A Field Guide to Murder by Michelle L. Cullen: The Cozy Mystery Debut That Ruined All Other Audiobooks For Me

Read time: 4 minutes

🎧 Listened in audio
📢 Narrated by: Eric Fox and Shaina Summerville
⏱ Duration: 11 hours
🏷️ Publisher: Spotify Audiobooks & Crooked Lane Books
📅 Published: January 27, 2026
Genre: Cozy Mystery

Book Blurb:

Harry Lancaster was once a globe-trotting anthropologist. Now he’s a cranky widower with a fractured hip, binoculars, and entirely too much time to spy on his neighbours. His millennial caregiver Emma has other plans for him — ones that don’t involve armchairs. But when their mysterious neighbour Sue calls in a panic and turns up dead shortly after, Harry and Emma find themselves doing something far more interesting than physiotherapy. Together, they wade through a condo community dripping with secrets, suspects, and very suspicious people — and straight into a killer’s crosshairs. A cross-generational odd-couple mystery that is equal parts warm, witty, and wickedly clever.

Let’s talk … murder!!!

Not once, not once, did this book lose pace. When I saw an 11-hour runtime, I thought I’d cruise through it at 2x speed while answering emails. Big mistake! Thirty minutes later, I had slowed it down, put away everything else, and was completely, embarrassingly, hopelessly in. Not once, not a single chapter, not a single scene, did this book give me an excuse to zone out. That almost never happens. Michelle L. Cullen, I need you to understand what you have done to me and my productivity.

Harry is the kind of character you’d roll your eyes at on paper: grumpy, set in his ways, a man who communicates in scowls and sarcasm. But rather, he’s actually magnetic. Eric Fox’s narration had me genuinely attached to this man in a way I wasn’t prepared for. Shaina Summervile voiced Emma’s bright, determined energy goes so well in contrast to Harry’s personality. The Harry-Emma dynamics is the kind of slow-build, cross-generational partnership that cozy mystery fans dream about. The fact that this is a debut novel should be filed under crimes against the literary community because it simply isn’t fair.

As an audiobook, this was a chef’s kiss. Eric Fox and Shaina Summerville nailed the dual tone. The two narrators together make the dual POV feel completely natural. This is the rare audiobook that turns a good book into a great experience. The mystery itself is genuinely well-constructed with layered suspects, a neighbourhood full of buried secrets, and a twist that earns its reveal.

A sequel, A Field Guide to Death and Deceit, is coming in September, and I have already mentally cleared my calendar.

Would I recommend it?

This is one of those rare debuts that feels like it arrived fully formed in the sharp, funny, humane, and deeply satisfying way. The pacing is relentless in the best possible way, the characters will live in your head rent-free, and the narrators are an absolute gift. This is the cozy mystery that anyone who has ever wanted a grumpy-sunshine, cross-generational, odd-couple detective duo will lose their mind over.

If You Loved A Field Guide to Murder, Try These

• Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson — Mentioned in the same breath as this book for good reason: clever construction, dry wit, and a mystery that respects your intelligence.
  Goodreads | StoryGraph | Pagebound | Fable | Hardcover | OpenLibrary | Litsy
• The Windsor Knot by S.J. Bennett — The Queen investigates a murder with charm and poise.
  Goodreads | StoryGraph | Pagebound | Fable | Hardcover | OpenLibrary | Litsy
• How to Solve Your Own Murder by Kristen Perrin — A Goodreads comp for this very book, and it absolutely delivers: sharp plotting, an irresistible premise, and a mystery with actual teeth.
  Goodreads | StoryGraph | Pagebound | Fable | Hardcover | OpenLibrary | Litsy
• Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto(Series) If you loved Harry’s stubborn refusal to stay out of things, Vera is his chaotic counterpart.
  Goodreads | StoryGraph | Pagebound | Fable | Hardcover | OpenLibrary | Litsy
• Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz(Series) A mystery-within-a-mystery. If you loved the anthropologist brain Harry brings to investigation, this one rewards clever, attentive readers enormously.
  Goodreads | StoryGraph | Pagebound | Fable | Hardcover | OpenLibrary | Litsy
  

Case Closed: What Do You Think?

Would you follow Harry and Emma on another investigation? Or do you think every great mystery duo deserves one perfect standalone? Drop your thoughts in the comments. Let’s solve this one together.

Book Links:

Want to purchase this or any of your favourite books while supporting a local bookstore? Consider purchasing using the sites below. These sites work with independent local bookstore owners to fulfil your book orders. #SupportLocal

Indiebookstores.ca | Bookshop.org
Reading tracker: Goodreads | StoryGraph | Pagebound | Hardcover | OpenLibrary | Litsy
Follow Michelle L. Cullen to get the latest on when the next book will be released
Check out more books from Crooked Lane Books