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In the Beginning, There Was a Murder
- An Amateur Female Sleuth Historical Cozy Mystery (Miss Riddell Cozy Mysteries, Book 1)
- Narrated by: Lillian Rachel
- Length: 8 hrs and 34 mins
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Publisher's summary
A secret liaison. A baffling murder. Can one woman solve the crime without joining the body count?
Northern England, 1953.
Pauline Riddell has grand ambitions for her future at the armament factory. So, when her closest workmate reveals a salacious affair with a married man, Pauline refuses to risk her career by listening to the scandal. But, she’s shaken to her core when the police arrive with news of her best friend’s homicide.
Desperate for justice, Pauline’s insistent poking into the investigation only makes her the prime suspect. And now, to clear her name, she must unravel a web of deadly clues entangling her in a sinister plot. Can Pauline catch the killer before they strike again?
In the Beginning, There Was a Murder is a riveting mystery novel. If you like whip-smart heroines, intriguing twists and turns, and nail-biting danger, then you’ll love P. C. James’s sensational story.
Get In the Beginning, There Was a Murder to crack the case today!
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France, July 1944: a month after the Allied landings in Normandy, and the liberation of Europe is under way. In the Pas-de-Calais, Nathalie Mercier, a young British Special Operations executive secret agent working with the French Resistance, disappears. In London, her husband, Owen Quinn, an officer with Royal Navy Intelligence, discovers the truth about her role in the Allies' sophisticated deception at the heart of D-Day.
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The Best Kind of Spy Story
- By Linda Hanson on 01-11-16
By: Alex Gerlis
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Evans Above
- By: Rhys Bowen
- Narrated by: Roger Clark
- Length: 6 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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Evan Evans is a young police constable who has traded in the violence of city life for idyllic Llanfair, a Welsh village tucked far away from trouble. Nestled among the Snowdonia mountain range, Llanfair looks to Constable Evans like a town forgotten by time, but he quickly learns that even the bucolic countryside has its share of eccentric - and deadly - characters.
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Interesting....
- By brian on 01-22-17
By: Rhys Bowen
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Goodnight, Irene
- An Irene Kelly Novel
- By: Jan Burke
- Narrated by: Eliza Foss
- Length: 9 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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The morning after Irene says goodnight to her old journalist friend O'Connor, he is killed suddenly upon opening a letter bomb. As the smoke clears, a devastated Irene determines to find the mail-bomber by tracing threads of an unsolved crime from 1955 - the same cold case O'Connor had been obsessed with.
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Welcome Irene
- By Anonymous User on 04-29-08
By: Jan Burke
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Red Ribbons
- Dr. Kate Pearson, Book 1
- By: Louise Phillips
- Narrated by: Caroline Morahan
- Length: 12 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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A missing schoolgirl is found buried in the Dublin Mountains, hands clasped together in prayer, two red ribbons in her hair. Twenty-four hours later, a second schoolgirl is found in a shallow grave - her body identically arranged. The hunt for the killer is on. The police call in criminal psychologist Kate Pearson to get inside the mind of the murderer before he strikes again. But the more Kate discovers about the killings, the more it all feels terrifyingly familiar.
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A true psychological thriller
- By BARBARA WAGONER on 12-24-16
By: Louise Phillips
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A Fatal Obsession
- Ryder and Loveday, Book 1
- By: Faith Martin
- Narrated by: Stephanie Racine
- Length: 8 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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Oxford, 1960. There's a murderer on the loose, and two unlikely heroes are poised to solve the case. Meet Probationary WPC Trudy Loveday - smart, enthusiastic and always underestimated. In the hope of getting her out of the way, Trudy’s senior officer assigns her to help coroner Clement Ryder as he re-opens the case of a young woman's death. She can't believe her luck – she is actually going to be working on a real murder case.
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Just didn't buy it
- By Marie on 12-04-19
By: Faith Martin
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Dick Francis's Gamble
- By: Felix Francis
- Narrated by: John Keating
- Length: 10 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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Nicholas “Foxy” Foxton, a former jockey who suffered a career-ending injury, is out for a day at the Grand National races when his friend and coworker Herb Kovak is murdered, execution style, right in front of him—and 60,000 other potential witnesses. Foxton and Kovak were both independent financial advisers at Lyall Black, a firm specializing in extreme-risk investments.
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Frustration
- By Anonymous User on 08-24-11
By: Felix Francis
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A Test of Wills
- By: Charles Todd
- Narrated by: Samuel Giles
- Length: 10 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Ian Rutledge returns to his career at Scotland Yard after years fighting in the First World War. Unknown to his colleagues he is still suffering from shell shock, and is burdened with the guilt of having had executed a young soldier on the battlefield for refusing to fight. A jealous colleague has learned of his secret and has managed to have Rutledge assigned to a difficult case which could spell disaster for Rutledge whatever the outcome. A retired officer has been murdered, and Rutledge goes to investigate.
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Difficult to follow the narrator
- By Carol on 01-02-13
By: Charles Todd
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The Best Man to Die
- An Inspector Wexford Mystery
- By: Ruth Rendell
- Narrated by: Davina Porter
- Length: 7 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Who could have suspected that the exciting stag party for the groom would be the prelude to the murder of his close friend Charlie Hatton? And Charlie's death was only the first in a string of puzzling murders involving small-time gangsters, cheating husbands, and loose women. Now Chief Inspector Wexford and his assistant join forces with the groom to track down a killer....
