
A Darker Domain
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
$0.99/mo for the first 3 months

Buy for $21.49
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Eilidh Fraser
-
By:
-
Val McDermid
About this listen
Award-winning author Val McDermid offers up a suspense-filled stand-alone novel with A Darker Domain. Karen Pirie is the newly appointed Deputy Inspector of the Cold Case Unit, and her first investigation takes her 25 years into the past to the national miners’ strike. At the time, a kidnapping gone wrong left a small boy missing, but new evidence suggests he might still be alive. As Pirie delves deeper, she realizes the boy’s disapperance may be linked to another cold case involving a missing miner.
©2008 Val McDermid (P)2008 W.F. Howes, Ltd.Listeners also enjoyed...
-
The Distant Echo
- By: Val McDermid
- Narrated by: Tom Cotcher
- Length: 14 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Four in the morning, mid-December, and snow blankets St. Andrews School. Student Alex Gilbery and his three best friends are staggering home from a party when they stumble upon the body of a young woman. Rosie Duff has been raped, stabbed and left for dead in the ancient Pictish cemetery. The only suspects are the four young students stained with her blood. Twenty-five years later, police mount a cold case review. Among the unsolved murders they're examining is that of Rosie Duff. But someone else has his own idea of justice.
-
-
Beware, scam!!
- By CehTex on 12-14-22
By: Val McDermid
-
The Mermaids Singing
- By: Val McDermid
- Narrated by: Saul Reichlin
- Length: 13 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The bodies of four men have been discovered in the town of Bradfield. Enlisted to investigate is criminal psychologist Tony Hill. But profiling the psychopath is not beyond him. Hill's own past has made him the perfect man to comprehend the killer's motives. It's also made him the perfect victim. A game has begun for the hunter and the hunted. But as Hill confronts his own hidden demons, he must also come face-to-face with an evil so profound he may not have the courage—or the power—to stop it.
-
-
Not for weak stomach or LGBTQ
- By Kai Gussman on 08-27-24
By: Val McDermid
-
1979
- Allie Burns, Book 1
- By: Val McDermid
- Narrated by: Katie Leung
- Length: 11 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The year started badly and only got worse - blizzards, strikes, power cuts, and political unrest were the norm. For journalist Allie Burns, however, someone else's bad news was the unmistakable sound of opportunity knocking, and the year is ripe with possibilities. But Allie is a woman in a man's world. Desperate to get away from the "women's stories" the Glasgow desk keeps assigning her, she strikes up an alliance with wannabe investigative journalist Danny Sullivan. From the start, their stories create enemies.
-
-
Not my cuppa
- By Donna on 10-08-21
By: Val McDermid
-
A Place of Execution
- By: Val McDermid
- Narrated by: Paddy Glynn
- Length: 14 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A Greek tragedy in modern England, A Place of Execution is a taut psychological thriller that explores, exposes and explodes the border between reality and illusion in a multi-layered narrative that turns expectations on their head and reminds us that what we know is what we do not know.
-
-
Truly amazing
- By KismetKat11 on 11-17-09
By: Val McDermid
-
Dead Beat
- By: Val McDermid
- Narrated by: Chloe Massey
- Length: 8 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As a favor to her rock journalist boyfriend, Thai-boxing, rock-and-roll private detective Kate Brannigan agrees to track down a missing song-writer Moira Pollock, a search that takes her into some of the seediest parts of Leeds and Bradford. But little does she realize that finding Moira is only a prelude to murder. Juggling her other cases, including a search to uncover the source of counterfeit luxury goods, Brannigan finds herself for the first time on the trail of a killer.
-
-
dead beat
- By Hazel Campbell on 08-03-20
By: Val McDermid
-
The Grave Tattoo
- By: Val McDermid
- Narrated by: Kate Reading
- Length: 13 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After torrential summer rains uncover a bizarrely tattooed body on a Lake District hillside, a long-disregarded old wives' tale takes on a chilling new plausibility. For centuries, Lakelanders have whispered that Fletcher Christian, made infamous by Mutiny on the Bounty, staged the massacre on Pitcairn so that he could return home. And once there, what if he could tell his story to an old friend and schoolmate, William Wordsworth, who turned it into a long narrative poem—a poem that remained hidden lest it expose Wordsworth to the gallows for harboring a fugitive?
