The Birdwatcher cover art

The Birdwatcher

Preview

£0.00 for first 30 days

Try for £0.00
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

The Birdwatcher

By: William Shaw
Narrated by: Roger Davis
Try for £0.00

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £15.99

Buy Now for £15.99

Confirm Purchase
Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.
Cancel

About this listen

Police Sergeant William South has a reason for not wanting to be on the murder investigation. He is a murderer himself. But the victim was his only friend - like him, a passionate birdwatcher.

South is warily partnered with the strong-willed Detective Sergeant Alexandra Cupidi, newly recruited to the Kent coast from London. Together they find the body, violently beaten, forced inside a wooden chest. Only rage could kill a man like this. South knows it. But soon - too soon - they find a suspect: Donnie Fraser, a drifter from Northern Ireland. His presence in Kent disturbs William - because he knew him as a boy.

If the past is catching up with him, South wants to meet it head on. For even as he desperately investigates the connections, he knows there is no crime, however duplicitous or cruel, that can compare to the great lie of his childhood.

Moving from the storm-lashed, bird-wheeling skies of the Kent Coast to the wordless war of the Troubles, The Birdwatcher is a crime novel of suspense, intelligence and powerful humanity about fathers and sons, grief and guilt and facing the darkness within.

©2016 William Shaw (P)2016 WF Howes Ltd
Crime Thrillers Mystery Thriller Fiction Suspense Detective
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Listeners also enjoyed...

A Long Time Dead cover art
The Quiet Dead cover art
The Missing Ones cover art
A Litter of Bones: A Scottish Crime Thriller cover art
The Turning of Our Bones cover art
The Lost Girls of Penzance cover art
Secrets in Blood cover art
See Them Run cover art
Murder on Black Swan Lane cover art
Detective Tom Janssen Hidden Norfolk, Books 1-3 cover art
Shutter cover art
The Murderer's Son cover art
The Woman in White cover art
A Dance of Ghosts cover art
Murphy's Revenge cover art
Lucifer Falls cover art

What listeners say about The Birdwatcher

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    166
  • 4 Stars
    82
  • 3 Stars
    23
  • 2 Stars
    6
  • 1 Stars
    2
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    164
  • 4 Stars
    69
  • 3 Stars
    15
  • 2 Stars
    8
  • 1 Stars
    3
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    147
  • 4 Stars
    71
  • 3 Stars
    31
  • 2 Stars
    7
  • 1 Stars
    1

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Spoilt by the oerformance

I found this rather laboured and pedestrian. I have loved READING the first three books in the Alexandra Cupidi series and am addicted. The Birdwatcher filled me in on how DS Cupidi and daughter Zoe started off on their journey in Dungeness, so worthwhile.

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

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

Narrator Naff.

This is probably the worst narrator of a book I’ve heard in over 400 books. I will not listen to anymore of his books . It ruined a very good book.

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

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

Much more than just a murder story

William Shaw is a good writer with a lot to say about being human. Great story, with characters you can believe in and get involved with. Great evocation of a bleak coastal landscape. Switching between past and present works well. I thought the reader was really good- some of the accents were a bit dodgy but no reader's perfect and it didn't spoil an otherwise excellent narration for me.

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

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

Should be the first of the Cupidi series

The biggest disappointment of this book was that I only discovered it after listening to the 2 Cupidi books which meant that I was backtracking. It didn’t matter as far as South’s story went but it did mean that the South and Cupidi relationship was a known.

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

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

A good start to a new series

I have enjoyed this first book of DS Alexandra Cupidi, Book and pleased that this has now become a series. I am about to read the book 1 in this new series. I always like a detective series, the people in the team of detectives you come to know, I always chose these types.

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

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

Great story & narration.

This is my first audiobook by William Shaw & read by Roger Davis & I don't think it will be the last.

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Really well narrated

Great story, read really well - I was so gripped I was even looking for more ironing to do so I could carry on listening

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

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

Amazing!

This is only the 3rd audio book that I have listened to and I haven't read any books by the author before. I loved it and will be listening to more books by the same author. The narrator was wonderful, he gave the characters such different voices that I always knew who was speaking so will be looking out for more audio books that he narrates. South is a great character who I hope will pop up in later books. I am always worried about trying a new author but this time I didn't need to be.

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

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

Great book

Love this author . I have read all of his Cupidi novels . All excellent . Very well narrated too. That makes all the difference .

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

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

Love, Jealousy, Drugs and Murder!

Set in two time zones one in the troubles in NI and the other in the wild open beaches of the Kent coast. It took me a while to get hooked but once it caught me I enjoyed the twists and turns.

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!