Lavender's Blue

Liz Danger, Book 1

By: Jennifer Crusie, Bob Mayer

Narrated by: Cris Dukehart, Eric G. Dove

From the NY Times Bestselling duo that wrote Agnes and the Hitman, the first book in the Liz Danger series.

Liz Danger has returned home after fifteen years to deliver a giant teddy bear for her mother’s birthday (color: Guilt Red) when a cop with a great ass picks her up for speeding, fixes the missing lug nuts on her back wheel, pulls her out of a ditch, doesn’t give her a ticket, and helps her avoid her family. This is a man with real potential. The rest of the day goes downhill, starting with her finding out that the only man she’s ever loved is getting married to Lavender Blue, the most beautiful woman in southern Ohio. Really, the best thing in her day is that cop with the lug nuts.

Vince Cooper still isn't sure about being a cop in Burney, Ohio, a place he just moved to six months ago, since Burney is full of some fairly odd people spaced between long stretches of boredom. Still, considering the dangerous, difficult life he had before Burney as an Army Ranger and New York City cop, boredom is good. Then he picks up Liz Danger for speeding and life gets a lot more interesting. And when he picks her up again in the local bar the next night, he starts to realize that “interesting” doesn’t begin to describe what’s going to happen to him if he pulls Liz into his arms and his life.

As Liz navigates her dysfunctional family, her flamboyant boss phoning in from Chicago, her still-interested ex, her bridesmaid dress from hell, a dachshund with issues, a disaster of a wedding, assault, murder, and three hundred and ninety-three teddy bears, Vince shows up to get her through, even though he knows that the real peril for him in Burney is the one who came with her own warning label, Liz Danger.

LAVENDER’S BLUE: Would it kill you to go home and see your mother?

©2023 Jennifer Crusie and Bob Mayer. (P)2023 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Critic reviews

“Narrators Cris Dukehart and Eric G. Dove combine their talents to tell the tale of ghostwriter Liz Danger's return to her small hometown of Burney, Ohio.… Dukehart voices Liz in a steady, no-nonsense tone, perfectly matching her matter-of-fact personality. Dove brings Vince to life with a deeply masculine performance. Burney has a large cast of characters, and both narrators aptly capture their unique qualities.“—AudioFile Magazine

Great read

Love how quirky this book is just like some of Jennifer Cruise’s previous books. So enjoyable, such great characters.

manage your expectations for this one

After waiting YEARS for another Jennifer Crusie book I'm sorry to say I was disappointed.
I'm not sure if it was the poor narration (nothing technically wrong but both the narrators came across as bored at one point or another - which I found irritating) but any attempts at humour fell flat. The usual pop culture humour references were there but there seemed to be no follow thru that turns that into the expected LOL moments that I've come to expect from Crusie.
I can't even blame Bob Mayer, bcos I've enjoyed some of the books he's co-authored with Crusie.
Overall it was a bit meh. I'm sure I'll get around to re-reading it again at some point, to give it another chance (I've been a fan of Jenny Crusie too long not to do so), and maybe I'll get more out of it if I'm not constantly feeling annoyed about the lack of laughs; but for now, I'm moving on to the second book in the series (why, when I wasn't impressed with the first? bcos I bought all 3 on sale); altho given that many of the reviews rate it a lot more poorly than this one, I'm definitely not expecting much.
[So why 4☆ for a book I found so disappointing? I'm trying to be fair. Yes, I was disappointed but, as I said, there was nothing technically wrong with the narration, and, although it was barely humorous it wasn't bad writing. Just not great. If you're not a Crusie fan, you might think this was a good book]

Super enjoyable.

What a great read. I laughed, and had to rewind to listen to scenes twice, and had a lot of fun with this book. Great characters! Who doesn't love small towns with lots of crazy goings-on? Totally worth a listen.

Humor, Murder and so REAL!

The narration was great. Storyline kept you very interested and the characters reminded me of all the small I have lived in.

Great read

Always enjoy an evening reading Jennifer Cruise. I am glad to have two more new books to read after this one.

So happy Jennifer and Bob are back together again!

what is there not to love? Action, romance, snark, humor, sarcasm. This is the duos best work yet. Great narrators made this book come alive. I'm ready to jump right into the next book. Jennifer and Bob (Bobiffer? Job?) keep up the great work!

Loved it!!

I have always loved Jennifer Cruise’s books and this one did not disappoint. I can’t wait to listen to them he next one.

love

the book was fantastic. the reading was good. the mmc's voice with the New York accept kept throwing me off BUT he's a new Yorker and it was completely appropriate.

Wow what an enjoyable book!

This book does not disappoint on plot, surprises and romance. The characters are believable and strong in their actions. It’s a great listen.

Surprised me good!

I was totally not expecting this funny, sweet, loving, spicy level fade to black, mystery book! What a refreshing book! Highly recommend this book.

The narrators were awesome to! Gonna look up more of their books since they were new to me as well.

Now on to the 2nd book.