-
-
Sort of like AS Byatt's Possession,
- By salamander on 06-01-10
By: Val McDermid
-
The Distant Echo
- By: Val McDermid
- Narrated by: Tom Cotcher
- Length: 14 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Four in the morning, mid-December, and snow blankets St. Andrews School. Student Alex Gilbery and his three best friends are staggering home from a party when they stumble upon the body of a young woman. Rosie Duff has been raped, stabbed and left for dead in the ancient Pictish cemetery. The only suspects are the four young students stained with her blood. Twenty-five years later, police mount a cold case review. Among the unsolved murders they're examining is that of Rosie Duff. But someone else has his own idea of justice.
-
-
Beware, scam!!
- By CehTex on 12-14-22
By: Val McDermid
-
The Mermaids Singing
- By: Val McDermid
- Narrated by: Saul Reichlin
- Length: 13 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The bodies of four men have been discovered in the town of Bradfield. Enlisted to investigate is criminal psychologist Tony Hill. But profiling the psychopath is not beyond him. Hill's own past has made him the perfect man to comprehend the killer's motives. It's also made him the perfect victim. A game has begun for the hunter and the hunted. But as Hill confronts his own hidden demons, he must also come face-to-face with an evil so profound he may not have the courage—or the power—to stop it.
-
-
Not for weak stomach or LGBTQ
- By Kai Gussman on 08-27-24
By: Val McDermid
-
1979
- Allie Burns, Book 1
- By: Val McDermid
- Narrated by: Katie Leung
- Length: 11 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The year started badly and only got worse - blizzards, strikes, power cuts, and political unrest were the norm. For journalist Allie Burns, however, someone else's bad news was the unmistakable sound of opportunity knocking, and the year is ripe with possibilities. But Allie is a woman in a man's world. Desperate to get away from the "women's stories" the Glasgow desk keeps assigning her, she strikes up an alliance with wannabe investigative journalist Danny Sullivan. From the start, their stories create enemies.
-
-
Not my cuppa
- By Donna on 10-08-21
By: Val McDermid
-
A Place of Execution
- By: Val McDermid
- Narrated by: Paddy Glynn
- Length: 14 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A Greek tragedy in modern England, A Place of Execution is a taut psychological thriller that explores, exposes and explodes the border between reality and illusion in a multi-layered narrative that turns expectations on their head and reminds us that what we know is what we do not know.
-
-
Truly amazing
- By KismetKat11 on 11-17-09
By: Val McDermid
-
Dead Beat
- By: Val McDermid
- Narrated by: Chloe Massey
- Length: 8 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As a favor to her rock journalist boyfriend, Thai-boxing, rock-and-roll private detective Kate Brannigan agrees to track down a missing song-writer Moira Pollock, a search that takes her into some of the seediest parts of Leeds and Bradford. But little does she realize that finding Moira is only a prelude to murder. Juggling her other cases, including a search to uncover the source of counterfeit luxury goods, Brannigan finds herself for the first time on the trail of a killer.
-
-
dead beat
- By Hazel Campbell on 08-03-20
By: Val McDermid
-
The Grave Tattoo
- By: Val McDermid
- Narrated by: Kate Reading
- Length: 13 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After torrential summer rains uncover a bizarrely tattooed body on a Lake District hillside, a long-disregarded old wives' tale takes on a chilling new plausibility. For centuries, Lakelanders have whispered that Fletcher Christian, made infamous by Mutiny on the Bounty, staged the massacre on Pitcairn so that he could return home. And once there, what if he could tell his story to an old friend and schoolmate, William Wordsworth, who turned it into a long narrative poem—a poem that remained hidden lest it expose Wordsworth to the gallows for harboring a fugitive?
