A fun murder mystery performed brilliantly

This enjoyable story is a comedic take on a traditional murder mystery. The action in Aries Billionaire takes place on a private island where fabulously wealthy Mike Kirby is celebrating his 50th birthday with a few handpicked guests. Mike's glamorous younger wife Renee's apparently close family are concealing all kinds of deadly secrets. When Leo Moon, a thirty-something detective who uses astrology to solve his cases, arrives on the island with his charming mother and her mischievous best friend, he has to navigate a web of intrigue. To add to the mix of swimming pools and glitzy parties there is an eclipse of the moon, a rocket launch and - of course - a murder.

The narrator Oliver Chris does a splendid job. He has to develop many different characters while the plot moves on at a fast pace. Chris achieves this by skilfully giving each character a different regional accent to express their personality. The effect is hilarious. My favourite accent belonged to the gamekeeper from Northern Ireland, but they are all convincing and very funny.

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Great start to the series!

A wonderfully diverse cast of people arrive at Kirby Island, owned by Aries billionaire Mike Kirby, to watch the first launch of his rocket on his 50th birthday. There’s Helena Moon, Mike’s personal and famous astrologer, her son Leo Moon who supports her in lots of ways including reading the charts, and her pampered cat, Ursa Minor, together with Leo’s New York journalist friend Karen. Then there’s Mike’s wife Renee (glamorous former model and now hoping to break into the music business), her sister Rachel (the quieter more business-like sibling) and Rachel’s husband Neil who is also Mike’s best friend and business partner, along with Mike’s new (and scantily clad) PA Suzy, housekeeper Alice, and island security manager Julian. Oh, and at Mike’s insistence, there’s also Mystic Marjorie who is never far from a bottle and her spirit guides Will Shakespeare and Freddie Mercury. What could possibly go wrong? As the bickering and back-biting begins almost immediately and Leo wishes he was back on his lovely peaceful boat, it’s not long before the launch goes up in a puff of smoke, Mike is hospitalised and one of the guests is murdered. Stuck on the island, will Leo and Karen find the truth written in the stars or a more earthly explanation?
Karen and Leo make a brilliant sleuthing team in this fun and absorbing story. The locked room type scenario is richly enhanced by the hilarious personalities of some of the characters, and their various shady antics certainly added to the mystery surrounding the murder.
Narrator Oliver Chris does a terrific job of the monumental task of portraying all these different characters and their accents. I only wish Ursa Minor had been given a speaking part too! I do hope there will be more Leo Moon stories.

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Clever layers!!

What a listen, I loved being able to follow the characters, I really felt I was with them on their journey through the chapters. Really cleverly layered with the astrology, I loved those insights...and knowing they're taken from real readings is just so awesome. I can't wait to hear Leo & Co. on more adventures please!

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Excellent Characters

I really enjoyed this audiobook and I can't wait for the next one.
Great Characters and good story.

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Great read

A great read, but easy to guess the ending if you are a keen murder mystery reader.

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Brilliant quick read with amazing characterisation!

I absolutely loved the concept of this one! I love astrology and anything to do with star signs, ,horoscopes and reading charts etc - not that I'm a full on believer....but I find it totally fascinating - so just had to grab this book!

The storyline was a standard murder mystery.
After arriving on Kirby island to witness the billionaire's 50th birthday celebrations - things don't quite go to plan and there's a mystery to solve and when his wife, Renee is later found dead, everyone is under suspicion!

Although a fairly standard plotline, I loved that there was just so much going on around the main storyline.
There were lots of clues to follow with some great twists and turns within.
But there was also some madcap behaviour going on around the periphery!

The characters were amazing and are what made this such a great read for me!

I loved the irony of having Leo and his Mum, both astrologers, well renowned and trusted for their reading of charts and predicting things in relationships and business etc - and then Marjorie, who was a classic Mystic Meg type of character.

I also found it hilarious that neither Marjorie nor Helena had any input to the investigations going on around them! Totally oblivious!

Leo and Karen were a brilliant team! Leo being obsessed with what the stars were telling him about the case and Karen totally dismissing it all and being the logical half of the team - but together they followed all the clues to work out this complex case.

The character dynamics worked perfectly.
There was lots of banter and although the investigation narrative was fairly serious - it was the dollops of humour throughout that made this so unique.
Oh! and let's not forget Ursa Minor, Helena's ultra aloof and grumpy cat! 🥰

A super quick read which had me hooked from the start - I loved this and really hope there will be lots more books in the series.
Am looking forward to seeing what Leo and Karen get up to in their next adventure.

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Such fun

This is such a fun listen! Interesting characters particularly the lovely Leo. Loved the non-banter between him and his possible love interest.
Original story and definitely put a smile on my face.
Good narration throughout.

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Clever and fun!

I loved the theme of astrology being used to solve a mystery, that’s excellent! The story is clever, unpredictable, and a lot of fun. Oliver Chris gives an excellent reading and his character voices are great! I hope there will be more of these, Leo Moon is a great character.

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Loved this whodunnit!

A new take on a whodunnit with an astrologer detective which i loved! it was great listening, loved the narrator and i can’t wait for the next one!

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1 person found this helpful