Dirty Harriet Rides Again is book 2 in Miriam Auerbach’s Dirty Harriet mysteries. Once again, Harriet Horowitz has to kick some serious butt in Boca Raton….after consultation with her friendly local alligator Lana, of course! 🙂

It’s not the first time that Harriet has been at a wedding when a murder occurs. The first time was when she shot her abusive ex-husband. (Well, he did deserve it.)

This time, she is attending the wedding of her gay friends Chuck and Enrique. I won’t tell you who gets killed, and I certainly won’t tell you how Harriet figures out the killer! I will say, though, that the zingers in the book are hysterical, and the singers in the Holy Rollers Motorcycle Club and Gospel Choir provide more than just a little entertainment!

This cozy mystery audiobook runs 5 hours and 36 minutes. It’s a fun listen, especially while poolside or at the beach.

By the way, I was thrilled to learn that author Miriam Auerbach is a finalist in the Best Novel: Cozy/ Traditional category for the 2014 Silver Falchion award! I loved narrating the audiobook of her nominated book DIRTY HARRIET. Congrats to Miriam and Bell Bridge Books on this honor!

 
The next new release really means a lot to me because I published it!

For the first time on Audible on iTunes, I’m proud to present the UNABRIDGED edition of the classic text FANNY HERSELF by renowned American author Edna Ferber.

Due to Amazon/Audible/ACX publishing rules, my audiobook has a different title: Fanny Herself: A Passionate Instinct.

This wonderful, coming-of-age story follows Fanny Brandeis from her childhood in Winnebago, WI into her 20s as a businesswoman in Chicago. Even though the book was written in 1917, many of the themes are still relevant.

Fanny’s mother, a widow, makes a decision about her children’s education that affects all of them throughout their lives. Like many of us, Fanny has to decide how whether she will pursue wealth or her creative dreams. We also wonder whether Fanny will find love.

I have recently discovered Edna Ferber and find that she is a brilliant storyteller.  Ferber won the Pulitzer Prize for Novel in 1925 and may be best known for her book Show Boat, which was adapted into a successful and long-running musical.

Rather than relying on dialogue to progress the story, she offers such vivid descriptions that we feel we are right there with the characters, experiencing the world as they did. Her female characters are strong and assertive, and I could identify with both Fanny and her mother. I was sorry when the story ended!

The book runs 12 hours and 44 minutes, perfect listening for those long drives to and from the beach or rainy weekends.

Ferber originally published this book as a serial story that ran in the April-November 1917 issues of The American Magazine. Check out my companion Kindle ebook which contains the original, beautiful, hand-drawn illustrations that accompanied the magazine segments.

 
I love Edna Ferber’s work so much that I narrated the first of many of her short stories to come:  Cheerful By Request.

As a child, Josie Fifer always spoke in front of crowds and liked to make people laugh. She thought she would be an actress on the stage. However, her life changed in a freak accident.

Can she find happiness and fulfillment in a new career?

Although the story is over 100 years old, it offers an important truth that is still relevant to the modern listener.

The black, the pearls, the theatre marquee, the star, and the mauve — oh, especially, the mauve! — are all important elements of this wonderful short story. I get giddy with delight when I think about how perfectly the cover art and the music in the credits complement the story.

The story runs just over an hour, an ideal length to hear while commuting, cooking, or doing other tasks.

Karen Commins

Karen Commins is an award-winning, professional audiobook narrator, producer, publisher, writer, and leading curator of information about the audiobook industry. In addition to earning a BA in broadcast journalism and MS in computer information systems, Karen has completed extensive specialized training in voiceover and audiobook narration technique, as well as digital audio production. She's also the chief cartographer of NarratorsRoadmap.com.

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