Mad, Bad and Dead by Sherryl Clark | Audiobook Review

[ad/gifted - I received an audiobook version of this book for the purpose of this review. All thoughts and opinions are my own. This post contains affiliate links.]

Mad, Bad and Dead by Sherryl Clark

Star rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Publisher: Verve

Publication date: 1st September 2022

Blurb:

A dead employee. A missing child. Anonymous phone calls in the dead of night. Judi Westerholme's troubles aren't over yet...

Already struggling to juggle co-running the local pub with her childcare responsibilities for her orphaned niece, Judi does not need life to become any more complicated.

Yet, as usual, complications arrive in spades: she starts receiving threatening, late-night phone calls before discovering one of her employees, Kate, shot dead.

Judi finds herself caught up in a murder investigation, as well as the hunt for the Kate's fourteen year-old daughter, who has been missing since the murder.

Add in the uncertainty of her relationship with Melbourne-based DS Heath and the fact that her estranged mother's nursing home keeps urging her to visit, and Judi might finally be at breaking point.

Review:

Mad, Bad and Dead is part of a series but was the first I'd read by this author. I don't feel like I missed anything but perhaps I would have liked to know a bit more backstory of our main character even though a lot of the gaps were filled.

Set in the fictional town of Candelbark in Australia, Judi runs a pub/bistro with friend Andre. She has a lot going on with the pubs finances, her ill mother and juggling her job and childcare for Mia then she starts receiving threatening telephone calls.

Her best staff member, Kate, doesn't show up for work so Judi calls to her house to find Kate dead in bed after being shot. Kate's fourteen year old daughter Emma has run away. What were they hiding and why doesn't Emma trust the police? Instead of leaving it to the police to investigate, Judi takes an active interest in trying to find out what really happened.

I love a crime thriller where you are trying to piece things together and I was fully invested in this story. I really felt for Judi with everything that was thrown at her and how resilient she was. I will definitely read more by this author. Listening on audio where the narrator had an Australian accent really helped to set the scene too.

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A massive thank you to Verve for having me on the #HotVerveSummer audio tour. You can find more information about the bloggers taking part in the tour in the graphic below.