Review of eBook

The Oceanview Café in Virtue Falls, Pennsylvania is the kind of place where, eventually, everyone shows up there. Typical of diners from the decade of the fifties, Rainbow is the waitress with whom everyone shares their joys and their troubles.

Every day, Cornelia Markum sits in the diner, working on her computer. She considers herself an observer of human behavior. And, just because she can, she uses her computer skills to hack into email and text messages where people tend to reveal more of themselves.

And then she hacks into a text in which the two people are planning a murder.

Convinced she’s doing the right thing, Cornelia tells Sheriff Foster what she’s discovered. But he’s inclined to arrest Cornelia for hacking instead of pursuing her information about the murder plot.

Surprised and a bit troubled, Cornelia plans to tell her husband, Mason, about her odd experience. But before she can, she makes a discovery that changes everything. What did Cornelia discover? And why has everything changed for her?

This novella, a prequel introduction to the author’s Virtue Falls series, introduces readers to a variety of witty, engaging characters and sets the stage for the forthcoming stories. It’s definitely a teaser, designed to encourage readers to read the books in the series; nevertheless, the story stands on its own: intriguing narrative, interesting and diverse characters, and a surprising plot twist . . . the reader is pulled into the telling of the tale from the outset and remains sufficiently captivated to want to read more.

Excerpts from other stories in the series are included following the story.

Highly recommended. ( )

Sometimes three pre novel novellas are a hit or miss. This one is a hit with me, I would give it a 4 1/2. I have never read anything by this author before but in that short time period of reading The Listener, it left me wanting more. Her writing style grabs attention and I already like her description of the town of Virtue Falls and the characters in it. The last paragraph leads you into what to expect reading Virtue Falls, which I simply now must read next. ( )

THE LISTENER, (Virtue Falls #0.5) Christina Dodd’s e-short story novella, and a tantalizing prequel for the VIRTUE FALLS, (#1 in the series, coming Sept 9, 2014), a town, founded in 1902, a Vacation Destination on the Washington Coast and Home of the World Famous Virtue Falls Canyon, population 2487.

Yummy! An intriguing town with quirky and witty characters which gather at the Oceanview Café, (locals and tourists), where folks wander in for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Where cops and truckers come in for fresh donuts, and others gather to drink coffee, use free Wi-Fi, eat pie, and get caught up on the latest gossip— where we meet Kateri (Coast Guard Commander), Rainbow (waitress-holds the town together), and Cornelia.

Cornelia is quite the interesting character (she works for government, computer whiz, genius, a little odd, smart, makes good money, where routine is imperative, and possibly slight autistic), married to Mason, and her mother left when she was twelve and has two older sisters. She is an observer of human behavior and uses her computer skills to eavesdrop by hacking into emails and texts when she is bored. After all, texting is human contact in the most distilled form. (She is not great at verbal communication).

She thinks of hacking, like Forrest Gump’s box of chocolates; she never knows what she is going to get or who is sending it. One day she discovers while hacking, more than chocolates--two people planning a murder by poisoning.

At the end of this mystery, readers get a preview of the upcoming VIRTUE FALLS, as beautiful Elizabeth Banner, a respected geologist at age twenty-seven, walks in the Café, the girl who watched her father kill her mother with scissors.

She has not set foot in the town for twenty-three years as the memory of her mother, Misty Banner’s murder is still fresh on everyone’s mind. She is back, not to reunite with her father, Charles Banner, a gifted scientist, currently at the Honor Mountain Memory Care Facility but to study the Pacific Rim tectonic plates and subduction zones, researching alluvial deposits. The town could only hope she does not follow in her father’s footsteps. (he pioneered the study).

A compelling novella and my first book by Dodd-loved it. Excited to read an ARC of VIRTUE FALLS, which I am starting tonight–cannot wait. A very intriguing mystery!

http://www.judithdcollinsconsulting.com/#!The-Listener/cmoa/01E4315D-584F-4786-8...
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