Audiobook Version of Lust, Money & Murder Released

I'm excited to announce that Lust, Money & Murder Books 1, 2 & 3 is now available in audio format (unabridged) on Audible, Audible UK,  Amazon USA, Amazon UK and iTunes...and just in time for the holiday season, too!

This was my first adventure into the wondrous land of audiobooks, and the road was a rocky one, indeed.  I tried working with three different narrators before I was lucky enough to discover Sue Sharp, a professional voice artist from L.A.  The problem with Lust, Money & Murder, I learned, was the unusually wide range of accents required.  If you've read the series, you know that I have characters who speak in a number of different foreign accents (Italian, Irish, Russian, French, and Bulgarian) and regional American accents (Texas, Midwestern, Brooklyn, and Pittsburgh).  Sue happens to be an expert at accents and handled them all beautifully.

Even though I've listened to a number of audiobooks before, I found that listening to my own work in that format was a new experience. After Sue's first auditions, I began to understand that an audiobook is an art form in its own right, not quite a movie or stage play but not far off, either. A good audiobook narrator must also be a skilled actor and "play" all the roles in the story, must give each character not only a different voice, but a different emotional attitude. What I began to see was that an audiobook is an interpretation of a novel and adds a spin that is unique to the  person doing the narrating. 

 "I followed Elaine Brogan from her childhood, through teenage dreams and optimism, to adulthood's devastating heartaches," says Sue.  "Voicing her transformation was fun and challenging."  Sue also says she particularly enjoyed voicing the character of Tony, Giorgio Cattoretti's Italian cook.  "What a fun, happy, giving character! Reading Tony was a hoot-and-a-half!  Overall, this was a very exciting project, start to finish."

Listening to Sue's interpretation was a heady experience for me personally, and I could not be more pleased with the result.  Even though I have obviously read this book myself countless times during the creation and editng processes, I found myself sitting on the edge of my seat much of the time as I listened to the finished product, totally engaged with the story, even though I already knew what would happen next!

So, even if you already have read the Lust, Money & Murder series, I think you will enjoy listening to the audiobook and will like Sue's narration.  If you've never listened to an audiobook before, this might be a good time to give it a try.

One cool feature is that if you buy the Kindle book or already have a copy, you can get the audiobook from Amazon at a discounted price and then switch back and forth between the two.  Through some technical magic, your place is kept in the story.   Amazon calls this "Whispersync for Voice."  This feature has not been added yet for Lust, Money & Murder but should be there in a few days.  If you want me to let you know when that happens, simply drop me an email by replying to this newsletter.

Note:  if you have a book blog and would like to review the Lust, Money & Murder audiobook, a free review copy can usually be arranged.