Trying to do an audio book during Covid is no small feat. But this week Damned If She Does, my second crime mystery, was published on Audible. Two very talented performers, who live nearby in West Cork, did the narration. Here’s the announcement and the story of how we created the audio version being two miles socially distanced.
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Here in Schull, West Cork Covid can’t keep us from continuing to be creative. And this time two of our favorite and most talented people recorded the audio version of Kathleen Kelley Reardon’s crime mystery, DAMNED IF SHE DOES, described by Kirkus Reviews as “informed and searing” and selected by them as a one of the top “Best Indie Books Worth Discovering.”
This was new to all of us, working at a two-mile distance within Schull, mostly by FaceTime. It was a challenge with kids, dogs, cats and lots of people around and about – to say nothing of great fun! Our thanks to Chris Noblet, too, for applying his skill in the editing of the audio version and cover design and to Grant Abramson (Pacific Palisades, CA) for his gorgeous photo of the Brooklyn Bridge.
So, if you haven’t discovered DAMNED IF SHE DOES in paperback or would love to hear it performed by Brendan and Camilla, check it out at the Amazon/Audible link. DAMNED IF SHE DOES is the second book in a trilogy with the first, SHADOW CAMPUS, read by Schull’s Karen Minihan. So, it’s a Schull family affair we have going here and hope you’ll love what has come from it. The third book is in progress and will take place in West Cork.
Here’s a description of DAMNED IF SHE DOES and bios of Brendan and Camilla. Hope you’ll stop by the link to hear the sample reading or decide to listen to the whole thing.
Young professor Meg Doherty has long held a dark secret. When a renowned professor is viciously murdered at a Manhattan hotel, Meg stumbles upon the scene and quickly comes under police scrutiny. After another professor is killed, it falls to her brother, Shamus, to help prove Meg’s innocence.Caught in NYC’s blinding media spotlight, gilded society and criminal underworld, the pair must confront not only Meg’s secret but a long-suppressed family mystery. When is a secret so toxic it must be revealed? When is a woman damned if she does?
Brendan Conroy is a native of Tuam, Co Galway. His career stretches back to the late 70’s when he became known playing the role of Peter Cadogan in The Irish RM, a show which continues to be repeated regularly up to this day. He has toured to Russia, Europe and the United States with the Abbey Theatre playing Jimmy Jack in Translations, Philly Cullen in The Playboy of the Western World and Tadhg in The Field.
He worked extensively with Red Kettle of Waterford appearing in such celebrated productions as Bent, Moonshine, Talbot’s Box and Translations playing Manus and then he directed The Price and Jim Nolan’s Guernica Hotel. He last worked with them playing Shay in the Irish Arts Centre, Manhattan, in their run of The King’s of the Kilburn High Road. He created the role of Tommy Clocks in Island’s Pigtown by Mike Finn, played Arty O Leary in Livin Dred’s Belfry by Billy Roche; he has also toured with Ouroborous and Druid and played George In Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf with the late and wonderful Fedelma Cullen, one of his favourites.
For the Taibhdhearc in Galway he has played in Uaisle (Aristocrats), Namhaid don Phobal (Enemy of the People) and last year he played Git in The Kings of the Kilburn High Road as gaeilge, a part he played in the film ‘Kings’ winning an IFTA for best supporting actor.
Camilla has been singing in front of an enraptured audience since she was five years old and living in Sweden. When she was ten, she won a place in the prestigious Adolf Frederik Musik School in Stockholm where her love of choral work and collaboration blossomed.
Her late teens saw her singing in a Baptist church choir in Virginia, busking in a Sweet Adeline group in Stockholm’s Old Town, and entertaining holiday makers in Gran Canaria and skiers in Switzerland.
Camilla was in U.S. chart-topping Norwegian pop group ‘One 2 Many’ in her early twenties and then, after being persuaded she was really a lyric soprano, and furthering her vocal education with professionals from the opera circuit, including a spell at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, she played the lead role, sung in Yiddish, in the world premier of The Dybbuk, in Tel Aviv.
By this time Camilla was a mother of two and living in London with her professional musician husband, Colin Vearncombe (pka Black). After a trip to South America with her third son to record an album with legendary percussionist Julio ‘Chocolate’ Algendones in Lima, Peru, the family decided to up sticks and move to beautiful West Cork.
Camilla kept her career moving while bringing up her family. Her performance in the lead role in Astor Piazzola’s Maria de Buenos Aires opera which was performed entirely in Spanish, at Cork Opera House was described by the Irish Examiner as ‘sensuous yet poignantly fragile’. In a desire to engage with the live music culture of Ireland she formed the band ‘Dogtail Soup’ with her husband Colin, Fergus O’Farrell (of Interference), and Maurice Seezer. They played regularly in Ireland and toured in Eastern Europe. After all the members of the band played in Interference and opened for the Swell Season in The Radio City Music Hall, New York, Glen Hansard fronted Dogtail Soup for two special tribute concerts.
2018 saw the launch of Mamasongue, Camilla’s two-hour stage show featuring songs from across the world. The show is performed in five languages and weaves stories of magic and mystery in between tangos and lullabies, gospel and blues, laughter and tears. “A Musical Delight” ~ Irish Examiner
For more info: camillagriehsel.com