-
-
Sort of like AS Byatt's Possession,
- By salamander on 06-01-10
By: Val McDermid
-
The Cuckoo's Calling
- By: Robert Galbraith
- Narrated by: Robert Glenister
- Length: 15 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After losing his leg to a land mine in Afghanistan, Cormoran Strike is barely scraping by as a private investigator. Strike is down to one client, creditors are calling, and after a breakup with his longtime girlfriend, he’s living in his office. Then John Bristow walks through his door with a shocking story: His sister, the legendary supermodel Lula Landry - known to her friends as the Cuckoo - famously fell to her death a few months earlier.
-
-
Unbelievable debut mystery set in London
- By Tracey on 05-26-13
By: Robert Galbraith
-
The Vanishing Point
- By: Val McDermid
- Narrated by: Antonia Beamish
- Length: 13 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
thriller with a nightmare scenario: a parent who loses her child in a bustling international airport. Young Jimmy Higgins is snatched from an airport security checkpoint while his guardian watches helplessly from the glass inspection box. But this is no ordinary abduction, as Jimmy is no ordinary child. His mother was Scarlett, a reality TV star who, dying of cancer and alienated from her unreliable family, entrusted the boy to the person she believed best able to give him a happy, stable life: her ghost writer, Stephanie Harker.
-
-
So close to being great
- By Brock on 03-19-13
By: Val McDermid
-
The Torment of Others
- By: Val McDermid
- Narrated by: Gerard Doyle
- Length: 6 hrs and 22 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a small grim room, the body of a woman is discovered, panic and pain etched in her face. The scene matches in every detail a series of murders two years ago-murders that ended when irrefutable forensic evidence secured the conviction of a deeply disturbed young man named Derek Tyler. But there's no way Tyler could have killed the latest victim. He's been locked up in a mental institution since his trial, barely speaking a word. So is there a copycat?
-
-
Very good BUT an abridged version
- By P. C..S. on 04-06-07
By: Val McDermid
-
Killing the Shadows
- By: Val McDermid
- Narrated by: Vari Sylvester
- Length: 16 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A killer is on the loose, blurring the line between fact and fiction. His prey - the writers of crime novels who have turned psychological profilers into the heroes of the nineties. But this killer is like no other. His bloodlust shatters all the conventional wisdom surrounding the motives and mechanics of how serial killers operate. And for one woman, the desperate hunt to uncover his identity becomes a matter of life and death.
-
-
Too much
- By RITTAM! on 04-02-10
By: Val McDermid
-
Trick of the Dark
- By: Val McDermid
- Narrated by: Gerri Halligan
- Length: 14 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Trick of the Dark, forensic psychiatrist Charlotte Flint is in desperate need of a distraction after her testimony in a high-profile case comes under fire, threatening her career. Enter Dr. Corinna Newsam, an old professor of Charlotte’s who is convinced her son-in-law was murdered by her daughter’s new lover.
-
-
Almost a good listen------
- By Jackie on 03-05-15
By: Val McDermid
-
The Crow Trap
- A Vera Stanhope Mystery
- By: Ann Cleeves
- Narrated by: Anne Dover
- Length: 14 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Three very different women come together to complete an environmental survey on the Northumberland countryside. Three women who, in some way or another, know the meaning of betrayal....For team leader Rachael Lambert the project is the perfect opportunity to rebuild her confidence after a double-betrayal by her lover and boss, Peter Kemp. Botanist Anne Preece, on the other hand, sees it as a chance to indulge in a little deception of her own. And then there is Grace Fulwell, a strange, uncommunicative young woman with plenty of her own secrets to hide.
