tell her story

What The Vibes Are

Crazed Motive — Whodunit — Cold Case —
Unreliable Narrator — Secrets

What It’s About

From the author of Buried Deep and The House on the Water comes a shocking thriller about a young podcaster who’s investigating a cold case in her hometown and determined to uncover the truth at any cost.

Paige Barrett was living her dream as a journalist in New York City, racking up bylines as a staff writer at The Razor, a cutting-edge online magazine. But when she’s suddenly fired from her job and dumped by her boyfriend, she finds herself back home in the quaint seaside town of Shoreham, Florida, waiting tables and living in her sister’s guesthouse.

Restless and itching for something meaningful to occupy her time, she decides to launch a true-crime podcast about the death of Jessica Cady, a beloved teacher who died mysteriously 20 years earlier. The case went cold with no leads and no suspects, but the more Paige digs into the woman’s death, the closer she comes to a killer. In a small town like Shoreham, it’s impossible to keep a secret forever.

Tell Her Story is performed by Dakota Fanning and features the voices of LJ Ganser, Vikas Adam, Emily Bauer, Ann Osmond, Fred Berman, Jonathan Davis, and Laura Darrell.

Progress Thoughts & Rants

This was an audio performance narrated by Dakota Fanning, and I ate every minute of it up!

What I thought about it

***MASSIVE Spoilers below

After an incident that left Paige disgraced in the journalism world, she moved in with her sister, Ashley, and her brother-in-law, Matt. Paige worked as a waitress in Matt’s sports bar as a way to make ends meet. When Ashley approached Paige and encouraged her to look into the mysterious death of one of the town’s teachers, a case that had never been solved. The victim, Mrs. Katy, was murdered in a hit-and-run 20 years prior. While doing research, Paige began to follow leads with the intent to begin a podcast as she uncovers the truth.

Paige learned that Mrs. Katy was married with two kids, but was suspected by a coworker of having an affair with someone else. Said coworker had no real evidence, so Paige called her out for being a lying gossip. Paige was able to eliminate Mr. Katy as a suspect and continued searching for answers.

The universe heard her prayers because Paige was able to solve the case! Unfortunately, at the expense of her family.

Turned out that during Matt’s senior year, he had an affair with Mrs. Katy, which ended in a pregnancy. Since he was in a committed relationship with Ashley, he didn’t want this to get out, so he ran her down after an argument in his car. His uncle helped cover it up and fixed his car. When Matt realized that Paige had uncovered the truth, he held her at gunpoint and begged her to keep this between us. During the standoff, Ashley walked in and actually contemplated letting her husband kill her sister. Ya know… as a way to hold on to her precious life. Before Ashley could decide, Mrs. Katy’s son, Benn, walked in with 911 on the line. They heard everything.

The audio story ended with Matt awaiting trial, Ash taking his side, Paige getting kicked out, and Ben deciding to join Paige in her endeavor to use the podcast to solve cold cases.

Conclusion

I enjoyed this listen. It was suspenseful, quick, shocking, and entertaining. Plus… Dakota Fanning, am I right?? Definitely worth a listen!

If you’ve listened to Tell Her Story, leave a comment! I’d love to chat!

♡ G&P