Preview
  • A Fatal Secret

  • Ryder and Loveday, Book 4
  • By: Faith Martin
  • Narrated by: Stephanie Racine
  • Length: 8 hrs and 47 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (153 ratings)

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A Fatal Secret

By: Faith Martin
Narrated by: Stephanie Racine
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Publisher's summary

Don’t miss Faith Martin’s fiendishly clever new novel, Murder by Candlelight, set in the 1920s and described as ‘the perfect village mystery’ by J.M. Hall

‘The pairing of Ryder and Loveday is a stroke of genius.’ Clare Chase, author of the Eve Mallow and Tara Thorpe mysteries

Oxford, 1961. A family day out at Briar’s Hall ends in tragedy when a young boy goes missing – and his body is found at the bottom of a disused well in the orchard.

It looks like a simple case of an eleven-year-old exploring where he shouldn’t: a tragic accident. But Coroner Clement Ryder and Probationary WPC Trudy Loveday aren’t convinced. If Eddie had been climbing and fallen, why were there no cuts or dirt on his hands? Why would a boy terrified of heights be around a well at all?

Clement and Trudy are determined to get to the truth, but the more they dig into Briar’s Hall and the mysterious de Lacey family who live there, the murkier things become.

Could it be that poor Eddie’s death was murder? There are rumours of blackmail in the village, and Clement and Trudy have a horrible feeling that Eddie stumbled on a secret that someone was willing to kill for…

Fans of Richard Osman, Agatha Christie and Faith Martin’s DI Hillary Greene series will not want to miss this!

‘Absolutely loved it… The characters were some of the best I’ve read in a long time.’ Angela Marsons, no. 1 bestselling author of the Kim Stone series

The Ryder and Loveday Series
Book 1: A FATAL OBSESSION
Book 2: A FATAL MISTAKE
Book 3: A FATAL FLAW
Book 4: A FATAL SECRET
Book 5: A FATAL TRUTH
Book 6: A FATAL AFFAIR
Book 7: A FATAL NIGHT
Book 8: A FATAL END

©2019 Faith Martin (P)2019 HarperCollins Publishers Limited
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What listeners say about A Fatal Secret

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Another excellent work

I thoroughly enjoyed this installment and cannot wait until the next stage of Trudy’s evolution as a police officer.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

The series continues to entertain

This is the fourth book in this series. We have an interesting pairing of a young probationary woman police constable and an aging Coroner. They’re good together.

The series takes place in the 60s and women aren’t welcomed warmly in the police. So Trudy is given permission to work with Doctor Ryder and, in this case, they are asked to investigate the death of a young boy who presumably fell into a well.

The narration was well done and the story developed well.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

It might start slow but it sure heats up.

This series by Faith Martin is excellent. It starts slow while we meet the characters then it get rather exciting. The narration by Stephanie Racine is. pretty good. I think I actually enjoyed it more when I read these books rather than listen to them.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Good edition the this series

The review describes the plot adequately. As the series is based on the relationship between our two main characters, Trudy and the Coroner, you should start at the beginning. This is an author who respects her readers and does not waste our time explaining facts that have been covered in previous books. The mystery, itself, who killed the boy found in the well, was nicely done.

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3 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Still good, but…..

As before, narration was very good.
Plot wise, I found this to be less interesting than the previous books. There weren’t much of other characters to add humour, and not much character development to the main leads too.
A main gripe with the whole book was how the end confrontation scene was so DRAGGED. An action scene which could be described in a minute or two took 5 or more minutes as every thought in Trudy’s mind was described, with no action at all. It went on and on until she finally snapped out to do something.
I also noticed that since from book 3, the author always had Trudy or other characters sighing non stop. One conversation would see Trudy sighing 5 times. It was as if the author could not find other way to describe Trudy’s frustration.

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