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Classic who-dunnit
- By Kathi on 02-24-13
By: Ruth Rendell
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A Carrion Death
- Introducing Detective Kubu
- By: Michael Stanley
- Narrated by: Simon Prebble
- Length: 14 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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Smashed skull, snapped ribs, and a cloying smell of carrion. Leave the body for the hyenas to devour - no body, no case. But when Kalahari game rangers stumble on a human corpse midmeal, it turns out the murder wasn't perfect after all. Enough evidence is left to suggest foul play. Detective David "Kubu" Bengu of the Botswana Criminal Investigation Department is assigned to the case.
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Hot and Arid
- By Robert on 11-06-08
By: Michael Stanley
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The Last Detective
- An Inspector Peter Diamond Investigation
- By: Peter Lovesey
- Narrated by: Simon Prebble
- Length: 11 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Detective Superintendent Peter Diamond is the last detective: a genuine gumshoe, committed to door-stopping and deduction rather than fancy computer gadgetry. So when the naked body of a woman is found floating in the weeds in a lake near Bath with no one willing to identify her, no marks, and no murder weapon, his sleuthing abilities are tested to the limit.
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Pleasantly surprised -- loved Inspector Diamond!
- By Tracey on 01-06-13
By: Peter Lovesey
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Pietr the Latvian
- Inspector Maigret, Book 1
- By: Georges Simenon, David Bellos - translator
- Narrated by: Gareth Armstrong
- Length: 3 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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The first audiobook which appeared in Georges Simenon's famous Maigret series, in a gripping new translation by David Bellos.Inevitably Maigret was a hostile presence in the Majestic. He constituted a kind of foreign body that the hotel's atmosphere could not assimilate. Not that he looked like a cartoon policeman. He didn't have a moustache and he didn't wear heavy boots. His clothes were well cut and made of fairly light worsted. He shaved every day and looked after his hands. But his frame was proletarian. He was a big, bony man.
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Long live Maigret
- By Adeliese Baumann on 11-19-14
By: Georges Simenon, and others
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Left for Dead
- A Maeve Kerrigan Novella
- By: Jane Casey
- Narrated by: Sarah Coomes
- Length: 2 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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A violent rapist is attacking women, leaving them for dead on south London streets. When young policewoman Maeve Kerrigan responds to a domestic disturbance, she's horrified to stumble across the latest victim. But as a new recruit - and a female to boot - she'll have to face down not only her own nerves but rampant sexism from her colleagues if she wants to be taken seriously enough to even assist on the case.
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Waste of time & $
- By Mary Ann on 12-11-16
By: Jane Casey
What listeners say about In the Beginning, There Was a Murder
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Laura
- 02-10-22
A New Amateur Sleuth In Town
This was my first experience with P. C. James' work, and I enjoyed it a lot. In this story, the author created a character named Pauline Riddell, who reflected the true nature of being an amateur sleuth in that she made a lot of mistakes and jumped to several conclusions without considering or accumulating all the facts. I was very entertained by her antics. The tale was both historical and a cozy. I am looking forward to acquiring more audiobooks in this series. I recommend this novel to others who enjoy this genre. Lillian Rachel's narration was skillful, and I liked the British accent. I was given a free copy of the audiobook and I have voluntarily posted this review.
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- The reader 199
- 07-12-22
Outstanding narration and storyline!
Really excellent story line and the narration was done really well and authentic like! I was really looking forward to the next one in the series but I cannot find an audio version of it anywhere, I would really appreciate one. Really love Miss Riddels character, what a courages woman!
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- David H
- 03-13-22
A wonderfully cozy mystery for Miss Marple fans
The narrator's pitch perfect performance really brings this gem of a cozy mystery to life.
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- DA1234
- 05-23-24
Cozy indeed!
The description of the title as a ‘cozy mystery’ is what got my attention while scrolling for my next book, and this was perfect in that regard.
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- Gotta love it 🤩
- 12-22-21
Great first in series
I've enjoyed all of the Miss Riddell books by P.C. James. I'm glad to see the audio version available. The narrator was pleasant to listen to.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Amazon Customer
- 08-12-22
Likable Characters
So nice to find a cozy that’s not about baking or books. Good narration too.
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- Chuzpah
- 02-11-22
Great for fans of the genre
I usually stick to science fiction and fantasy, But, I also like reading mysteries. Overall I thought the book was a great mystery. We have all of the standard story elements, a dead body, suspicious characters, and an overzealous police force. This book is a quick read but has a satisfying story arc. The only thing I didn't like was the lack of explanation on some terminology like "paymaster," but that is a minor thing. An amateur sleuth's idea has always fascinated me since I read Agatha Christy's Evil under the Sun and Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes back in the day. This book has a different style, but it's written in the same vein. Other than the British slang that I had to look up and the absence of explanations of particular terms, I found the narration good and having a British female voice helped make this audiobook production an excellent experience.
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- Carol James
- 12-24-21
Loved this audiobook
I’ve already read the book and loved it. The narrator captured the time and spirit of the book perfectly. Highly recommended.
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- m melville
- 10-05-22
Mistake
I enjoy the cozy mystery genre but this one just too boring. The reader didn’t help it any
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- M. Oliver
- 08-11-22
Went On Forever with Little Payoff
First there is so much repetitive dialog that you will literally yell ‘come on already’ . The book could have been much shorter with the same impact. The ending is thrown together so there is no real payoff. The heroine of the story for on my nerves and the usual cops not knowing what to do theme continues here. I wouldn’t recommend if you’re a true fan of mystery novels.
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2 people found this helpful