Fatal Last Words Audiobook By Quintin Jardine cover art

Fatal Last Words

Bob Skinner, Book 19

 Preview
LIMITED TIME OFFER

3 months free
Try for $0.00
Offer ends July 31, 2025 at 11:59PM PT.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 3 months. Cancel anytime.

Fatal Last Words

By: Quintin Jardine
Narrated by: James Bryce
Try for $0.00

$0.00/mo. after 3 months. Offer ends July 31, 2025 at 11:59PM PT. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $20.97

Buy for $20.97

Confirm purchase
Pay using card ending in
Switch payment method
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use, License, and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.
Cancel
It's August and the Edinburgh International Book Festival is in full swing. The world of books is focused on Charlotte Square Gardens, so it's a considerable embarrassment when a successful crime writer and key member of the Scottish Parliament is found dead in the author tent. But is it natural causes?

DCC Bob Skinner, on the edge of a career-defining moment, doesn't need this in his life. But the victim's phone was tapped, and a brother officer has a threatening visitor. A second victim begs the question: have the authors become targets themselves?

Skinner is going to have to dig deep to solve it, even as his own world implodes and a famous friendship is shattered for ever...

©2009 Portador Ltd (P)2009 Isis Publishing Ltd Hard-Boiled Mystery Suspense Thriller & Suspense
All stars
Most relevant  
Great narration; interesting characters and plot; surprise ending

Recommended

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I listened to this to the end because I had paid for it, but although the reader was good enough, I found the book boring. The modes of murder were ingenious, but that's about all.

The author is a bit humourless and seems to be obsessed with power, political and organisational. Characters are not well differentiated, and seem to be described mainly in terms of their race, sex and above all status, so that I could not easily remember who was who. A few more vivid descriptions of physical characteristics might have made the people more real.

There was a long description of how the newly appointed police chief apportioned the rank and duties of his subordinates which seemed to me self indulgent and unnecessary.

The same bloodlessness applied to the settings. Other than that this was set in Scotland, with a brief visit to the antipodes, I didn't get any idea of place or even weather. I know description can slow down a story, but I could have done with a bit more atmosphere.

Colourless and limited

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.