Letters From the Past, by Erica James (author), Jemma Redgrave (narrator)

Whole Story Audiobooks, April 2020

It's 1962, in the Suffolk countryside of England, and the Devereaux family is prospering and happy.

But Evelyn has a secret she's never told her beloved husband, Kit. Hope, Kit's sister, has never felt completely secure in her happiness, despite her loving husband, Evelyn's brother Edmund, her successful career writing children's books, and her adopted daughter, Annalise. Julia, married to the oldest Devereaux sibling, Arthur, has been trained most of her life, by her father and new by Arthur, to believe it's her duty to be obedient, and that anything that goes wrong is her fault.

Fan Fiction: A Mem-Noir: Inspired by True Events, by Brent Spiner (author, narrator)

Macmillan Audio, ISBN 9781250821393, October 2021

This is a somewhat noir fictional memoir about Brent Spiner's time playing Data on Star Trek: The Next Generation, and an experience with an off-balance fan turned stalker.

Spiraner portrays himself as still rather naif and not fully aware what a fan favorite Data has become. One morning in his trailer on the lot, he's reading fan mail, and he gets a disturbing piece of mail. This one is a box, and its odor is soon explained by the fact that it contains a pig's penis. An actual pig's penis.

It is, allegedly, from Lal, the "daughter" Data made in the third-season episode, "The Offspring." Lal didn't survive the episode, and now "Lal" wants her daddy, Data, to join her...in death?

A Fairy Tale (Fairy Tale #1), by Shanna Swendson (author), Suzy Jackson (narrator)

Audible Audio, December 2014

Sophie Drake used to dance with the faeries in the woods behind her grandparents' house. Then the fae tried to steal her little sister, Emily, and Sophie rescued her sister and turned her back on Faerie forever.

Fourteen years later, Emily has left Louisiana for New York City and an acting career. She's just had a huge break; working as the understudy for the lead, she gets her chance when the lead has to pull out. She's a hit, and after that night's closing curtain, she and a few friends go out to celebrate. Along the way, they meet a guy named Eamon (my best guess at spelling, since I listened to the audio), and somehow it seems perfectly normal when he tags along with them. They wind up in Central Park at some point, and the next day, Emily's friends eventually work out that that's the last time they saw her.

The Uninvited Corpse (Food Blogger Mysteries #1), by Debra Sennefelder (author), Callie Beaulieu (narrator)

Tantor Audio, ISBN 9781977372147, March 2018

Hope Early, after a less than stellar turn as a competitor on a baking reality show, a divorce, and leaving her publishing career in New York City, has moved back to her little home town of Jefferson, Connecticut, and is making her living as a successful food blogger. With her family, as well as old friends and new, nearby, the future is looking good.

Then she attends the book launch of friend Audrey Bloom. Audrey is a gardener, with a profitable career writing about gardening, and this launch party is also a tour of her own garden. Hope's sister, Claire, a real estate agent, also attends, against Hope's advice. Claire wants Audrey to list her house with Claire; Audrey has no obvious reason to sell. It's potentially contentious.

Sleight of Paw (Magical Cats Mystery #2) by Sofie Kelly (author), Cassandra Campbell (narrator)

Random House Audio, June 2014

Kathleen Paulson moved from Boston to Mayville Heights, MN, to become the librarian of the small town's library while it was undergoing renovation. It's been about a year, the renovation has essentially been successfully completed, and she has a year left on her two-year contract. She's starting to consider whether Mayville Heights will ask her to stay, and whether she will want to accept if they do. The little town is very different from her prior live, but she's enjoying it, and making friends.

She's also acquired two cats, Owen and Hercules, whom she found as kittens, last winter at Wisteria Hill, the local feral cat colony. They're rather unusual cats; Owen can become invisible, and Hercules can walk through walls.

When Kathleen's friend Ruby finds a dead body, and quickly becomes a prime suspect in what proves to be a murder, we know the cats' abilities will be important.

The Apollo Murders by Chris Hadfield (author), Ray Porter (narrator)

Random House of Canada, ISBN 9781039002791, October 2021

This is a murder mystery that's also an alternate history about the late Apollo program and the Cold War.

We start with an Apollo mission that's a departure from our own history. Apollo 18 was planned, and planned as a fully military mission, but canceled due to both budgetary and political reasons. In this story, Apollo 18 escapes cancelation, and is focused on checking out the site on the Moon that an unmanned Soviet Moon rover has been investigating. Kazimieras "Kaz" Zemeckis, a test pilot and astronaut eliminated from space launches after an in-flight bird collision costs him an eye, is appointed as flight controller for Apollo 18, responsible for the safety of the crew from Mission Control. But once he thinks he's settled in and well connected with all the crew, several unsettling changes occur.

