In Deep Shitake

Shitake Mystery, Book 1

By: Patricia Mason

Narrated by: Michael Karl Orenstein

Take one devastatingly handsome movie star.

Add one outrageously sexy female private eye with a penchant for food-word obscenities.

Mix in a dose of mistaken identity and a handful of Russian mobsters... and they're all In Deep Shitake.

©2012 Patricia Mason (P)2014 Patricia Mason

Smart. funny and a good mystery

I'd never heard of this author, but the premise sounded both interesting and amusing. As usual, I wish they would not try to do "voices" with only one reader. So many of them sound alike, you can't tell men from women and so on. Aside from that issue, this is a good listen. BTW, I don't really blame the reader -- I'm sure he's just doing what he was told. Still, someone save me from the voices.

Action, Romance, Mystery, & Lots of Laughs

This was a really fun read. Think of an action thriller mixed with a romantic comedy and you have In Deep Shitake. The characters were awesome and you really come to love and root for them as they stumble through their many misadventures.

This novel was really funny. It had me laughing all the way through. The two main characters and their interesting relationship was a driving force pulling you further into the story as the characters constantly faced more urgent matters. There is a big mystery that gets revealed by the end of the book, and I didn't guess how it would all shake out. There are lots ingredients that come together to make In Deep Shitake great. Humor, action, mystery, romance, and the interesting characters.

I do have to give a content warning. There were a couple of scenes that were too steamy for my tastes so I skipped over them but it was easy to tell what happened in the dialog following those scenes. They had a lot of impact on the story and its characters too. These were not scenes thrown in to shock the readers and they made sense for the story.

I listened to the audiobook version of this novel and the narrator Michael Karl Orenstein did a terrific job. He was great at portraying the different characters with wonderful accents, pitch changes, and inflections. There were a lot of funny characters that showed up all over the book in small scenes and Orenstein came up with perfect voices for all of them. Many times I'm sure I was laughing a lot harder for his spot on delivery and rendering of a character's voice than if I had been reading the eBook or paperback. His acting was superb in all the dialog, and his narrator's voice was smooth and engaging. I would definitely pick up another audiobook narrated by him.

To wrap it up I would recommend this story to anyone who is looking to have a good time reading a novel. It was just what I needed after reading IT by Stephen King. A normal length novel that shows you a really great time. This book had lovable characters with interesting relationships, cool action, a great love story, and a lot of laughs.

Someone please kill that mac & frenchfry cat.

Where does In Deep Shitake rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

not the bottom, not the top

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Michael Karl Orenstein?

Anyone else. DID NOT LIKE the OVER THE TOP cat, hicks, Russians, old lady. Not enough difference in the male and female voices.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

no

Any additional comments?

This is my first comment, ever. I feel the narration did not do the book justice.

Not sure what this was supposed to be

This book was either meant to be “cheesy semi-good” or “a term paper written the night before its due.” To explain this book is crazy and all over the place but I also found it slightly entertaining. The mystery is very convoluted and the author doesn’t close up all the loose ends. The books bounces between scenes sometimes very jarringly and it was at times hard to keep up. This book also has one of my least favorite “tropes” which is throughout the whole book everything goes wrong for the main characters until it all magically works out in the end.

I did like the two main characters of Ross and Mo and most of the supporting characters. The setting of Savannah during Saint Patrick’s Day week was excellent because I’ve actually been in Savannah for the holiday and it is truly an experience for folks to see.

I try not to comment on narrators too often because I know I couldn’t do their job but I have to mention that the accents by this narrator were not the best. For one thing, Ross’ accent borders between British and Australian – I couldn’t really get a grasp of which one he was supposed to be. The other issue is that unless it was a main/supporting character – all the Southern characters sounded like stereotypical “dumb hicks” and I wasn’t impressed with those accents either.