-
-
Different but loved it
- By Audrey L Reader on 08-06-17
By: Ann Cleeves
-
A Litter of Bones: A Scottish Crime Thriller
- DCI Logan Crime Thrillers, Book 1
- By: JD Kirk
- Narrated by: Angus King
- Length: 7 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Was the biggest case of his career the worst mistake he ever made? Ten years ago, DCI Jack Logan stopped the serial child-killer dubbed "Mister Whisper", earning himself a commendation, a drinking problem, and a broken marriage in the process...When another child disappears a hundred miles north in the Highlands, Jack is sent to lead the investigation and bring the boy home. But as similarities between the two cases grow, could it be that Jack caught the wrong man all those years ago?
-
-
High hopes dashed: not just a little bit of child and animal torture
- By greyhound on 07-01-20
By: JD Kirk
-
An Accidental Death
- A DC Smith Investigation Series, Book 1
- By: Peter Grainger
- Narrated by: Gildart Jackson
- Length: 6 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The story opens with the apparently accidental drowning of a sixth form student in the Norfolk countryside. As a matter of routine, or so it seems, the case passes across the desk of Detective Sergeant Smith, recently returned to work after an internal investigation into another case that has led to tensions between officers at Kings Lake police headquarters. As an ex-DCI, Smith could have retired by now, and it is clear that some of his superiors wish that he would do so.
-
-
Excellent British Mystery
- By Customer on 09-07-16
By: Peter Grainger
-
The Long Call
- A Detective Matthew Venn Novel
- By: Ann Cleeves
- Narrated by: Ben Aldridge
- Length: 11 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In North Devon, where two rivers converge and run into the sea, Detective Matthew Venn stands outside the church as his estranged father’s funeral takes place. On the day Matthew left the strict evangelical community he grew up in, he lost his family, too. Now, as he turns and walks away again, he receives a call from one of his team. A body has been found on the beach nearby: a man with a tattoo of an albatross on his neck, stabbed to death. The case calls Matthew back to the people and places of his past, as deadly secrets hidden at their hearts are revealed.
-
-
Excellent story and narration
- By jeanne on 07-10-21
By: Ann Cleeves
-
A Long Time Dead
- A D.I. Duncan McAdam Mystery (The Misty Isle, Book 1)
- By: J M Dalgliesh
- Narrated by: Angus King
- Length: 11 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
D.I. Duncan McAdam is dispatched home to the Misty Isle. A body has been found buried in a remote location on the Waternish peninsula. Well-preserved in the peat, Isla Matheson—missing for the better part of two decades—is revealed to a shocked island community. A teenage runaway is dead...and no one is talking.
-
-
totally enjoyed this
- By Owl8988 on 11-21-23
By: J M Dalgliesh
-
The One That Got Away
- A DI Heather Filson Novel
- By: JD Kirk
- Narrated by: Cathleen McCarron
- Length: 12 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When a 15-year-old girl fails to make it home after school, DI Heather Filson believes she’s dealing with just another teenage runaway. The girl’s grandfather, a notorious Glasgow gangster, disagrees. Convinced one of his underworld enemies has grabbed her, he’s prepared to bathe the city in blood in order to bring his princess home.
-
-
How does he do it?
- By Chicago LG on 06-04-23
By: JD Kirk
-
The Bonnie Dead
- DCI Lomond Crime Thrillers, Book 1
- By: Andrew Raymond
- Narrated by: Angus King
- Length: 9 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Five years ago, DCI John Lomond led the search for notorious Glasgow child-killer ‘The Sandman', until personal tragedy forced him off the case. In Lomond's absence, the killer was never found. Now, with nothing but work left in his life, Lomond remains obsessed with the case–despite the nightmares it brings. When a child is abducted in similar Sandman fashion from an affluent Glasgow suburb, Lomond is brought in to find them before it's too late.
-
-
Spellbinding Book & Performance!
- By Kelly A on 06-06-23
By: Andrew Raymond
Critic reviews
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
The Distant Echo
- By: Val McDermid
- Narrated by: Tom Cotcher
- Length: 14 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Four in the morning, mid-December, and snow blankets St. Andrews School. Student Alex Gilbery and his three best friends are staggering home from a party when they stumble upon the body of a young woman. Rosie Duff has been raped, stabbed and left for dead in the ancient Pictish cemetery. The only suspects are the four young students stained with her blood. Twenty-five years later, police mount a cold case review. Among the unsolved murders they're examining is that of Rosie Duff. But someone else has his own idea of justice.
