naked Detective is vintage Shames—full of the biting wit, absurd scenarios, and quirky characters that recall his earlier works, such as Scavenger Reef and Mangrove Squeeze. Ron McLarty’s narration captures the off-beat, colorful island and its inhabitants and brings them fully to life.
©2000 Laurence Shames (P)2000 Recorded Books, LLC
Shark River
Summary
Randy Wayne White is a journalist, veteran fishing guide, and author of several nonfiction collections. He also creates superb, best-selling suspense fiction. His novels have received the highest praise from Library Journal and Booklist, and from authors like Carl Hiassen, who says, "Randy Wayne White takes us places that no other Florida mystery writer could hope to find." Marine biologist Doc Ford is spending two easy weeks on luxurious Guava Key compiling data. But when two young women at the resort are attacked, Doc comes to their rescue. In an instant, he is pulled into an international plan of revenge that becomes more deadly with each passing hour. Now, Doc isn’t counting fish--he’s adding up his chances for survival. Shark River’s eye-popping chases, eccentric characters, and taut suspense are all seasoned with a rich, dark humor that heightens the irony of Doc’s predicament. From its astonishing first sentence to the final punchline, this book is sure to grab every listener in its powerful grip.
©2001 Randy Wayne White (P)2001 Recorded Books, LLC
Being George Washington
Summary
If you think you know George Washington, think again. This is the amazing true story of a real-life superhero who wore no cape and possessed no special powers—yet changed the world forever. It's a story about a man whose life reads as if it were torn from the pages of an action novel: Bullet holes through his clothing. Horses shot out from under him. Unimaginable hardship. Disease. Heroism. Spies and double-agents. And, of course, the unmistakable hand of Divine Providence that guided it all. Being George Washington is a whole new way to look at history. You won't simply read about the awful winter spent at Valley Forge—you'll live it right alongside Washington. You'll be on the boat with him crossing the Delaware, in the trenches with him at Yorktown, and standing next to him at the Constitutional Convention as a new republic is finally born. Through these stories you'll not only learn our real history (and how it applies to today), you'll also see how the media and others have distorted our view of it. It's ironic that the best-known fact about George Washington—that he chopped down a cherry tree—is a complete lie. It's even more ironic when you consider that a lie was thought necessary to prove he could not tell one. For all of his heroism and triumphs, Washington's single greatest accomplishment was the man he created in the process: courageous and principled, fair and just, respectful to all. But he was also something else: flawed. It's those flaws that should give us hope for today. After all, if Washington had been perfect, then there would be no way to build another one. That's why this book is not just about being George Washington in 1776, it's about the struggle to be him every single day of our lives. Understanding the way he turned himself from an uneducated farmer into the Indispensable (yet imperfect) Man, is the only way to build a new generation of George Washingtons that can take on the extraordinary challenges that America is once again facing.
©2011 Mercury Radio Arts, Inc. All rights reserved. (P)2011 Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved.
Welcome to Paradise
Summary
Laurence Shames has attracted enthusiastic fans with his Key West novels, which include Florida Straits, Mangrove Squeeze, Scavenger Reef, and Sunburn. Each of these books is a hilarious mixture of zany crimes and offbeat characters. Welcome to Paradise is his best yet. When Al Marracotta, Mafia boss, takes a week’s vacation in Key West, he looks forward to days of sun, sex, and seafood. Alan Tuschman, New Jersey furniture salesman, is a reluctant tourist. He has won a week in Key West for his sales record. But they have something in common: vanity license plates that read BIG AL. So when two goons are sent to ruin Big Al’s vacation, it’s not long before they target the wrong guy. Between the frustrated henchmen and the baffled Als, each chapter grows loonier than the last. And with the addition of a romantic wild card, the winsome Katy Sansone, the tough guys’ schemes are tempered by more tender scenes. Narrator Ron McLarty’s fine performance keeps the action moving at a brisk clip.
©1999 Laurence Shames (P)1999 Recorded Books, LLC
Jesus Out to Sea
Summary
In this moving collection of short stories, James Lee Burke elegantly marries his flair for gripping storytelling with his urbane writing style and complex, fascinating character portraits. The backdrop of the hurricane-ravaged Gulf Coast proves to be a versatile setting for Burke's stories, which cover the scope of the human experience, from love and sex to domestic abuse, to war and death and friendship.
©2007 James Lee Burke. All rights reserved (P)2007 Simon and Schuster Inc. All rights reserved.
Inch by Inch
Summary
To keep from being eaten, a resourceful inchworm measures a robin's tail, a flamingo's neck, a toucan's beak, a heron's legs, and a nightingale's song.
©1995 HarperCollins (P)2006 Weston Woods
Magic Terror
Summary
With Magic Terror Peter Straub, best selling author of Ghost Story and The Talisman (with Stephen King), has written one of the most imaginatively unsettling collections in years. The terrain of these extraordinary stories is marked by brutality, heartbreak, despair, wonder, and an unexpected humor that allows empathy to blossom within the most unlikely contexts."Bunny is Good Bread" takes you into the mind of a small boy trapped in grotesque circumstances to portray the creation of a serial killer in a manner that compels pity, sorrow, comprehension, and grief - as well as judgment. "Hunger and Introduction," narrated by the ghost of a pompous, self-pitying murderer, evokes a profoundly beautiful vision of earthly life, one appreciated far more by the dead than the living. The Award-winning novella "Mr. Clubb and Mr. Cuff," a masterpiece of black comedy, draws upon Melville's "Bartleby the Scrivener" to create a revenge tale in which torture is a moral art and the revenger undergoes a transforming, albeit painful, education.In the words of Mrs. Asch, the visionary narrator of "Ashputtle," "The Main feature of adventure is that it goes forward into unknown country." Straub's devotees will be entranced by what their fearless guide has in store for them. Those as yet uninitiated are in for a harrowing literary journey. Enjoy the ride.
©2000 Peter Straub (P)2000 Random House, Inc. Random House AudioBooks A Division of Random House, Inc.