Elena Estes Duo - Tami Hoag Audiobook

Written by Tami Hoag
Read by Beth McDonald
Format: MP3
Bitrate: 64 Kbps
Unabridged

Dark Horse
Elena Estes Series, Book 1
Publisher: Penguin Random House Audio Publishing Group
Release date: August 27, 2002
Duration: 14:05:19

This is the story of an ex-cop, a missing girl, and a killer locked in a race where there can be only one winner—and the losers die trying.

The wealthy world of the Palm Beach horse set seems a long way from a cop’s world in the narcotics division. A lifetime ago, undercover sheriff’s detective Elena Estes worked the mean streets and BlackTop alleys, living by her wits and playing the long odds until she took one risk too many. Now Estes lives on the ragged edge of lost hope and self-hatred, hiding from the past and believing she doesn’t deserve to have a future. But the past is about to come back with a vengeance, and the future is about to become a race between life and death.

A young woman is missing and her twelve year-old stepsister comes to Estes for help. No one but serious, studious Molly Seabright seems concerned about what’s happened to her troubled older sister. Estes has no P.I. license, no interest in a new career, and no desire to break her self-imposed exile. But the more she learns about the people Erin Seabright was involved with, the more her long-dormant cop instincts come back to life.

One trip to the show grounds where Erin worked as a groom, and Estes is quickly pulled to the dark side of a glamorous sport. Behind the glittering, ultra-rich facade is an ultra-ruthless world of drugs, payoffs, and dirty deals. And in that world also stalks a killer who will lead Estes down a dark, twisted trail of decadence and deceit, mayhem and murder—

“Beth McDonald performs this mystery with great energy. She adapts her voice successfully to a wide variety of characters, from embittered ex-cop Elaina Estes to high-society horse mavens. She performs foreign accents nicely and convincing plays a range of male characters. McDonald’s robust performance is much more than this story deserves. Glamorizing violence against women and promoting vigilante justice, this novel, with its stock phrases and repetitive declarations, gallops to a disappointing finish. R.F. (c) AudioFile 2003,

Publishers Weekly—July 29, 2002
The professional horse world, as seen through Hoag’s eyes, is full of intrigue, glitter and skullduggery…. Hoag, herself an experienced equestrian, shows off her dressage-to-showing knowledge of the sport as she weaves behind-the-scenes tidbits—about the training, competitions, horse brokers and grooms—into a plot that gallops along. Though she is a master of suspense, the story falters when a major secret about the kidnapping is exposed. There are too many bad guys who may be in on the scheme, and readers will feel cheated by the improbable 11th-hour revelation……”

The Alibi Man
Elena Estes Series, Book 2
Publisher: Penguin Random House Audio Publishing Group
Release date: March 27, 2007
Duration: 09:42:38

She was a vision. She was a siren. She was a nightmare. She was dead.

Now he needed her to disappear. And he knew just how to make it happen. The Palm Beach elite goes to great lengths to protect their own—and their own no longer includes Elena Estes. Once upon a time a child of wealth and privilege, Elena turned her back on that life. Betrayed and disillusioned by those closest to her, she chose the life of an undercover cop, the hunt for justice her own personal passion. Then a tragic, haunting mistake ended her career. Now Elena exists on the fringes of her old life, training horses for a living. But a shocking event is about to draw her back into the painful vortex she’s fought so hard to leave behind.

First she finds the body—a young woman used, murdered, and dumped in a canal. Not just a victim, but also a friend. As Elena delves into her dead friend’s secret life, she discovers ties not only to the Russian mob but also to a group of powerful and wealthy Palm Beach bad boys known for giving each other alibis to cover a multitude of sins. A group that includes a man Elena once knew very well—her former fiancé, Bennett Walker, a man she knows has already escaped justice at least once in his life.

Finding her friend’s killer will put Elena at odds with her old life, with her new lover, and with herself. But she is determined to reveal the truth—a truth that will shock Palm Beach society to its core, and could very well get her killed.

“Beth McDonald renders this hard-boiled detective fiction in just the right manner. She captures the weariness and cynicism of Elena Estes, a former Palm Beach County detective now on disability retirement. Yet she projects the character’s softer side as well. The author’s use of both the first- and third-person points of view makes listening difficult. In audio the switches are abrupt—– McDonald has a little trouble with accents–specifically, her Spanish and Russian characters sound alike’.— AudioFile 2007

This is one of Tami Hoag’s murkier books. You may find it difficult to like or sympathize with Elena. A readers comment…” Although I like strong females, she also managed to get on my nerves as she pushed everyone away and tends to be bitter, carries a ton of guilt.”