Synopsis:
From Canadian Screen Award winner Ken Cuperus, the creator of Mistletoe Murders, comes the highly anticipated spin-off series, Middlebridge Mysteries, featuring a stellar ensemble cast including Charles Van der Vaart (Outlander) and Mason Temple (Ginny & Georgia). Middlebridge Mysteries takes us back to school and along for a wild ride as Violet finds herself embroiled in unexpected and dangerous situations, with only her wits to protect her.
Middlebridge Mysteries follows Violet Wilner (Anna Cathcart) kicking off her first year at Middlebridge University, living her dream of attending her mom’s alma mater. Inspired by watching her dad, a cop, solve crimes in her hometown, she studies criminology under a renowned but demanding Professor Bellows (Eric McCormack). She has her hands full, juggling her coursework, her social life and her insecurities as she embarks on this next chapter. Between clashes with her roommate, a slow-burn romance, and spending time with her best friend Bonnie, Violet finds herself drawn into mysterious circumstances while navigating life away from Fletcher’s Grove. Nothing distracts her more than a good mystery, and Middlebridge seems to have more than its share. Can Violet keep herself safe, get justice for those who’ve been wronged, have a social life and somehow manage to pass all her classes? She doubts it, but that won’t stop her from giving it the ol’ college try!
Review:
Middlebridge Mysteries was such a fun and entertaining read. Anna Cathcart was such an excellent choice for Violet. She’s so effortlessly funny and charming. This felt a little like listening to Kitty Song Covey solve mysteries, which made this book even more entertaining. Plus, full production audiobooks are so engaging.
I didn’t realise until finishing Middlebridge Mysteries that this is a spin-off for a different audio series. The original series, The Mistletoe Murders, are, as you can probably guess, set around the festive period, so they weren’t on my radar at all. I think I’ll check them out later this year as Violet does feature in those as a side character.
I hope there are plans for more instalments with Violet as the main character. Anna Cathcart is too good of a narrator for them not to. If not, please get her to narrate more books. I want to solve more mysteries with Violet, it would also be great to see her relationship with Hunter grow as the mysteries kept getting in their way.
This book features three different mysteries that Violet stumbles upon during her freshman year at university. The second one is absolutely wild, a little far-fetched and kinda gross, but the other two are things you would expect to happen at a university. They’re all entertaining, well acted and well written. Basically, Middlebridge Mysteries is a great listen from start to finish. I even listened at just 1.3x speed, which shows just how engaging this was. My usual listen speed is somewhere around 1.5–1.7 as I can lose focus very quickly, but that didn’t happen here.
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