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  • Spoken Bones

  • A DI Fenella Sallow Crime Thriller, Book 1
  • By: N.C. Lewis
  • Narrated by: Deborah Balm
  • Length: 9 hrs and 52 mins
  • 4.1 out of 5 stars (37 ratings)

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Spoken Bones cover art

Spoken Bones

By: N.C. Lewis
Narrated by: Deborah Balm
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Summary

This dark secret could finally break her…

Detective Inspector Fenella Sallow is obsessive about her work and driven by her own demons. When the body of a retired artist is discovered atop the blackened embers of the town bonfire, the community is rocked to the core.

It falls to DI Fenella Sallow and her team to find out how she came to be there. In her 50s, the veteran detective inspector thought she had seen it all. But behind the curtained windows and closed doors of the idyllic Cumbria coastal setting lurks pure evil.

Fenella must confront her dark past. Haunted by the unsolved case of a missing girl, she knows it is a race against time. Can she stop this death from slipping through her fingers, too?

Before long, it becomes disturbingly clear that the killer is playing a twisted game and will do anything to conceal the terrible truth of what happened on the beach on Bonfire Night.

Set against the backdrop of beautiful coastal Cumbria, an ancient land of legend, folklore, and myth, Spoken Bones is the first book in the Detective Inspector Fenella Sallow series.

This pause-resisting crime thriller will keep you hooked until the very end. If you like police procedurals with psychologically complex characters and shocking twists, then you’ll love Spoken Bones.

Perfect for fans of L.J. Ross, J.D. Kirk, Simon McCleave, Stuart MacBride, Matt Brolly, Angela Marsons, Alex Smith, J.M. Dalgliesh, J.E. Mayhew, David J. Gatward, T.G. Reid, Jack Gatland, Robert F. Barker, and J.R. Ellis.

©2021 N.C. Lewis (P)2022 N.C. Lewis

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What listeners say about Spoken Bones

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

Disappointing

I really tried to like this title, and there were some good features, but I just couldn’t get into it. The characters are a bit stereotype. There were the middle aged female detective, the one who drank to much and the one who had family problems. Then there were the eccentric coroner and the whizz in the lab. It got to the stage where I didn’t care about any of them and just wanted to get it over with. Not a good feeling for a book really.

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1 person found this helpful

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

First nc lewis

But if a struggle . Too many twists got a bit lost , too many possible suspects then a new one did it . Don't know if I missed clues or it was thrown in at end. Will try another book to find out.

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

A wonderful read

This story seems to me to be an accurate description of real police procedure. There are no brilliant super-sleuths just a persistent searcher for truth. I am hungry for more Fenella Sallow.

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

A struggle

Ive seen other terrific reviews but I found this book a struggle. For a huge part it’s just character after character but I didn’t feel drawn into their lives. By the time the only twist does happen, I had lost all interest and just wanted to finish it. I wouldn’t recommend this book, sorry

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

Disappointed

Heard so much hype about this Detective series ……might just be me 🤷‍♂️ but I found it disjointed and unfathomable .
I wanted to be involved with it but it just didn’t hang together …so many loose strands that ended up in dead ends .
The finale was seemingly unrelated to the whole investigation.

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

A good listen

I thought the narration was good, characters a bit forced but good story. Not his best though

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

brilliant

new author to me , loved the story the pace and the narrator , cant wait for the next

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

Clunky Similes

It was suggested this would please a Vera or Inspector Morse fan, which it definitely did not in my case. The plot was really quite flimsy and there was no real progression in the plot to arrive at the guilty party. Just seemed to be the least likely character, which is really quite lazy. I also became really frustrated with the number of clunky similes.

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1 person found this helpful

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

Tedious. Over explained.

Why? Why do people take a job needing the ability to do regional accents when they don’t have the talent?if the story bores the pants off the narrator why should it interest us, though I do see her point. I hadn’t got far before envying the victim….,. at least she was out of it.
This book is just plain awful.

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

Just don’t bother

The narration is odd and accents terrible.
Story is poor, ridiculous sometimes and a detective in a Morris miner how twee
Can’t give zero star’s or I would

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