Past Lying cover art

Past Lying

Karen Pirie Novels, Book 7

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Past Lying

By: Val McDermid
Narrated by: Lauren Lyle
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About this listen

THE HEART-POUNDING NEW NOVEL IN THE KAREN PIRIE SERIES, NOW A MAJOR ITV SERIES STARRING LAUREN LYLE

Edinburgh, haunted by the ghosts of its many writers, is also the cold case beat of DCI Karen Pirie. So she shouldn't be surprised when an author's manuscript appears to be a blueprint for an actual crime.

Karen can't ignore the plot's chilling similarities to the unsolved case of an Edinburgh University student who vanished from her own doorstep. The manuscript seems to be the key to unlocking what happened to Lara Hardie, but there's a problem: the author died before he finished it.

As Karen digs deeper, she uncovers a spiraling game of betrayal and revenge, where lies are indistinguishable from the truth and with more than one unexpected twist . . .

The Queen of Crime Val McDermid is at the top of her game in her most gripping and fiendishly clever case yet.

©2023 Val McDermid (P)2023 W. F. Howes Ltd Crime Crime Fiction Detective Fiction International Mystery & Crime Mystery Women Sleuths Women's Fiction Cold Case Haunted Heartfelt Suspense

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All stars
Most relevant
It doesn’t seem a popular opinion but I was delighted to have a new narrator. I gave up on any audio books featuring Cathleen McCarron as I couldn’t stand her voice (purchasing hard copies or Kindle instead) so I was delighted to be able to listen to Karen Pirie again without the nasal and shrill previous narrator. Really interesting plot too, throughly enjoyed this - well worth the wait.

Thoroughly enjoyed this intriguing plot

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The audio quality is a distraction. Frequent sections sound completely different in tone and volume, which makes it seem that they were re-recorded and then slotted in.
I love Val and her work, but this shoddy audio quality really ruins the listening experience.

Great story let down by poor audio quality

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I’ve loved the Karen Pirie novels and this didn’t disappoint - in terms of the story it was clever and compelling and sucked me, thankfully only for a short time, back into the early days of the pandemic.
I love this actors performance as Pirie one the tv series but she isn’t a great narrator, with mistakes in the script and inconsistent pace of speech. There were also annoying issues in the recording with volume variations and muffling of speech.

Great story disappointing narration

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intense. This had me caught in a weave until the very last. And Montreal?

Intense

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I stuck with this because I really wanted to hear the book as I've enjoyed all of the other Karen Pirie novels. I live in Leith and enjoy recognising the locations. The story is very good but the narration is truly excruciating. Terrible misplaced emphases, bad phrasing and appalling mispronunciations, including many of the Edinburgh place names. Val McDermid deserves so much better.

Good book... terrible narration

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