A Song from Dead Lips cover art

A Song from Dead Lips

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A Song from Dead Lips

By: William Shaw
Narrated by: Cameron Stewart
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About this listen

London, October 1968. As Beatles fans encamp outside Abbey Road Studios up the road, the Marylebone CID is as much an old boys' club as it ever was: comfortably sexist, racially prejudiced and crawling with corruption.

Detective Sergeant Cathal Breen is the pariah of the office, having just run out on a fellow officer held at knifepoint, when it's shaken up by the arrival of WPC Helen Tozer: awkward chatterbox, farmgirl, and the first woman to enter the murder unit - apart from the secretary.

When a young woman is found naked and strangled in well-to-do St John's Wood, her identity is a mystery. The neighbours offer nothing but xenophobic suspicions, witnesses are staying silent; only Tozer's savvy gives Breen a lead.

Following it, resourceless, deep into the rural backwaters, Breen sees one dead body lead to another - a trail of bloodshed taking them dangerously close to a killer with everything to lose...

©2013 William Shaw (P)2014 Audible, Inc. Suspense Thriller & Suspense Fiction Mystery

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All stars
Most relevant
A new author for me and a new narrator.

A cracking story set in London at the latter end of the sixties. You should be aware that
the book does contain some prejudices against working women and racial slurs but this didn't offend me at all. It seemed to be 'normal' for the setting.

Starts slowly and builds up in to a nice who dun it but it does go a little bit flat at the end. Throw in believable characters, a tiny bit about the Beatles/other musicians, bit about London and you really do have a half decent book though. The narration was spot on.

Worth the money :)

The swinging 60's plus murder

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Excellent story but what I loved about the book was the recreation of the 60's. How people lived, treated each other and the emergence of female liberation. it brought back memories, although I was born in 1956 so was more of a child during the 50's. But I remember the brown carpets, greenshield stamps and the protest marches.
The way the men treated Constable Tozzer wouldn't be acceptable now but I loved how she didn't get offended, just gave as good as she got. You could feel how she liked the banter and perhaps we have lost something by becoming so PC. Different time, different rules. I look forward to reading the rest of the series.
I also liked how real life events were brought into the story. The whole book was so believable. If you lived during that time it is a walk down memory lane and if you didn't read it to see how we got to where we are now.

Good commentary on the 60's era

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I enjoyed this story much more than I thought I would. It really captured the feel of the sixties and I'm looking forward to hearing more of Breen and Helen

Very enjoyable

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Nostalgic 60s background, Beatles, racism and prejudice. Voices irritating. Decently crafted plot. Cupids books better.

A Song From Dead Lips

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I think this is the first in the series which is why I thought I'd take the plunge. It was OK really - it is dated and has dreadful attitudes shown towards women and Africans , generally the story was OKish, but I didn't really like the rookie detective Tozer - I may try the next in the series after a bit of research as I do generally like William Shaw. I have just finished this book and have an 'underwhelmed and dissatisfied' feeling.
The Main character Breen, is OK and I think it may be worth a try to check out number 2. Cameron Stewart was fine with the narration - though his women's voices made me laugh on occasions.

Dated and a little disappointing

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