Big Trouble on Sullivan’s Island
By: Susan M. Boyer
Narrator: Courtney Patterson

This book was so much fun to listen too. The narrator was fast talking, fun and was the perfect complement to this fun cozy book. Hadley Cooper’s grew up with her mother, Vivian and did not know her dad. Once her mother passed away that changes.
Hadley is a Private Investigator and meets Eugenia. They become fast friends and after Eugenia dies, she is determined to solve her death. This book has a little bit of everything including secrets, drama, humor, twist, murder and romance.

Can I rate it a 10? I love the way Susan Boyer writes. Her books cannot be classified as cozies. There's so much more than that. They are southern mystery fiction. They suck you into a mystery novel, keep you guessing with suspense and throw in some humor to give you a chuckle here or there. Our main character is Hadley Cooper, she's a private investigator, this new book by Susan Boyer and trust me if what I've just read is any indication of a possible series of what may be coming up, we're all in for one heck of a ride! Hadley makes a new friend, Eugenia, however, her friend meets her demise. Hadley has an idea of a suspect and and begins to try to prove that her suspicions are correct. I do enjoy that this book has some snippets of romance, and of course family drama, which we have grown to love and Susan Boyer's past books, but I love the suspense, the drama and the mystery. This new book has all the fixings of a another successful series by her. She is not one of my favorite authors for nothing, the girl can write a book! I can't wait to see what she's got coming up for us next. The narrator truly brought the story to life and right of the pages. It was wonderful!

I admit at the start of this book I was prepared to eyeroll and tear this book to shreds.
I. Was.Wrong.
This book was so delightful! What is more exciting is I found out Hadley is going to be front and center of a whole series! I am usually not a series reader but I cannot wait to spend more time with her and her new found family!Hadley is one of the most "REal" characters I have read! I felt like I could be her best friend!
Susan Boyer is a new author to me, which always butters my biscuit when I find a new author to binge. She did a very fun job of incorporating southern phrases and culture into this book. At first I was a bit "peeved" by it, but as I progressed through the novel I found I started saying some of Hadley's declaration like, "Cheese and crackers" and "Sweet Baby Moses in a Basket" haha.
The mystery was not all that shocking, but I enjoyed how the characters worked off each other. Even better one of the characters was named after my Little, Pickens!
The only reason I am holding back on that final star is there were some minor things that I hope Boyer excludes from book #2. There was a lot of "Geography" like, She turned left onto such and such street which is at the corner of this and that (honestly I tuned out a lot of that...) And I would be remiss if I did not mention the constant reminder that Hadley is Whole Food Plant Based. Uh If she had to remind me one more time about what she orders at a BBQ joint " Salad with no eggs, cheese, bacon, dressing with a side of vinegar or lemon juice, because the oil is just pure fat". As a dietitian this is a diet movement while I understand the benefits this diet can bring it is very restrictive and OBVIUSLY limits you quite a bit. I did have to chuckle though b/c I noticed some of her orders did not always coincide with a WFPB-SOS diet (Ahem sweet tea, veggie burgers, taco bell)
But none the less, excellent read! If you can show restraint and wait till June to read this on the Beach this is the quentissential Beach Read!

Thank you Netgalley for this advanced copy read of this book. I was not influenced or reimbursed for this honest review. Also thank you Susan Boyer for writing this book and many more!

This was an intriguing read. The author took time to really form the town of Sullivan Island and its residents. There are a lot of characters which did get confusing. I do feel it’s a little on the long side with too much description. I would have liked a more fast paced story. I will not be continuing this series.

The audiobook was narrated by Courtney Patterson who did a fabulous job! There were a lot of characters and Courtney gave each one a unique voice. I do believe it was the narrator that kept me into this book.

Thank you NetGalley for a free audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

What a fabulous new series by Susan Boyer! Big Trouble on Sullivans Island is the first book of the Carolina Tales series and full of the sweet southern charm you’ve come to know and love from this author. I absolutely loved the mystery of this book, and how everything was tied together in the perfect ending! I could barely put it down because I couldn’t wait to find out what happened next. I love Hadley and all of the other characters, and can’t wait to read more about this Lowcountry private detectives adventures! Also the audio version of this book was great and highly recommended.

Setting the Scene: Susan M. Boyer, author of the beloved Liz Talbot mystery series, has created a wonderful new character and world with Hadley Cooper, a private investigator, living in Charleston, SC. After a series of fortuitous circumstances, Hadley finds herself housesitting on Sullivan's Island, in a house that could have been designed for her, and making friends with a number of women on the island. When one of her new friends hires Hadley to get the evidence she needs to prove her husband is unfaithful, no one could predict the sequence of events to come. Hadley finds her client dead, apparently killed during the time frame that Hadley had her husband under surveillance, making Hadley his alibi, but that doesn't stop the headstrong PI from setting out to prove he did it. Her need to identify the killer becomes critical when her ex-boyfriend makes an arrest that she and her newfound friends are certain is wrong. How does Hadley break an alibi when she IS the alibi?

What I Thought: In short, I loved it. Who knew that just when I am mourning the potential ending to the Liz Talbot series that Susan M. Boyer would release the perfect salve to that wound. Hadley is a great MC, smart, real, and just enough of a rule breaker to make her interesting without placing her in the TSTL category. Her personal background is both unique and intriguing, to say the least. Add to that a great cast of secondary characters, including a half brother she adores, an old friend damaged by an imperfect legal system, an ex-boyfriend who is a cop, a host of wealthy quirky women, a couple of salty mentors, and one foul-mouthed bird, and you have the perfect makings for this and many stories to come. As another reviewer mentioned, it took me a minute to get oriented in Hadley's world, but once I did, I was right at home and could not get enough. This is a great read.

