I so enjoyed this Canadian murder mystery featuring an archivist! Set in the Dominion Archives, this story was layered and full of suspense and twists. The WWI mystery in the past and the murder in the present all came together so well and I can't wait to read the next book in the series! Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early audio copy in exchange for my honest review.

I had really high expectations for this book and unfortunately it disappointed me. The setting of Ottawa was great but the romance and the mystery were lacking. I spent most of the book annoyed with the main character. I will likely read the next book though since it’s such fun to read something written about your hometown.

Thanks to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the audiobook ARC!

One nice thing about this book was that I didn't feel like I had missed anything by not reading the first book in this series. The characters and the story was very much intact on its own. I enjoyed the story generally, though I found some of the humor and supposed plot 'twists' to be a little cliche and formulaic. Not sure I'll be reading more of the series, but it did entertain, and if you're a fan of the cozy mystery, the archive scene, or Canadian lit in general, it'll be sure to please.

"What are you some later day Columbo?"
"I was Nancy Drew on steroids!"

The Foulest Things: A Dominion Archives Mystery Book One by entertaining author Amy Rector is a clever start to a new cozy mystery series. In Ottawa Canada we enter the life of Jess trying to impress everyone as the newest archivist in a world I never knew was so political and backstabbing. While cataloguing material she finds letters from lovers during WWl that suggest they stole a famous missing painting. In the art vault to research she finds a dead body. So begins her adventures as the lastest Nancy Drew but it gets serious when someone tries to kill her too!

I loved narrator Senn Annis as Jess a young woman anxious to impress and yet having age appropriate vulnerability. I never had the guilty party in my sights but it all made sense at the end and nothing was foul about it.

I received a free copy of this audiobook from Dreamscape Media via #NetGalley for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.

I listened to this as an audiobook. I felt the story line was good, but predictable. I was not expecting the twist at the end. The narrator's voice was almost robotic like and it left a lot to be desired.

The story was ok but there were some noticeable editing errors throughout. Reminded me of Heather Graham current titles editing issues and Linda Castillo's when her first books came out. Makes for a distraction in the story.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

I loved the past romance that this book is written around. I wish there would have been more about Victoria and Jem and their love story because it was forbidden and intriguing. Jess was a fun main character and I loved her research efforts to find out about the past forbidden romance.

I enjoyed most of this book. I loved the premise, I enjoyed the chase through the archives for the story of star crossed love between an artist and a young woman. But I did not find the protagonist's actions believable and it detracted from the experience for me. I wanted to love it and came very close.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for my advanced audiobook of The Foulest Things. Unfortunately this book didn’t quite hit the four or five star mark for me. A little cliched and predictable, but the greater problem was the narrators robotic cadence. I just couldn’t engage or retain anything.

Thank you to the publishers, author and NetGalley for the free copy of this audio book.

This was pretty good. A little predictable at times but overall I enjoyed it! Good characters and an interesting plot. The narrator was good as well.

A lot of this book was confusing and I didn’t really connect with the characters but overall it was an okay book

Set in Ottawa, Canada, this book by Amy Tector begins a new series called the Dominion Archives. Jess Novak, a new and probationary archivist at the institution runs across some letters stashed in a series of old account books. The letters hint at a lost Rembrandt and Jess wants to track it down.

When she ventures into the art vault of the Dominion, she discovers the body of an art historian there. As she finds and reads more of the letters, she realizes that the murder victim may somehow be involved in the search for the missing painting. Before she can unravel it all, she becomes the target of a stalker as well as a suspect of the police. Jessica juggles being a suspect, avoiding her stalker, a new romantic relationship with a co-worker, and trying to keep up with her job in addition to searching for the missing painting.

Things eventually come to a head and Jessica undergoes a harrowing experience.

Senn Annis, award winning narrator, easily portrays Jess and the other characters, each with a distinctive voice.

This book was great! The twist at the end I wondered about in the beginning but was almost sure I was wrong! I love being surprised by a good twist! This was my first book by this author and I will definitely be looking for more books to read/add to my TBR!

#TheFoulestThings
#NetGalley

This audiobook was a good listen. I didn't completely love it, parts were a little confusing, but overall I liked the book.

