What I’ve Been Listening To: August, 2025
What I’ve Been Listening To is back for another installment. Audiobooks are omnipresent in my life now. Work, home, car, walking, bedtime: I’m constantly listening to them. Often something I’ve listened to before, which lets my mind half-focus to no ill effect. But I’m still listening.
Some recent plays – all Audible, as I need to get Hoopla set up on my ‘new’ used phone. I have listened to five different Bruce Campbell projects recently, so that’s probably another post.
MIDDLEBRIDGE MYSTERIES
I wrote about Mistletoe Murders, which is an Audible original series. It’s like a Hallmark mystery movie. Emily Lane runs a Christmas-themed store, but she has a secret past. Of course, there’s a local cop boyfriend, with a daughter named Violet.
I like the series, and they turned it into a Hallmark TV series as well, though I’ve not seen that yet. It uses different actors, which I’m not too enthused about.
Well, Violet was trying to get into college at the end of season three, and she did. So, Anna Cathcart is back and starring in Violet’s freshman year in criminal justice studies. Her professor is played by Eric McCormack (Will and Grace). I was a big fan of his show Perception and he’s good as a supporting character here.
College student solves crimes that she shouldn’t really be involved with – typical stuff. It’s like a younger adult version of Mistletoe Murders. I like it and rolled through all three episodes. If you like Mistletoe, you should like this spin-off. I suggest Mistletoe first. Not required, but you do get a little more of her, before she’s off to college. But you’re not really missing out if you just wanna listen to this first.
I think Mistletoe Murders is really good, and there will be a season four, as well as a second season of the TV series. I recommend giving it a listen, and then Middlebridge Mysteries. Good Hallmark-ish fun.
UNLICENSED
This is an interesting series. Molly Quinn (Nathan Fillion’s daughter on Castle), plays Molly. She’s an ex-Mormon who made a hash of her marriage, faith, and life. She relocates to Los Angeles and applies to work for a misfit unlicensed Private Investigator named Lou Rosen.
It’s very episodic covering, about three and-a-half hours in season one, but averaging about eight hours in the two succeeding two seasons. It’s got a Chinatown-type vibe of political corruption, with Lou and Molly over-matched in the battle.
But they doggedly pursue their unlicensed investigations. Season two has a ghost-hunting theme, which is a neat twist. The overall arc carries through the end of season three, and I hope there’s more to come. If you want happy endings, this one has a bit of a bleak shadow over it. It definitely has a different vibe than other audio series’ I’ve listened to.
THE BIG LIE
This is an interesting one starring Jon Hamm as an agent in J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI. Made in 2022, it’s based on the true story of a 1954 pro-Labor film, Salt of the Earth. Jack Bergin (Hamm) does all he can to sabotage the effort, being made by members of the famed Hollywood Blacklist. The movie itself was only actual American film to be on the Blacklist.
Terrific cast, including Kate Mara, Bradley Whitford, Giancarlo Esposito, David Stratharin, John Slattery, and Troy Evans.
It’s not a happy story, as you might guess. But it’s a pretty darn good FBI drama.
The Big Fix was a follow-up this past April, with Jack as a PI now. This one takes place around the Dodgers coming to Los Angeles from Brooklyn, and land shenanigans. Omar Epps is his assistant.
If you like Jon Hamm, or that forties hardboiled vibe, these Audible Originals are right up your alley. I liked both of them, and they are very well done. Ben Mankiewicz narrates this second series. Which is cool because his cousin John co-created the series and co-wrote The Big Lie.
64TH MAN
Now this one was more fun. John Cena plays a former Miami (of Ohio) football player trying to make it to the NFL. At the time, the active roster was 53 players, with a 10 player practice squad: 63. Cena is the 64th guy, unfortunately.
If you like John Cena, football, or comedies, this one is worth a listen. The female lead is Anna Chlumsky, forever Vada in My Girl. Mark-Paul Gosselaar (Saved by the Bell) features as well.
It’s set in Columbus – my hometown – and I liked the familiar name drops.
Cena isn’t the most complex jock trying to get an invite for an NFL team, and his trials and tribulations are pretty amusing. But there is some character growth, and interesting stories for other characters. I did not recognize Jane Curtin, but she has a neat character.
This one is five hours long, and it’s classic John Cena. I enjoyed listening to it.
AND STILL SPQR
If you’ve read me here much over the past two years, you know I am hooked on John Maddox Roberts’ mysteries set in Ancient Rome. As soon as I finished the last re-listen, I immediately began the first book again. I listen a lot in the car, and when I’m out walking. And at bedtime.
I’m almost done with this run, and I’ll set them aside for awhile. But I’m nowhere near tired of these, and I cannot recommend them highly enough.
What I’ve Been Listening To: June, 2025
What I’ve Been Listening To: February, 2025
What I’ve Been Listening To: November, 2024
What I’ve Been Listening To: Sepetember, 2024
What I’ve Been Listening To: August, 2024
What I’ve Been Listening To: July, 2024
What I’ve Been Listening To: September 2022
May I Read You This Book?
Bob Byrne’s ‘A (Black) Gat in the Hand’ made its Black Gate debut in 2018 and has returned every summer since.
His ‘The Public Life of Sherlock Holmes’ column ran every Monday morning at Black Gate from March, 2014 through March, 2017. And he irregularly posts on Rex Stout’s gargantuan detective in ‘Nero Wolfe’s Brownstone.’ He is a member of the Praed Street Irregulars, founded www.SolarPons.com (the only website dedicated to the ‘Sherlock Holmes of Praed Street’).
He organized Black Gate’s award-nominated ‘Discovering Robert E. Howard’ series, as well as the award-winning ‘Hither Came Conan’ series. Which is now part of THE Definitive guide to Conan. He also organized 2023’s ‘Talking Tolkien.’
He has contributed stories to The MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories — Parts III, IV, V, VI, XXI, and XXXIII.
He has written introductions for Steeger Books, and appeared in several magazines, including Black Mask, Sherlock Holmes Mystery Magazine, The Strand Magazine, and Sherlock Magazine.
You can definitely ‘experience the Bobness’ at Jason Waltz’s ’24? in 42′ podcast.