The Root of All Evil

Hope Street Church Mysteries, Book 4

By: Ellery Adams, Elizabeth Lockard

Narrated by: Cris Dukehart

Length: 9 hrs and 13 mins

Publisher's summary

Cooper Lee has never been happier. She has terrific friends at Bible study, a great boyfriend in Nathan, and, best of all, a new niece or nephew on the way. But storm clouds are gathering when a string of church robberies comes to Hope Street and an art teacher is found dead in what appears to be a robbery gone wrong.

With Halloween approaching, Cooper's beginning to think there are far more tricks than treats coming her way. No sooner do she and her friends step in to help the police unearth a killer than they discover a con artist among their flock. Lost in a morass of confusing clues - and even more confusing signals from Nathan - Cooper's not sure which way to turn. With the stakes so high, she sends up a prayer for some divine guidance, because Cooper knows that sometimes it takes the help of a higher power to bring down the lowest form of evildoer.

©2014 Jennifer Stanley and Elizabeth Lockard (P)2016 Tantor

Excellent!

These stories just keep getting better and better. The characters are so well developed. Love it.

Such a great series

I just love these books, I love the Christen theme and the involvement of the entire bible group on these murders. I am going to be sad when I complete the last one.

Excellent Series!!!!!

This has been one of my FAVORITE murder mystery series! And I have been reading many for many many years!!!!

Copiers, Corpses and Criminals

As Cooper continues to work for the copier company and attend the Bible Study with her friends at Hope Street Church, things again get harried as the group is called on to volunteer to bring and serve goodies for the family night at the Hope Street Christian School . . . Cooper meets and befriends the art teacher . . . little did she know what that little act of kindness would lead to . . . on a separate front, a newcomer to their Bible Study is pegged as a con artist by Edward, a reformed jailbird, also fairly new to the group . . . the friends protest loudly, but Cooper tends to listen cautiously . . . and as the tale unfolds and a killer is unleashed, the entire group gets involved in solving the mysteries of both the murder and a rash of recent church robberies. . . I am continually amazed at the grace of Cooper's family in accepting and loving others . . . and that of the Hope Street church family . . . some other reviewers are turned off by the open discussion of premarital sex . . . but to be honest, the discussion is one that needs to be had . . . and the way it turned out in this story is absolutely perfect . . . the world always tells us one thing . . . and none of us are immune to human attraction or feelings of needing to be wanted . . . but Cooper got exactly the advice and love she needed from those closest to her and even those she never expected . . . I never suspected the killer at all this time . . . had another one in mind . . . great story, great conclusion . . . thanks for another excellent book!

Good Book

This is a very good series. The characters and plot are believable. The mystery is good with lots of twist and turns. It's nice to have a mystery with a positive message. I look forward to the next book in the series.

Great Rrad

I love this series. it is about faith, hope and love. There is humor and suspense. I look forward yo more The characters are becoming family.

Wonderful to have a Cozy Mystery with a base of Christianity!

I have enjoyed the Ellery Adams books since first discovered her first book about Storyton Hall. She never disappoints!

Really enjoy ….

This series. Thinking type mysteries without an overload of gore.
Perhaps not for everyone as there is a Christian setting to it.

Great!

A very well written cozy! I enjoyed the story’s twists and turns. The narrator was awesome 😍

Another enjoyable Hope Street book!

The more I get into this series, the more I develop bonds with the characters & the better the plots have become as well. I did not see the solution coming at all, it completely blindsided me! And I love that in a mystery. Especially when once you know who it is you can look back and suddenly it all makes sense... In fact I even re-listened a second time and picked up on so many new clues & it all became crystal clear. I wonder how I missed it the first time around!

What I didn't love about this book though was the emphasis on the love triangle & romance. Especially the many long discussions about Cooper being frustrated that Nathan won't sleep with her... Considering they met in bible study group & that the whole book takes place in a church setting, I found that to be extremely out of place. It was a constant plot line all the way through and it made Cooper seem very immature and whiny. She couldn't decide which guy she liked, she complained that Nathan wasn't doing enough, then she complained when Nathan got more clients and had less time for her (instead of being happy about his hard work). It's just a really juvenile relationship & therefore made the ending feel unrealistic and rushed. Anyway, without giving much away I'll just say I could have done with less emphasis on these relationship woes and more on bonding time with the other Hope street church members. We barely saw them pop up in this book in comparison to the others, and I don't know why. I missed the group antics & hated that it went by the wayside this time.

I hope the character relationships improve in book 5, but this was still a great listen & kept me entertained.