New cozy mystery!

I have a new cozy mystery now available on Audible.  This is the first in a new series, The Realtor Mystery Series, from Kathleen Walls and is called The Tenant from Hell.  This was a lot of fun to narrate.

"It's usually just routine for Casey Clark, property manager at Peller Realty. When a tenant refuses to pay rent, just evict and move on. Not so with the tenant from Hell. He draws Casey into murder, drug rings, ghosts, Indians, and a hectic trip to Hell in Georgia.

Her worst problem of having to deal with her psychic cat Dixie not getting along with Casey's pirate boyfriend's parrot changes into scrambling to stay alive. 

Excerpt:

You might think a property manager at a large real estate firm might have a dull job. Let me tell you, it's not. Tenants can be some weird characters and owners not much better. I had a feeling today would not be like any other. I had just gotten off the phone with a slightly hysterical lady who wanted Peller to manage her property.

"Right now," she insisted. "You need to get over here quick before Mike kills him." 

The “kills him” part warned me I should not touch this one. The business side screamed, “Go get it before she calls Sunny Side Realty or one of your other rivals.” 

Naturally, I wanted that 20 percent commission. Actually I only get half of it; my broker, Lisa Lee Loren, claims the other half between her and the company owner, J. M. Peller. 

Among us agents, we thought the J. M. stood for “Jesus” and “Mary” as he played the religious card to the hilt. He was a deacon in his church in Jacksonville, and wanted to give the impression he would never do anything evil. 

He didn’t. He had a hatchet man, Dwight Kickum, who did the dirty work."

To listen to the sample and/or purchase the book, head to Audible here. 

 

A new solo by me and another full-cast production from The Online Stage!

My latest solo recording went on sale recently on Audible.  A terrific biography by Victoria Amador:  Olivia de Havilland: Lady Triumphant was produced via University Press Audiobooks.

"Legendary actress and two-time Academy Award winner Olivia de Havilland is best known for her role as Melanie Wilkes in Gone with the Wind (1939). She often inhabited characters who were delicate, elegant, and refined. At the same time, she was a survivor with a fierce desire to direct her own destiny on and off the screen. She fought and won a lawsuit against Warner Bros. over a contract dispute that changed the studio contract system forever. She is also noted for her long feud with her fellow actress and sister Joan Fontaine, a feud that lasted from 1975 until Fontaine's death in 2013.

Victoria Amador utilizes extensive interviews and 40 years of personal correspondence with de Havilland to present an in-depth look at the life and career of this celebrated actress. Amador begins with de Havilland's early life; she was born in Japan in 1916 to affluent British parents who had aspirations of success and fortune in faraway countries, and her theatrical ambitions began at a young age. The book then follows her career as she skyrocketed to star status, becoming one of the most well-known starlets in Tinseltown. Listeners are given an inside look at her love affairs with iconic cinema figures such as James Stewart and John Huston and her onscreen partnership with Errol Flynn. de Havilland became the first woman to serve as the president of the Cannes Film Festival in 1965 and remained active but selective in film and television until 1988."

To listen to the sample and/or purchase the book, head to Audible here.  

 

The Online Stage has been very busy, too!  I played one of the Furies in this production of Blood Guilt: Orestes on Trial adapted by Tampa's own Bob Gonzalez.  It's always fun when you're encouraged to scream your head off in a performance!

"Blood Guilt: Orestes on Trial freely adapted by Bob Gonzalez from The Oresteia by Aeschylus

Performed by The Online Stage

A modern adaptation of The Oresteia of Aeschylus, the only surviving ancient Athenian trilogy. Across three plays, Greece's first major playwright tells the story of the cursed House of Atreus, where the bloody sins of the family's ancestors are visited upon four succeeding generations. After a series of horrific past crimes by his ancestors, Orestes is driven to matricide and for that is relentlessly pursued by the Furies, underworld demons intent on revenging the spirit of his mother. He flees Argos for sanctuary at Athens, where the city's patron goddess, Athena, decides to establish the first tribunal - a human jury. Apollo, the god of Truth, defends Orestes against the vengeful Furies. Faithful to the spirit of the original, this two-act version offers a contemporary perspective on the dilemma of conflicted loyalties."

To listen to the sample or purchase this one, head to Audible here.