Star Soldiers (Central Control #1 & 2), by Andre Norton (author), Eric Michael Summerer (narrator)

Tantor Audio, March 2021 (original publication 1953)

This is an omnibus of two of Norton's science fiction adventure stories. They tell the stories of the start of human space travel and interaction with established, intelligent, alien civilization, in Star Guard (1953), and, four thousand years later, a story that reflects the spreading collapse of that same galactic civilization in Star Rangers (1953), later reprinted under the title The Last Planet (1955).

In Star Guard, humans have achieved star flight, but found an exiting multispecies polity in which the government, "Central Control," deems humans too aggressive for full membership, and assigns them the role serving as mercenaries in the on-planet conflicts of other species. For more technologically advanced cultures, Terra provides "Mech" units, using things we'd recognize as really advanced tanks, airplanes, missiles, and energy weapons. For lower-tech cultures, they provide "Arch" units, using swords, spears, nothing more advanced than rifles, and some form of radio communication between units. Kana Karr, Swordsman Third Class, arrives at Prime to enlist for his first assignment off world. The first assignment offered him is allegedly a simple police action, a good way to get some basic experience without jumping in the deep end. It's on a planet called Fronn, and it's apparently his somewhat eccentric choice to take all the course he can on X-Tee, Alien Liaison service.

Bark Twice for Danger (The Talking Dog Detective Agency #3), by M.K. Scott

Sleeping Dragon Press, May 2018

Nala Bonne is a private investigator, at least when she isn't working as a substitute teacher at a preschool. Unfortunately, she's the substitute for her own position, which she quit, while agreeing to work as a substitute until a new person is hired. There seems to be little urgency behind this supposed search.

Luckily, right now, her school is on a break, and she can concentrate on her investigative business--which has been mostly investigating dating partners for women who have begun to suspect something is wrong. There's also some insurance investigation, which she'd prefer to do more of.

Nala's advantages include having been taught the skills of investigation by her father, a police chief, the fact that she's the daughter of the police chief, and the fact that she has a very smart rescue German shepherd--who can talk.

Yes, that's right. Max the dog can talk. This means that unlike most canine sidekicks in mysteries, he can tell her not only that he smells something, but what he smells.

Nala's latest case is a departure from her norm; it's an identity theft case. Abby Lowenstein has had some very expensive stuff charged to her card. She's canceled the card and gotten the charges removed, but she wants the person responsible caught. And a very nice lady at the shelter where she adopted her cat gave her a card--Nala's card. The nice lady at the shelter is Nala's friend Karly.

A case is a case, and Nala takes it.

It's a Wonderful Woof (Chet and Bernie Mystery #12), by Spencer Quinn (author), Jim Frangione (narrator)

Recorded Books, ISBN 9781705020340, October 2021

It's the holiday season, even in Arizona, and Chet and Bernie have a new case walking in the door. Lauritz Vogler, a man with an unfamiliar accent who describes himself as "Mittel European Goulash," offer Bernie a $5,000 retainer to investigate a matter concerned with Baroque art. This isn't Bernie's kind of case, and Christmas is coming. It seems like it's an excellent case for fellow P.I. Victor Klovsky. Victor is the timid type and prefers to avoid direct conflict, but he's a whiz at online research, and this case seems right up his alley. Bernie refers Vogner to Victor.

A couple of days later, he gets a call from Victor's mother, saying that Victor is missing.

Murder by Misrule (Francis Bacon Mystery #1), by Anna Castle (author), Joel Froomkin (narrator)

Anna Castle, November 2017 (original publication March 2014)

Francis Bacon is a barrister of Gray's Inn, shockingly young for it, and currently in disfavor with Queen Elizabeth due to an ill-received proposal for law reform. Being unable to be received at court, or even by friends who are at court, is a significant obstacle to his ambitions, and even to his ordinary responsibilities.

It does not really look like help when his powerful uncle, Lord Burghley, Lord High Treasurer and Queen Elizabeth's most trusted adviser, asks him to quietly investigate the death of another, far more senior, barrister of Gray's. For various reasons, it's suspected this murder may involve Catholic intrigue aimed at overthrowing and replacing the Queen. Bacon recruits four students, whom he is now tutoring since their former tutor has been murdered (yes, of course.)