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On a freezing morning four drunken students stumble upon the body of a woman in the snow. Rosie has been raped, stabbed and left for dead in a cemetery. The only suspects are the four young men now stained with her blood. Twenty-five years later the police mount a cold-case review of Rosie’s unsolved murder, and the four are still suspects. But when two of them die in suspicious circumstances, it seems that someone is pursuing their own brand of justice....
In the Peak District village of Scarsdale, 13-year-old girls didn’t just run away. So when Alison Carter vanished in the winter of '63, everyone knew it was a murder. Catherine Heathcote remembers the case well - a child herself when Alison vanished. Now a journalist, she persuades DI George Bennett to speak of the hunt for Alison. But when a fresh lead emerges, Bennett tries to stop the story - plunging Catherine into a world of buried secrets and revelations.
Up until now the only serial killers Tony Hill had encountered were safely behind bars. This one’s different - this one’s on the loose. Four men have been found mutilated and tortured. As fear grips the city, the police turn to clinical psychologist Tony Hill for a profile of the killer. But soon Tony becomes the unsuspecting target in a battle of wits and wills, where he has to use every ounce of his professional nerve to survive.
Joseph O'Loughlin appears to have the perfect life: a beautiful wife, a loving daughter, and a successful career as a clinical psychologist. But nothing can be taken for granted. Even the most flawless existence is only one loose thread away from unravelling. All it takes is a murdered girl, a troubled young patient - and the biggest lie of his life.
One psychopath. One killer. The Stabber. Six victims, all wife beaters. Each stabbed to death through their left eye. Six victims, all wife beaters. Each stabbed to death through their left eye. The cobbled lanes and backstreets of St Andrews provide the setting for these brutal killings.
Under cover of night in Richmond, Virginia, a human monster strikes, leaving a gruesome trail of stranglings that has paralysed the city. Medical examiner Kay Scarpetta suspects the worst: a deliberate campaign by a brilliant serial killer whose signature offers precious few clues. With an unerring eye, she calls on the latest advances in forensic research to unmask the madman.
On a freezing morning four drunken students stumble upon the body of a woman in the snow. Rosie has been raped, stabbed and left for dead in a cemetery. The only suspects are the four young men now stained with her blood. Twenty-five years later the police mount a cold-case review of Rosie’s unsolved murder, and the four are still suspects. But when two of them die in suspicious circumstances, it seems that someone is pursuing their own brand of justice....
In the Peak District village of Scarsdale, 13-year-old girls didn’t just run away. So when Alison Carter vanished in the winter of '63, everyone knew it was a murder. Catherine Heathcote remembers the case well - a child herself when Alison vanished. Now a journalist, she persuades DI George Bennett to speak of the hunt for Alison. But when a fresh lead emerges, Bennett tries to stop the story - plunging Catherine into a world of buried secrets and revelations.
Up until now the only serial killers Tony Hill had encountered were safely behind bars. This one’s different - this one’s on the loose. Four men have been found mutilated and tortured. As fear grips the city, the police turn to clinical psychologist Tony Hill for a profile of the killer. But soon Tony becomes the unsuspecting target in a battle of wits and wills, where he has to use every ounce of his professional nerve to survive.
Joseph O'Loughlin appears to have the perfect life: a beautiful wife, a loving daughter, and a successful career as a clinical psychologist. But nothing can be taken for granted. Even the most flawless existence is only one loose thread away from unravelling. All it takes is a murdered girl, a troubled young patient - and the biggest lie of his life.
One psychopath. One killer. The Stabber. Six victims, all wife beaters. Each stabbed to death through their left eye. Six victims, all wife beaters. Each stabbed to death through their left eye. The cobbled lanes and backstreets of St Andrews provide the setting for these brutal killings.
Under cover of night in Richmond, Virginia, a human monster strikes, leaving a gruesome trail of stranglings that has paralysed the city. Medical examiner Kay Scarpetta suspects the worst: a deliberate campaign by a brilliant serial killer whose signature offers precious few clues. With an unerring eye, she calls on the latest advances in forensic research to unmask the madman.
Jan Reyna is a murder squad detective, British by adoption and choice, Faroese by birth and history. Called back to the remote Danish Faroe Islands when his father suffers a paralysing stroke, Reyna is forced to reexamine his decades-long rejection of the past and of his father in particular. But in this now-foreign country, whose language and customs he no longer understands, Reyna is also drawn into a rare Faroese murder case.