The narrator did a very good job and made for easy but entertaining listening.

Really liked this story! As someone who lives in Charleston, I loved all the references to Charleston in this book - it basically felt like the Charleston area was its own character in this book. While the murder mystery in the book wasn’t the hardest to figure out, I did enjoy the twists of figuring out the “how” rather than the “who. The twist of the house on Sullivan’s was not something I suspected though, enjoyed that conclusion as well.

I am a huge fan of Susan M. Boyer’s other series; the feel like family at this point. It took me awhile to get into this but about 15% in, I got used to this not being about Liz Talbot and her fun family, and I really started to enjoy this one. Hadley is an interesting character and I learned so much about plant-based diets through her. I loved her approach to investigation and her tenacity. The characters in this one were just as lovable as the other series and I hope other books in this series will focus on Hadley again. This was a great way to spend my Friday.

This book was sent to me electronically by Netgalley for review. Thanks to the publisher and the author. This is a realistic story of a woman living in South Carolina. The narrator just took away from the total story. I had the audio book. That being said, this is a quick fun read about southern women. Enjoy

Not gonna lie - I requested Big Trouble on Sullivan's Island not so much because I thought this was my kind of book, but because I'm a Netgalley (audio book only) reviewer and I've been in a drought between denials and nothing of interest. I had a self imposed goals of 100 books in a year for Netgalley, and tick tock, that time approaches.

So......I asked for this one.

Oh my gosh what a lucky break for me. First in a new series by author Susan M. Boyer, Big Trouble hits it out of the ballpark.

The premise of a South Carolina location, fun characters, a bit of a mystery, murder.....with a quality narrator - all of it kept my interest. In fact, it was new material with shades of old favorites for me. I loved the female MC private investigator, Hadley Cooper, who reminded me of the Tess Monaghan series by Laura Lippman. The feeling of comraderie amongst the solid cast reminded me of Ellery Adams series Books by the Bay. And, because I'm from the northeast and love the southern US locale, this one also reminded me of old favorite author Anne Rivers Siddons who created iconic works all set in the south.

Despite the feel of these authors listed above, Boyer managed to still write a novel that is fresh and appealing. It was fabulous.

Frequently when a new book has such a stellar rating on Goodreads, I tend to believe marketing was doing it's job and managed to target reviewers who were glowing because that's what they do. Believe me - my 5 star review was earned and I'm now checking out Boyer's earlier work. Well done.

Alright y’all, I absolutely loved this audiobook💙 I used to live in Mt. Pleasant and loved spending time in downtown Charleston and on Sullivan’s Island. This new series, Carolina Tales Mystery, combines my love of the Charleston area, humor, strong female investigators, and an intriguing murder mystery!

The main character, Hadley, is a private investigator who is hired by a Sullivan’s Island resident to investigate if her husband is cheating on her. Suddenly, her client is found murdered and Hadley is trying to figure out who murdered her.

I highly recommend this audiobook and I can’t wait for more of Hadley’s future investigations!

Thank you @dreamscape_media and @netgalley for allowing me to listen to this audiobook ahead of publication in exchange for my honest review.

BIG TROUBLE ON SULLIVAN ISLAND is the first book in the brand-new Carolina Tales Mystery series by Susan M. Boyer. From the very beginning, the characters and the setting pulled me in. How can you resist the charms of Charleston, S.C., and the surrounding islands, particularly Sullivan Island? The author does a fabulous job bringing the setting to life from the sultry air, to the sounds of waves lapping on the sand, to the taste of sweet tea. Protagonist private investigator Hadley Cooper isn’t “hard-boiled” in the least and has a soft spot for elderly women and those who are less fortunate in society. The narrator, Courtney Patterson, brings the lilting, soft drawl of the region to life and expertly switches between the voices so I never felt lost about who was speaking.

The mystery itself is straightforward. You think you probably know who committed the crime right alongside Hadley, but how did they provide such an airtight alibi and how did they accomplish the murder? Following Hadley’s investigation, the well-plotted mystery unfolded and kept my attention throughout. Interspersed with minor subplots, friendships, and complicated family relationships, this new release has me looking forward to more in the series!

I was provided with an advance copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

One of my favorite things about reviewing books is discovering new series that interest me. Big Trouble on Sullivans Island is the first book in a series and I can’t wait for the next installment.

The story follows Hadley. Hadley is a private investigator who is investigating the murder of one of her new friends.

I really respect what this book did. It’s so hard to talk about it without spoilers so I won’t say much. What I will say is who the murderer is, is not what this book is about. It’s about how you get there.

This is a book with so much Southern charm you won’t be able to read it without smiling. Hadley and everyone around her were well-developed, and likable characters. I really like where Hadley’s story ended up and I am looking forward to another book in this series.

Oh. My. Goodness. This was great. And fun. I fell for all the characters because the writing was exceptional. The author has a real talent for writing something really special. I live in Greenville and love Charleston (Mt. Pleasant). I was seeing everything so clearly and loved all of it.
I chose to listen to this book on audio and highly suggest the audiobook. Big Trouble on Sullivan's Island was
narrated by Courtney Patterson and she did such a good job. I just can’t say enough good things about it. I hope you add it to your list.
Thanks Dreamscape Media via Netgalley.