The Cavanaugh House (Unabridged‪)‬

I really enjoyed listening to this book on tape. It was my first book on tape. I liked the sound of Amy McFadden's voice. She did a nice job making each character have a unique voice. I loved Elizabeth Meyette's style of writing. She has a lovely way with descriptions and humor. I am not a fan of ghost stories...I was totally freaked out when I watched The Sixth Sense years ago and avoid that topic and genre. This story was beautifully told in a non-spooky way. It was a great mystery.

The Cavanaugh House by Elizabeth Meyette is true to the genre, so if you want a cozy mystery with a dash of paranormal (a ghost – not a spoiler), the you’ll enjoy listening to this novel. Jesse Graham, devastated by a messy engagement breakup, retreats to a house left to her by her aunt. With the help of her childhood friend, Maggie, a nun, she tries to start a new life. However, a restless spirit, a possible suicide or murder, family secrets and several possible love interests keep stirring the pot. Layer upon layer of secrets and lies combined with an attempt on Jesse’s life kept me listening. The story line is, of course, predictable, it follows what I think is an outlined genre format and this is probably what most listeners expect. But there are enough twists and turns and interesting characters to hold your interest. Some of the cliché characters (the ‘mean beyond words’ nun, for one) was a bit annoying, but their scenes were blessedly few.

The setting, in the Finger Lakes area of New York was interesting and pleasant and well defined. I did find the climax of the mystery was unexpected, which was refreshing. Endings are often difficult and contrived, but this one wasn’t and for that I was grateful. All the ends were woven in and tidy, happy of course The inserts of women’s lib and how men should address women seemed kind of added in and seemed unnecessary, and at times I was embarrassed for the character’s trying to dance around Jesse’s demands for the proper ‘terms’ like ‘woman’ instead of the exterminator’s ‘little lady’. I know it was a different time, but insisting that every male in town change their ways when so many other scary and serious events were going on just didn’t work for me. The obligatory love interest was well done, but as always, they didn’t get off to a friendly start, and had their issues, but we get the idea that true love will follow after the dust settles. I did find the climax of the mystery was a bit of a surprise which was quite refreshing.

The narrator, Amy McFadden, has a pleasant voice and does a good job with the dialogue, but her narrative takes on a ‘valley girl’ tone that I found distracting, especially considering this story is set in the late 1960’s, when such a speech pattern didn’t exist, unless maybe you lived in that valley? But it was always easy to tell who was speaking and to follow the conversations, and with the many characters, especially male character voices, that was a coup.

Audiobook was provided for review by the author.

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