Harlan Coben was voted winner of the Bestseller Dagger at the 2009 Crime Writers' Association's Crime Thriller awards .
Myron Bolitar might have a slightly dubious past, but he knows how to handle himself and is doing just fine as a sports agent. And then he meets Brenda Slaughter, one of the hottest female sports stars around. She's gorgeous, funny and single, and also seems to have mislaid her agent. But when her father disappears, and the Mob starts leaning on her, it soon becomes apparent that potent forces are at work. And the more Myron tries to help, the closer he gets to losing his heart - and his life.
When torrential summer rains uncover a bizarrely tattooed body on a Lake District hillside, old wives' tales also come swirling to the surface. For centuries Lakelanders have whispered that Fletcher Christian staged the massacre on Pitcairn so that he could return home. And there he told his story to an old friend and schoolmate, William Wordsworth, who turned it into a long narrative poem.
Monday, the lowest point of the week. A day of dark impulses. A day to snatch a child from the streets.... The abduction of five-year-old Matthew Farraday provokes national outcry and a desperate police hunt. And when his face is splashed over the newspapers, psychotherapist Frieda Klein is left troubled: one of her patients has been relating dreams in which he has a hunger for a child. A child he can describe in perfect detail, a child the spitting image of Matthew. Detective Chief Inspector Karlsson doesn't take Frieda's concerns seriously until a link emerges with an unsolved abduction twenty years ago....
Cal McGill is an Edinburgh-based oceanographer, environmentalist and one-of-a-kind investigator. Using his knowledge of the waves - ocean currents, prevailing winds, shipping records - McGill can track where objects came from or where they've gone. It's a skill that can help solve mysteries ranging from disappearances to murder. Two severed feet wash up on two different islands off the coast of Scotland. Forensics shows that the feet belong to the same body.
Famous, beautiful, and talented, Heike Gunn has the world at her feet. Then one day she simply vanishes. Jack Parlabane has lost everything. A call from an old friend offers a chance for redemption--but only if he can find out what happened to Heike. From Berlin to Barcelona, from the streets of Milan to remote Scottish islands, Parlabane must find out what happened before it's too late, all while the walls are closing in...
An archaeologist studying on a site at Whalsay discovers a set of human remains. Is it an ancient find - or a more contemporary mystery? Then an elderly woman is shot in a tragic accident. Shetland detective Jimmy Perez is called in by her grandson - his own colleague, Sandy Wilson. Mima Wilson was a recluse. She had her land, her pride and her family.
When she's not digging up bones or other ancient objects, Ruth Galloway lectures at the University of North Norfolk. She lives happily alone in a remote place called Saltmarsh overlooking the North Sea and, for company; she has her cats Flint and Sparky, and Radio 4. When a child's bones are found in the marshes near an ancient site that Ruth worked on ten years earlier, Ruth is asked to date them.
Five-year-old Jimmy Higgins is brazenly snatched from the middle of a busy airport; but this is no ordinary kidnapping. Jimmy’s mother is Scarlett, a reality TV star who, dying of cancer, entrusted the boy to her friend Stephanie Harker. Now Stephanie, reaching into the past to discover the motive behind the abduction, soon encounters a shocking tale of murder and conspiracy, and is faced by the most difficult choice of her life.
This was meant to be the perfect trip. The northern lights. A press launch on a luxury cruise ship. A chance for travel journalist Lo Blackwood to recover from a traumatic break-in that has left her on the verge of collapse and to work out what she wants from her relationship. Except things don't go as planned. Woken in the night by screams, Lo rushes to her window to see a body thrown overboard from the next-door cabin. But the records show that no one ever checked in to that cabin, and no passengers are missing from the boat.
DCI Jim Daley is sent from the city to investigate a murder after the body of a woman is washed up on an idyllic beach on the West Coast of Scotland. Far away from urban resources, he finds himself a stranger in a close-knit community. Love, betrayal, fear and death stalk the small town, as Daley investigates a case that becomes more deadly than he could possibly imagine, in this compelling Scottish crime novel infused with intrigue and dark humour.
Detective Chief Inspector Ryan retreats to Holy Island seeking sanctuary when he is forced to take sabbatical leave from his duties as a homicide detective. A few days before Christmas, his peace is shattered, and he is thrust back into the murky world of murder when a young woman is found dead amongst the ancient ruins of the nearby priory. When former local girl Dr. Anna Taylor arrives back on the island as a police consultant, old memories swim to the surface, making her confront her difficult past.
