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N. N. Light
Jun 2, 20234 min read

The Low Road by Jo A. Hiestand is a Celebrate Audiobook Month pick #audiobook #mystery #giveaway



Title: The Low Road


Author: Jo A. Hiestand


Narrator: Callum Hale


Genre: British mystery


Book Blurb:


Former police detective Michael McLaren arrives in Scotland, ready to immerse himself in the fun of the Highland Games and to enjoy a holiday with Melanie. But the old saying of plans oft going awry rears its ugly head: Simon Shaw, a member of McLaren's folk group, dies. Murdered a year to the day following his uncle's death.


McLaren is determined to find out who killed Simon. Needing justice for his friend is only half of his incentive. He also needs to appease his guilt for suggesting the group sing there in the first place.


As McLaren becomes immersed in the investigation, he wonders if the two deaths are linked, or have to do with the family or their clan. Perhaps Simon's former wife killed him, bent on revenge more powerful than mere divorce. Or was the killing tied to an old hunt for diamonds? After all, diamonds aren't only a girl's best friend. Sometimes they birth greed and murder. And entrap the innocent.


Audiobook Clip:



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Do you listen to audiobooks? Do you have a favorite? If you don’t listen to audiobooks, is there a particular reason why not?


I listen to audiobooks daily. The favorites of my books are “The Low Road” and “No Known Address.”


What makes this a must-listen audiobook?

I must say anything narrator Callum Hale does is brilliant! But I think he outdid himself with The Low Road. Three scenes illustrate this: the scene between McLaren, his grandfather and his uncle have me laughing out loud every time I listen to it. Also, the whispering scene between McLaren and his pal Jamie is superb. I find myself leaning forward, as if listening to them. The other scene that is exceptional is the scene with McLaren and his lady love in the car. Incredible emotion from Callum makes that scene intense and plunges me into it.


Giveaway –


One lucky reader will win a $75 Amazon US or Canada gift card



Open internationally. You must have a valid Amazon US or Amazon CA account to win.


Runs June 1 – 30, 2023.


Drawing will be held on July 3, 2023.



Author Biography:


Jo A. Hiestand grew up on regular doses of music, books, and Girl Scout camping. She gravitated toward writing in her post-high school years and finally did something sensible about it, graduating from Webster University with a BA degree in English and departmental honors. She writes a British mystery series (the McLaren Mysteries)—of which three books have garnered the prestigious N.N. Light’s Book Heaven ‘Best Mystery Novel’ three years straight. She also writes a Missouri-based cozy mystery series that is grounded in places associated with her camping haunts. The camping is a thing of the past, for the most part, but the music stayed with her in the form of playing guitar and harpsichord, and singing in a folk group. Jo carves jack o’ lanterns badly and sings loudly. She loves barbecue sauce and ice cream (separately, not together), kilts (especially if men wear them), clouds and stormy skies, and the music of G.F. Handel. You can usually find her pulling mystery plots out of scenery—whether from photographs or the real thing.


Narrator Biography:


Callum Hale


I trained as an actor at the East 15 School of Acting, based on the principles of Joan Littewoods Theatre Workshop. I knew from fairly early on that I wanted to be an actor, pretty much ever since I realised that playing make-believe could actually be a career. I’ve been telling stories my entire life, and when as a child I was given a Dictaphone, I would record books for me and my siblings to listen to, so you could say I’ve been narrating audiobooks for a very, VERY long time.


I remember particularly recording a number of short stories from a magazine my Scottish Grandmother used to share with us. One was about a Clooty Dumpling that got into a scrape with a spider in a cave. I read the entire thing in a Scottish accent, which you can hear me doing plenty of in this McLaren audiobook (The Low Road) and in another McLaren audiobook, An Unfolding Trap.


My Mother’s family are from the Yorkshire and Cheshire regions of England, not far from where McLaren and his friend Jamie call home, so I was drawn not only to those characters, and the sounds of those voices, but also to the landscapes, which Jo makes just as important a character in her books.


I find it a real joy to sit in my little corner, behind the microphone, and step into the world of the book I’m narrating. Just as you would when reading alone for pleasure, I can see the hills in my mind’s eye, I feel the emotion of McLaren; I let the words effect me and, hopefully, effect my delivery so that the listener has the same engagement as they would reading the words themselves. To my mind, narrating is acting, and acting is telling stories, and I’ve been doing that all my life.


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