Clean Break cover art

Clean Break

PI Kate Brannigan, Book 4

 Preview
Get this deal Try Premium Plus free
Offer ends 29 January 2026 at 11:59PM GMT.
Prime members: New to Audible? Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Just £0.99/mo for your first 3 months of Audible.
1 bestseller or new release per month—yours to keep.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, podcasts, and Originals.
Auto-renews at £8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically.

Clean Break

By: Val McDermid
Narrated by: Chloe Massey
Get this deal Try Premium Plus free

£8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly. Offer ends 29 January 2026 at 11:59PM GMT.

£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

About this listen

The fourth riveting thriller in the Kate Brannigan series, from best-selling author Val McDermid.

When a Monet is stolen from a stately home, Manchester-based private eye Kate Brannigan goes head to head with organised crime as she hunts the thieves through Europe.

Meanwhile, someone is leaving a trail of bodies across the Northwest. As Kate confronts some harsh truths in her own life, the case stretches her love and loyalty to its limits.

©1995 Val McDermid (P)2019 W. F. Howes Ltd Crime Thrillers Detective Fiction Mystery Suspense Thriller Thriller & Suspense Women Sleuths Women's Fiction Crime Exciting

Listeners also enjoyed...

 The Infirmary: A DCI Ryan Mystery (Multicast Drama) cover art
The Murder Wall cover art
Above Suspicion cover art
The Body in the Marsh cover art
Broadland cover art
Hurt cover art
Behind Closed Doors cover art
Trapped cover art
Rebus cover art
Frozen Out cover art
Skinner's Rules cover art
Soho Dead cover art
Cold Monday cover art
Inhuman Remains cover art

Critic reviews

"Stunningly exciting, horrifyingly good." (Ruth Rendell)

"A clever and exciting thriller." (Sunday Telegraph)

"The Queen of Crime is still at the top of her game." (Independent)
All stars
Most relevant
It had the requisite mix of deceit, robbery, death and fraud to make it entertaining, but the overly frequent similes became irritating.
I don't know if Chloe Massey had been instructed to change her narration style, but this time round it was lacking in intonation, which detracted from the delivery of the story, with a couple of bizarre pronunciations. At least the awful Scouse accent remained consistent though.
It can't have been that bad, I've downloaded the next in the series.

Enjoyable, but not as good as the previous books

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Every bit of tech is described is great detail, seems to form a large part of the story for whatever reason. This issue with this is that the book was Originally written 20+ years ago so it’s hugely outdated, dial up internet, fax machines, cassette tapes!! The audio book was recorded in 2019 so I found this surprising. It did detract from the story for me

Outdated tech detracts from decent story

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The narrator draws you into what is a really good story. I will definitely be continuing with the series

Engaging read

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The plot becomes too far fetched & ridiculous in the latter third. Almost gave up

ok listen

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Loved this book mainly because the narrator was fantastic. I hope to find she has narrated more.

What fantastic narration

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews