John Byrne Barry’s *Pirates of Sausalito: Houseboat Wars Murder Mystery* has a fascinating backdrop—the countercultural world of Sausalito’s houseboat community—and an intriguing premise that blends history, crime, and social tension. While the novel offers an original take on the murder mystery genre, it doesn’t fully deliver on its potential due to pacing issues and inconsistent character development.

The book’s greatest strength is its setting. Barry vividly captures the rebellious spirit of the houseboat wars, immersing the reader in a world of free spirits, activists, and opportunists. The historical elements add depth, making it more than just a typical whodunit.

However, the mystery itself unfolds at an uneven pace. Some sections drag with excessive exposition, while key moments of suspense feel rushed. The characters, though interesting, sometimes come across as underdeveloped, making it difficult to fully connect with their motivations. Additionally, the dialogue can feel stilted at times, pulling the reader out of the story rather than drawing them in.

Despite these shortcomings, *Pirates of Sausalito* remains a decent read for those interested in historical crime fiction or unconventional mystery settings. While it may not be a page-turner for everyone, readers who appreciate a unique backdrop and an offbeat approach to storytelling might find it worth their time. ★★★☆☆

I loved listening to this audiobook. I was laughing so hard I had tears coming from eyes. I just loved the story.

This takes you on a ride with a cast of characters that you will definitely going to fall in love with as i sure did. The characters are so well developed and described you will feel like you know them and all their personality's.

Thank you @johnbrynebarry @netgalley for allowing me to listen to this @audiobook.

As someone who once lived on the Sausalito Waterfront, when I noticed this title on Victory Editing's Instagram feed (my own mystery is also on their feed), I knew I had to read this! The advance reader edition available to me free on NetGalley was the double-narrator audio version.

Pirates of Sausalito is a murder mystery based on real but non-murderous events, so I was very curious to see what the author did with his material. I could easily imagine the houseboat community as a perfect and fascinating setting for mystery fiction, as for decades the Waterfront was home to a remarkable mix of creative figures, maritime workers, drifters, and various generations of the counterculture, and tensions often ran high with the city government and developers.

Pirates of Sausalito is a lively tale of houseboat-dwellers versus developer, and was originally written as a play. The community theater roots are clear in its broadly sketched characters and rapid action, and I can imagine that the play was good fun to watch--perhaps similar in style to San Francisco's famous Mime Troupe performances (which aren't in mime). The audiobook carries through in that same theatrical spirit, with one male and one female narrator handling the different male and female voices, plus zany, even comedic, choices of music and sound effects to announce the beginning of each chapter. Both narrators do a skillful job, in a style more familiar from radio drama than the world of audiobooks.

The author sandwiches the novel between a bit of historical background (how did Sausalito come to have a large houseboat community?) and an afterword providing more specifics of the actual Houseboat Wars that clarify just what is fanciful and what is factual. Incidentally, something not noted in the afterword was the author's decision to move events that happened at Galilee Harbor in 1981 back to 1979 in order to include a subplot around the White Night riots that followed the Dan White manslaughter verdict (this worked, since Galilee isn't named in the mystery, but rather the fictional Aquarius).

In sum, the book is an unusual mix of serious social issues--low-income housing and coastal development--and comedy. If you go into it expecting deep characterization or grim tension, you'll be disappointed, but if you'd enjoy a fun diversion that's based in real history, this is likely to please. I enjoyed it.

Wonderfully narrated by an amazing cast of characters; this was a great listen. Based on a history of houseboats, Bay Area politics and rich vs poor with a murder thrown in to keep the story moving, I throughly enjoyed this book.

Thanks to NetGalley and Pro Audio Voices for the Audio ARC!

I think this book just misses the mark in several ways. First of all, the idea of taking a little-known historical event and writing a fictional account of 'what really happened' is a fun idea, but the book just goes overboard (pun intended) and takes the ridiculousness a bit too far. The writing is definitely not the worst I've read, but it's far from the best. The narration is pretty good, but it's ruined by the over-abundance of (again ridiculous) sound effects. I get that I just may not be the target audience for this book (I'm thinking maybe the Lit-RPG lovers out there may connect better with this title), but overall, I was just disappointed and let down. Two stars for the unfulfilled promise of greatness.

This was a fun story to listen to, although something that’s very different than what I usually read, I did enjoy it! I liked the two different speakers and the sound effects. It really brought the story to life! I will say at points it sounds like the male speakers voice is a much lower quality sound than the female speaker. Her voice seems very clear and crisp and his sounds almost a bit distant. It didn’t bother me so much but just something I noted. Overall I enjoyed.

I live on a houseboat, so when I saw this audiobook, I knew I had to request it! This was a great, quirky listen on a long road trip: it tells the story of the clash between a free-wheeling (free-floating?!) houseboat community on the one side, and fat-cat developers on the other. But what I also liked about it is, there's not just two sides here - it's a multi-cast recording, so there's loads of sides, and their perspectives are "voiced" by different characters. Multi-cast recordings are my favourite type of audiobook, so that was a big bonus for me. I also loved the immersive sound design - all the effects really added to the colour and vibrancy of the story. Houseboat dwellers don't get enough airtime in novels – Beth O'Leary's Swept Away is also on my list when it publishes, for that reason! – and this goes a long way to address that.

3.6 rounded up for this very well-produced audiobook. It’s filled with memorable characters, some based on real people, and the struggle to end the Houseboat Wars in Sausalito, California. Evil vs good: A greedy developer vs a community of semi-squatters in dilapidated houseboats who had no where else to go. And a pirate! This is a fun and inspired tale of people uniting for a cause and the contributions different people can make based on their abilities (and connections).
My thanks to the author, publisher, producer, and #NetGalley for access to the audiobook of #PiratesofSausalitoHouseboatWarsMurderMystery for review purposes.