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  • Talking to the Dead

  • Fiona Griffiths, Book 1
  • By: Harry Bingham
  • Narrated by: Siriol Jenkins
  • Length: 11 hrs and 8 mins
  • 4.2 out of 5 stars (205 ratings)
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Talking to the Dead cover art

Talking to the Dead

By: Harry Bingham
Narrated by: Siriol Jenkins
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Summary

For rookie detective constable Fiona Griffiths, her first major investigation promises to be a tough initiation. A young woman and her six-year-old daughter have been found brutally murdered in a squalid flat, the single clue a platinum credit card belonging to a millionaire businessman who died in a plane crash six months before. For her fellow cops, it's just another case of a low-rent prostitute meeting the wrong kind of client and coming to a nasty end, but Fiona is convinced that the tragic lives and cruel deaths of this mother and daughter are part of a deeper, darker mystery.

Fiona, however, has secrets of her own. She is still recovering from a crushing psychological breakdown, and the feelings that haunt her are constantly threatening to undermine the mask of normality she has learned to wear. As she begins to piece together a bizarre and terrifying conspiracy, Fiona finds that what makes her vulnerable also gives her a unique insight into the secrets of the dead, and in solving the murders she can begin to start solving the riddles of her own past.

Read by Siriol Jenkins: Siriol was a member of the BBC Radio Drama Company and has appeared extensively on BBC Radio 4. She has won several awards including the Radio Times Drama and Comedy Award for Best New Actress for her role as Judy in Unreasonable Behaviour, a Bronze Sony Award for BBC Radio Wales' Comedy Series The Ll Files, and a Mind Media Award for Sunbathing in the Rain by Gwyneth Lewis. She has also read a variety of stories and books for radio including Jon-Jin by Rose Tremain and Nia Wyn's Blue Sky July. She has narrated many documentaries for both BBC and ITV including A Garden in Snowdonia and Bellamy's African Dream. She lives in South Wales with her husband and two children.

©2012 Harry Bingham (P)2012 Isis Publishing

What listeners say about Talking to the Dead

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

A good little listen

Well performed. Good story with enough going on to keep you entertained. Worth having it keep you company for a while

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Fantastic!

Incredible book in a wonderful series. Be warned you will be buying the rest of the series too. Its totally addictive!

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Loved this one

Would you listen to Talking to the Dead again? Why?

Yes, eventually. Fiona is an interesting character and I've enjoyed getting to know her,

What did you like best about this story?

It's a good solid crime story which is well paced and kept me interested right up to the end. I really like the main character, Fiona Griffiths, and wanted to know how she was going to deal with what was going on around her.

What does Siriol Jenkins bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?

She reads it very well. I wouldn't have had a clue how to pronounce all the Welsh place names.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes, I raced through it, listening to it at every possible opportunity.

Any additional comments?

I downloaded book 2 in the series as soon as I finished.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Strange!

Any additional comments?

This book had something that engaged me for some time, but I ran out of interest a couple of hours before the end and will return it. Fiona, the DC, is a pretty disturbed individual. That itself wouldn't be a problem, but I repeatedly had to suspend disbelief (not ideal in modern crime fiction) as she did all sorts of unlikely things that would have had her quickly out of the Police force. Yes, she is often told off by her superior, but that she repeatedly got away with doing her own thing without him, or indeed anyone in her department even noticing, was, well a bit ridiculous. In addition to that, the story drags.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent police procedural

Very well written page-Turner. The main character, Fiona, starts off as a bit of a cliche, rap if you’ve seen The Bridge (although I think this was written before that aired), but it turns into something quite different.

Highly recommend. And the author, despite being male, does NOT fall into the “her breasts strained against her shirt as she walked into the forensic lab” school of writing that tarnished so many male-written books of this genre. His characters are all believable and well-rounded.

Worth an Audible credit, definitely.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Wonderful central character

Loved this book, especially Fiona Griffiths, the fascinating and truly original central character. Admirably clear performance.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

A hidden gem!

Siriol Jenkins' wonderful narration is the real star of this audiobook. Her beautiful, lilting Welsh accent guides the listener through gruesome crime scenes and police procedure with a quiet detachment that's 100% in tune with the character of DC Fiona Griffiths.

This series was recommended, and I was hooked early on. It's pretty popular these days to write a detective with peculiar habits and a mysterious past, and this follows that trend. Like most fictional detectives, she doesn't follow the rules, and there are many times when you can't believe she hasn't been fired by now. And, of course, frequent wild hunches turn out to be true. But I liked the character and the book enough that I didn't mind at all.

The well-crafted writing focuses more on character than crime; in some ways, it's more like a regular novel than a thriller. It's a really good listen, and I'm surprised this series isn't better known.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

excellent book and performance.

I really enjoyed this book, brilliant character development and story pace. The reading performance was excellent. Going straight to the next book in the series.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

really enjoyed it

So different to other detective stories. Really well written. Sense of humour and deep understanding of women.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great Read/ Hear

What was one of the most memorable moments of Talking to the Dead?

Love the Figthing and the 'Material Arts' Teacher

Any additional comments?

The story is well paced and goes deeply into the emotions or non emotions of our fascinating detective.
A good Krimi with some interesting twists. Sensitive Storytelling

I needed to get used to the Storyteller (female) but now I have warmed up to the voice.
Still -1 Star because of the 'Geting used to Period' and not beeing able to Jumpstart instantly with her

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6 people found this helpful