-
-
Beware, scam!!
- By CehTex on 12-14-22
By: Val McDermid
-
Killing the Shadows
- By: Val McDermid
- Narrated by: Vari Sylvester
- Length: 16 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A killer is on the loose, blurring the line between fact and fiction. His prey - the writers of crime novels who have turned psychological profilers into the heroes of the nineties. But this killer is like no other. His bloodlust shatters all the conventional wisdom surrounding the motives and mechanics of how serial killers operate. And for one woman, the desperate hunt to uncover his identity becomes a matter of life and death.
-
-
Too much
- By RITTAM! on 04-02-10
By: Val McDermid
-
A Place of Execution
- By: Val McDermid
- Narrated by: Paddy Glynn
- Length: 14 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A Greek tragedy in modern England, A Place of Execution is a taut psychological thriller that explores, exposes and explodes the border between reality and illusion in a multi-layered narrative that turns expectations on their head and reminds us that what we know is what we do not know.
-
-
Truly amazing
- By KismetKat11 on 11-17-09
By: Val McDermid
-
The Vanishing Point
- By: Val McDermid
- Narrated by: Antonia Beamish
- Length: 13 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
thriller with a nightmare scenario: a parent who loses her child in a bustling international airport. Young Jimmy Higgins is snatched from an airport security checkpoint while his guardian watches helplessly from the glass inspection box. But this is no ordinary abduction, as Jimmy is no ordinary child. His mother was Scarlett, a reality TV star who, dying of cancer and alienated from her unreliable family, entrusted the boy to the person she believed best able to give him a happy, stable life: her ghost writer, Stephanie Harker.
-
-
So close to being great
- By Brock on 03-19-13
By: Val McDermid
-
The Mermaids Singing
- By: Val McDermid
- Narrated by: Saul Reichlin
- Length: 13 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The bodies of four men have been discovered in the town of Bradfield. Enlisted to investigate is criminal psychologist Tony Hill. But profiling the psychopath is not beyond him. Hill's own past has made him the perfect man to comprehend the killer's motives. It's also made him the perfect victim. A game has begun for the hunter and the hunted. But as Hill confronts his own hidden demons, he must also come face-to-face with an evil so profound he may not have the courage—or the power—to stop it.
-
-
Not for weak stomach or LGBTQ
- By Kai Gussman on 08-27-24
By: Val McDermid
-
The Torment of Others
- By: Val McDermid
- Narrated by: Gerard Doyle
- Length: 6 hrs and 22 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a small grim room, the body of a woman is discovered, panic and pain etched in her face. The scene matches in every detail a series of murders two years ago-murders that ended when irrefutable forensic evidence secured the conviction of a deeply disturbed young man named Derek Tyler. But there's no way Tyler could have killed the latest victim. He's been locked up in a mental institution since his trial, barely speaking a word. So is there a copycat?
-
-
Very good BUT an abridged version
- By P. C..S. on 04-06-07
By: Val McDermid
-
The Distant Echo
- By: Val McDermid
- Narrated by: Tom Cotcher
- Length: 14 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Four in the morning, mid-December, and snow blankets St. Andrews School. Student Alex Gilbery and his three best friends are staggering home from a party when they stumble upon the body of a young woman. Rosie Duff has been raped, stabbed and left for dead in the ancient Pictish cemetery. The only suspects are the four young students stained with her blood. Twenty-five years later, police mount a cold case review. Among the unsolved murders they're examining is that of Rosie Duff. But someone else has his own idea of justice.
-
-
Beware, scam!!
- By CehTex on 12-14-22
By: Val McDermid
-
Killing the Shadows
- By: Val McDermid
- Narrated by: Vari Sylvester
- Length: 16 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A killer is on the loose, blurring the line between fact and fiction. His prey - the writers of crime novels who have turned psychological profilers into the heroes of the nineties. But this killer is like no other. His bloodlust shatters all the conventional wisdom surrounding the motives and mechanics of how serial killers operate. And for one woman, the desperate hunt to uncover his identity becomes a matter of life and death.
