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A Great Deliverance

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A Great Deliverance

By: Elizabeth George
Narrated by: Donada Peters
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About this listen

 The investigation of a vicious murder exposes a quiet community’s sinister web of secrets—the “spellbinding” (Chicago Sun-Times) first novel in the #1 New York Times bestselling Inspector Lynley series

Don’t miss the upcoming BritBox streaming series Lynley!

“Pure entertainment from its insidious beginning to its gripping end.”—The Washington Post Book World

To this day, the low, thin wail of an infant can be heard in Keldale’s lush green valleys. Three hundred years ago, as legend goes, the frightened Yorkshire villagers smothered a crying babe in Keldale Abbey, where they’d hidden to escape the ravages of Cromwell’s raiders.

Now into Keldale’s pastoral web of old houses and older secrets comes Scotland Yard Inspector Thomas Lynley, the eighth earl of Asherton. Along with the redoubtable Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers, Lynley has been sent to solve a savage murder that has stunned the peaceful countryside. For fat, unlovely Roberta Teys has been found in her best dress, an axe in her lap, seated in the old stone barn beside her father’s headless corpse. Her first and last words were “I did it. And I’m not sorry.”

Yet as Lynley and Havers wind their way through Keldale’s dark labyrinth of secret scandals and appalling crimes, they uncover a shattering series of revelations that will reverberate through this tranquil English valley—and in their own lives as well. Crime Fiction Mystery Police Procedural Psychological Suspense Thriller Thriller & Suspense Traditional Detectives

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Critic reviews

“Elizabeth George reigns as a queen of the mystery genre. The Lynley books constitute the smartest, most gratifyingly complex and impassioned mystery series now being published.”—Entertainment Weekly

“Spellbinding . . . a truly fascinating story that is part psychological suspense and part detective story.”— Chicago Sun-Times

“Pure entertainment from its insidious beginning to its gripping end.”—The Washington Post Book World

“Exceptionally assured and impressive . . . highly entertaining.”—Newsweek

“Awesome . . . immediately thrusts the author into P.D. James’ dark orbit.”—Kirkus Reviews
All stars
Most relevant
I revisited this book recently, Good story, builds up the atmosphere, but a bit dated.

Much better than the TV series

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The complex relationships can be a challenge, but the storyline is such that it draws you in again and again.

A riveting story. Crucial that you listen to the final minute.

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misogynistic, classiest, not much else to say. I only listened to five chapters. Not like the ITV series at all

lack of focus on the plot

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A superb novel. Twists. Turns. Harrowing in places. Classic EG! I loved it! Beautifully read and hugely enjoyable!

A superb multiple-murder mystery!!

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The first thing was that the American words and pronunciations drove me mad. I particularly loathe the word "candy". I thought "how can a British voice actor make these errors in a British story?". What a fool. This is a story seeped in English mood and colour that was actually written by an American. So I got over myself.

The next thing is that it is just a bit of fluff until Havers' pain is brought to life. I found a couple of sections genuinely painful to hear, but in a good way. I want to know more about how that character develops than Lynley himself. I have bought the second book for that alone. Whether her editor later edits out her small language inconsistencies is neither here nor there.

Messy, but extraordinary in places

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