Twenty-three years later, a young woman is asking the police to trace her missing father. Miner Mick Prentice vanished, never to be seen again. Soon, DI Karen Pirie and DS Phil Parharta find themselves investigating a forgotten disappearance.
I'd sometimes shied away from Val McDermid's books, despite my admiration from her excellent writing, as I found her viscerally explicit descriptions of violent and cruel acts off-putting. This book is quite different for, although it does involve deaths these are peripheral to the two intricate and cleverly intertwined stories that kept me rapt for many hours eager to find out how the stories ended. A splendid book with a good narrator.
25 of 25 people found this review helpful
If you could sum up A Darker Domain in three words, what would they be?
This was a fast moving plot with no boring and unecessary facts. The clever plot starts with the search for a man who went missing 20 years previously during the time of the miners strikes. Also at that time in a nearby location was the death of a well-heeled woman after a kidnapping turned sour and the disappearance of her son, then a baby.The story takes you to beautiful Italy with it's laid back "hippy style" communes and also into the lives of a powerful familiy who believe they are beyond the law.The relationship between the reporters and Police was revealing and so accurate.My only gripe is the ending which was left a little unfinished.
Who was your favorite character and why?
Undoubtably the best character was DI Pirie. Fiesty yet likeable with grit and determination, a person not to be cowed by her supervisors nor class division. A good cop who gets the job done.
Have you listened to any of Eilidh Fraser’s other performances? How does this one compare?
A good performance by Eilidh Fraser whose lilting tones fitted the story so well.
11 of 11 people found this review helpful
I stuck with this book as really not sure about the narrator - guess I've been spoilt by Sean Barrett and Steven Pacey who are excellent. Good story with the background running alongside, came together well towards the end but very disappointed with the unfinished ending - a lot of guessing left with the story on both sides.
All in all ok, but not sure I would recommend as a great read compared to some of the many books I have listened to. Don't want to put anyone off but a 3 star from me.
10 of 10 people found this review helpful
Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?
Yes. The plot is plausible, and the characters are interesting.
What was one of the most memorable moments of A Darker Domain?
The descriptions of the hardships suffered by striking miners, and the conflicting loyalties they faced.
What three words best describe Eilidh Fraser’s performance?
A bit staccato. She put pauses, every few words, which I found, irritating after, a while.
If you made a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?
Light and dark in Scotland and Italy.
9 of 9 people found this review helpful
What did you like best about this story?
Loved the plot twists and turns and the colourful characters. My first Val McDermid book. Gonna get more!
What do you think the narrator could have done better?
Lovely and appropriate to have it read in a Scottish accent, but she couldn't really vary it at all - posh Scottish, strong Fife and English sounded pretty much the same. For a short cringeworthy section she tried to do a strong Italian accent. I felt her pain.
There were basic pronunciation mistakes, especially with the Italian words, that could have been easily researched.
Barring that, she told the story well and it must be a bit of a marathon reading for an audiobook, so respect anyway.
7 of 7 people found this review helpful
A typically enthralling story from Val Mcdermid set in her home area and read in a dialect understandable to most .....however Eilidh Fraser was in sore need of pronunciation advice. Once I could ignore ( eg the mangle-ing of the striking Scot's miners leader's name) but by the 5th or 6th occasion it was really becoming annoying and not even with particularly unusual words. I feel sorry for the reader but especially sad that such a popular author has her work let down in this way. And it is a great story!
5 of 5 people found this review helpful
I'm a fan of this writer and the story was good with lots of twists and turns, no gruesome violence and gore and it is very well read.
The action moves between the UK and Tuscany.
The last hour, however, stretched credibility which was a shame but I'd still recommend it.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful
This one wasn't for me, I usually love a good Val McDermaid but I found this one confusing to the last.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful
I struggled to get into this book, rewinding whole chunks to see whether I could determine any kind of hook, but sadly I wasn't able to. Maybe the timelines which bounced between the late 1970s, the 1984 Miners' Strike and modern day made it more disjointed? I finally gave up at 3hr 30min and asked Audible for a refund.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful
Good book, lots of twists and turns but for me the end was decidedly abrupt and after buying into the actions of the villains I would have liked to know more about their fate. Worth listening to though. Hey ho!
3 of 3 people found this review helpful