-
-
Too much
- By RITTAM! on 04-02-10
By: Val McDermid
-
A Place of Execution
- By: Val McDermid
- Narrated by: Paddy Glynn
- Length: 14 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A Greek tragedy in modern England, A Place of Execution is a taut psychological thriller that explores, exposes and explodes the border between reality and illusion in a multi-layered narrative that turns expectations on their head and reminds us that what we know is what we do not know.
-
-
Truly amazing
- By KismetKat11 on 11-17-09
By: Val McDermid
-
The Vanishing Point
- By: Val McDermid
- Narrated by: Antonia Beamish
- Length: 13 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
thriller with a nightmare scenario: a parent who loses her child in a bustling international airport. Young Jimmy Higgins is snatched from an airport security checkpoint while his guardian watches helplessly from the glass inspection box. But this is no ordinary abduction, as Jimmy is no ordinary child. His mother was Scarlett, a reality TV star who, dying of cancer and alienated from her unreliable family, entrusted the boy to the person she believed best able to give him a happy, stable life: her ghost writer, Stephanie Harker.
-
-
So close to being great
- By Brock on 03-19-13
By: Val McDermid
-
The Mermaids Singing
- By: Val McDermid
- Narrated by: Saul Reichlin
- Length: 13 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The bodies of four men have been discovered in the town of Bradfield. Enlisted to investigate is criminal psychologist Tony Hill. But profiling the psychopath is not beyond him. Hill's own past has made him the perfect man to comprehend the killer's motives. It's also made him the perfect victim. A game has begun for the hunter and the hunted. But as Hill confronts his own hidden demons, he must also come face-to-face with an evil so profound he may not have the courage—or the power—to stop it.
-
-
Not for weak stomach or LGBTQ
- By Kai Gussman on 08-27-24
By: Val McDermid
-
The Torment of Others
- By: Val McDermid
- Narrated by: Gerard Doyle
- Length: 6 hrs and 22 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a small grim room, the body of a woman is discovered, panic and pain etched in her face. The scene matches in every detail a series of murders two years ago-murders that ended when irrefutable forensic evidence secured the conviction of a deeply disturbed young man named Derek Tyler. But there's no way Tyler could have killed the latest victim. He's been locked up in a mental institution since his trial, barely speaking a word. So is there a copycat?
-
-
Very good BUT an abridged version
- By P. C..S. on 04-06-07
By: Val McDermid
What listeners say about A Darker Domain
Highly rated for:
Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Candace Walsh
- 11-22-18
Classic McDermid
Great mystery
Excellent character development
Each book in the series stands alone
Her descriptions of the environment - Scotland, Italy are immersive
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Really nice, just what I wanted
- 12-04-23
too many coincidences, too many murders
A lot to like about the writing, the main character and the performance but the numerous plotlines don’t really come together convincingly.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Love4Dufus
- 03-03-25
Once she entered the picture, Karen.