When Jess Kendall became the newest junior archivist in Ontario 2010 her biggest concern was eventually being hired on permanently. After she goes to her first auction for the Jarvis estate she is excited when Simon lets her catalog the farming logs for the Jarvis estate but this will lead her to a murder, a mystery romance in a painting from one of the greats but what does it all have to do with each other. Between Jess and her best friend Adele going to 80s nights visiting dive bars and trying to figure out who’s stalking Jess can she solve the case? Will commissioner Thibodeau be the only one to die? In the Jim and his unwed lady Love ever get back together after World War I? So many questions and they all get answered in this fun mystery I loved how she kept finding the old letters and I loved reading about just in the Dells investigating tactics which made for lots of lol moments. I did think the narrators cadence took a bit to get used to but she does great character distinction set a great tone for a fun mystery. I am not saying the narrator had a bad voice but it seems while she reads it sounds like she leaves the sentence open ended… If that makes sense but once you get used to it it’s fine I think she did a great job with that one exception. She has a great voice great understanding of the material she read and most importantly great character distinction. If Jess and Adele starts solving crimes again in the future I would be totally down to read that. This was a fun crazy book that I found so interesting and such a joy to listen to. I received this book from NetGalley and the publisher but I am leaving this review voluntarily please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.

The Foulest Things by Amy Tector tells a story of Jessica, a new archivist at the Dominion Archives in Ottawa, Canada. She finds some interesting letters from the WWI era. She also finds a corpse of one of her colleagues in the art vault.

I thought the story and the mystery was interesting although a bit predictable. But it was very nice to learn about some of the behind the scenes information from the lives of the archivists. I thought Jessica's character was believable and well thought out. I didn't believe how toxic her work environment was! I really hope it does not really happen often to have such mean and jealous co-workers!

I listened to the audiobook and I did not love the narrator, I'm afraid. The voice sounded robotic and absolutely impossible to listen to at 1x speed. I listened at 1.75 and 2x speed and it was just bearable. I feel really bad as it's a real person but something just didn't click. I honestly think I'd enjoy the book a lot more if the narrator was different.

I almost gave up on it right away but I decided to stick around and I actually did enjoy the book and the story itself. It has a lot of action and some interesting additional information about art and the Great War.

Thank you, NetScape and Dreamscape Media, for the advanced copy of this book for my review. All opinions are my own and were not influenced in any way.

Jessica is a new archivist at the Dominion Archives and as such is still on probation. She is given a new collection to organize and clean. While looking at one of the ledgers she noticed something and extracted a letter from a hiding place. The letter is written during the beginning of WWI by a painter visiting Paris to his sweetheart back home in Canada. Eventually, Jess finds more letters in the other ledgers While researching the couple and a painting mentioned in the letters Jess finds a dead body in the closed stacks. This occurrence triggers a series of events that include the police, a stalker, a possible romance, and a questionable office friendship.

As a professional archivist I can say the Dominion Archives is a toxic work environment, and I know of similar ones in higher education. The publish or perish environment is not for everyone, since it is full of anxiety and competition. I laughed and identified myself in a couple of places. One, every archivist will tear, break, or somehow unintentionally damage an item at least once in their career. Second, I don’t know very many people who keep accurate reference stats, I’ve guesstimated mine for at least a decade. Jess seemed to be newer to the profession and I liked the character. One of the other characters seemed hinky to me and now I know why. Overall, I enjoyed the book but this is probably something I should have listened to while I was at work instead of during my time off. Some arch-uhv-ist might cringe with the word arch-hive-ist.

The narrator was good, the inspectors accent kind of grated on my nerves a bit. Many imitated French accents do that. I listened to the first chapter at regular speed and then sped it up to 1.75.

Did not live up to the promise of the description. I actually thought the audio book reader was a computer generated reader because of the weird way the sentences flowed with strange pauses as though the words were being pasted together by a computer algorithm. Apparently she is a real person but I found her narration to really throw me off as it didn't sound like natural human speech!

This felt so cliched and stereotypical in terms of the characters. I just couldn't finish it.

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