Talking to the Dead
A chilling British detective crime thriller
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3.0 • 2 Ratings
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- €2.99
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- €2.99
Publisher Description
A shocking crime. A ruthless killer. And the strangest, youngest detective in the South Wales Major Crimes Unit is about to face the fiercest test of her short career.
A woman and her six-year-old daughter are killed with chilling brutality in a dingy flat. The only clue: the platinum bank card of a long-dead tycoon.
DC Griffiths has already proved herself dedicated to the job, but there's another side to her she is less keen to reveal. Something to do with a mysterious two-year gap in her CV - and an unusual familiarity with corpses.
Fiona is desperate to put the past behind her but as more gruesome killings follow, the case leads her back into those dark places in her own mind where another dead girl is waiting to be found...
Talking to The Dead is the first book in the DC Fiona Griffiths Crime Thriller series. If you like dark police procedurals, a ruthless killer, psychologically complex characters, and unusual twists, then this is the new crime thriller series you've been waiting for.
With a ruthless killer, a host of likely suspects, tight plotting, gritty characters, and a twist that will feel like a punch to the gut, this is the Scandi crime thriller you've been waiting for.
Praise for the Fiona Griffiths mystery series:
'I have to say that in a lifetime of reading crime fiction I have never come across anyone quite like Fiona Griffiths . . . Read this book. Enjoy every syllable. Hold your breath, and tick off the weeks until the next one' Crime Fiction Lover
'Compelling...a new crime talent to treasure' Daily Mail
'Gritty, compelling...a procedural unlike any other you are likely to read this year' USA Today
'With Detective Constable Fiona 'Fi' Griffiths, Harry Bingham...finds a sweet spot in crime fiction...think Stieg Larsson's Lisbeth Salander...[or] Lee Child's Jack Reacher... The writing is terrific' The Boston Globe
'This cleverly plotted police procedural introduces a likeable, maverick detective destined for a bestseller following' Choice
Fans of Angela Marsons, Peter James and Ann Cleeves will be gripped by the other titles in the Fiona Griffiths mystery series:
1. Talking to the Dead
2. Love Story, With Murders
3. The Strange Death of Fiona Griffiths
4. This Thing of Darkness
5. The Dead House
6. The Deepest Grave (coming soon!)
If you're looking for a crime thriller series to keep you hooked, then go no further: you've just found it.
** Each Fiona Griffiths thriller can be read as a standalone or in series order **
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Fans of Stieg Larsson's Lisbeth Salander will cotton to the heroine of British author Bingham's highly entertaining U.S. debut, Det. Constable Fiona Griffiths, whose social awkwardness and intensity make her unpopular among her fellow officers in Cardiff, Wales. Fiona's current assignment, which makes use of her paper work expertise in tracking money stolen from a Catholic boys' school fund, allows her to worm her way into the murder investigation of a woman with a history of drugs and prostitution. Fiona believes that the platinum credit card of a wealthy, recently deceased tycoon found at the scene of the crime hints at a deeper conspiracy, especially when another prostitute is murdered. Fiona's habit of spending time with the corpses in the morgue may be bizarre, but Bingham makes this quirk a believable and thoughtful way for her to process clues. An insightful look at a damaged, unusual woman trying to fit in as well as a view of past and present Wales enhance the brisk, realistic plot.
Customer Reviews
Deceptively formulaic procedural
The first novel in Harry Bingham’s series featuring DC Fiona Griffiths is a police procedural centring on the murders of women (and a six-year-old girl), people-and-drug-trafficking and some brutal violence. Its protagonist is a maverick detective with a deeply troubled past, a carefully chosen bundle of quirks and eccentricities and a strong disinclination to follow procedure. Sounds a bit formulaic, even hackneyed, doesn’t it?
Don’t worry. Bingham uses the formula simply as scaffolding. There is no mystery as to who committed the murders and the story’s surprises have to do with the interactions of the well drawn characters rather than with whodunnit-and-why. Fiona’s secret—or, rather, the first part of it, the part she knows about—turns out to be an extremely unusual one, yet I found her abnormal psychology very easy to sympathize with and (never thought I’d write this) to “relate” to. I enjoyed this a lot more than a bare description would have led me to expect.