The story was good but once again I suspected who old man Grant’s daughter’s lover was almost immediately but I liked the twist in the end as to her son’s father. But it came up so fast and the last bit about the match was sloppy as hell. It was almost as if the writer had her editor standing in back of her saying…”10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5 seconds left, then I’m taking it, done or not….” It was thrown together.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Linda
- 01-10-17
DI Pirie Didn't Quite Get Her Man
What??? I hated the ending. It just ended with no preamble or explanation. Case solved I guess. I love the writing style of Val McDermid and this book was very complex with lots of plot lines. There is the search for the missing miner from 1984 requested by his daughter who is seeking a match to save the life of her young son. Her father might be a match if he can be found. Mick Prentice has been missing since 1984. Then there's the query by Sir Brody seeking information about his kidnapped grandson from 1984. After Bel, an investigative reporter looking for her big break, finds a puppet poster she recognizes as the same kind of poster used by kidnappers in the Brody kidnapping, Sir Brody asks her to help him research the location where she found this new evidence and determine if it is relevant. Each chapter jumps from 2007, the date of the current events, back to 1984 and the happenings of the two missing people. It is quite intriguing and has the reader captured BUT then Sir Brody withdraws his quest from the police and tells DI Pirie to cease and desist, and she goes ballistic. She tries to figure out how to continue without being in conflict with his request. There is much in this story to like and right up to the end I was hoping for a final resolution. But, it seems that the author got to the end and then decided she was just tired of writing. Another chapter would have been appropriate I think. the book ended with a big question mark. Maybe the next book will put the final touches on this mystery BUT leaving the reader hanging doesn't work for me. So 4 stars. The narrator was excellent and I'll keep reading McDermid. She is a terrific mystery writer. Narrator Ellidh Fraser was excellent with her Scottish accent.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Maine Knitter
- 07-01-17
Very good
Wow! So much in this one book. I liked it.
The story jumps from the present to past events to describe events in real time as opposed to having someone relate them. Took a while for me to get used to especially as I was listening to the audiobook. It made me pay attention to the dates.
I enjoyed the story. How seemingly unrelated incidents set DI Perie against her boss and on a complicated journey involving kidnapping, murder (of course), puppets, Tuscany, the miners' strike, and a potential love interest. Good stuff!
The ending surprised me. It was abrupt and I wasn't expecting it. I'm looking forward to more about Karen and Phil.
The characters are well developed and the writing is excellent. I'm sorry it's taken me so long to read McDermid's work. This is my second and won't be my last.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
- CB
- 05-19-10
A pleasant surprise
The book itself is very good; it centers on a reporter and a British police officer solving a 20 year old killing and kidnapping.
The mysteries aren't particularly mysterious, but the whole story is very engaging and interesting, and the narration is excellent.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
10 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- J. Ellis
- 08-04-21
I loved it but ...
This was a fun page turner until the very end and then I felt cheated. I like plot streams tied up but, come on, was she just tired of writing?
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- LVE.
- 06-22-24
Adam's reaction not reasonable. Ending - missing.
was excellent, until it was not. Considering the time span & supposed relationships - Adam's jump to conclusion not plausible. Could have been handled differently w/o losing the 'twists' author deemed necessary. Agree with others - ending was just that - it ended w/o any explanaton / conclusion / wrap up. Just stopped. I, too, re-read the last chapter several times to see if I missed something. Maybe author had a bus to catch.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
- BowedBookshelf
- 03-03-11
Union miner and capitalist spawn...a twisted tale
A rounded, complete mystery set in Scotland, with tentacles in Italy. A little far-fetched, perhaps, with two mysteries coinciding and intertwining, but told well, and read well by Eilidh Fraser. The head of the Cold Case Unit, Karen Pirie, investigates the reopened case of the kidnapping of the son of an important capitalist, but discovers it is connected to the disappearance of a union miner.
The characters and the settings are richly described and the mystery progresses with clarit...moreA rounded, complete mystery set in Scotland, with tentacles in Italy. A little far-fetched, perhaps, with two mysteries coinciding and intertwining, but told well, and read well by Eilidh Fraser. The head of the Cold Case Unit, Karen Pirie, investigates the reopened case of the kidnapping of the son of an important capitalist, but discovers it is connected to the disappearance of a union miner.
The characters and the settings are richly described and the mystery progresses with clarity and increasing depth. The tension between journalist, capitalist, striking union, and police is nicely defined. Family and office internecine conflicts feel agonizingly real and punitive and all are on display.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
7 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Chana Goanna
- 06-05-16
Gaping plot hole
Am I the only one who caught it? Otherwise, good up till the last few chapters, with excellent portrayal of the '80s miners' strike. I felt that the author rushed through the last bits and couldn't be bothered to tie up loose ends and missed a major plot hole. The performance was overall okay, with a few overwrought moments.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!