Spoken Bones cover art

Spoken Bones

A DI Fenella Sallow Crime Thriller, Book 1

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Spoken Bones

By: N.C. Lewis
Narrated by: Deborah Balm
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About this listen

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)2025 N.C. Lewis
Crime Crime Thrillers Detective Fiction Mystery Police Procedural Thriller Thriller & Suspense Women Sleuths Women's Fiction Exciting

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All stars
Most relevant
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.

Disappointing

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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.

First nc lewis

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kept me interested till the end with a good lead on to next book in the series

gripping

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The storyline itself was pretty decent, but the writing was grating . It felt like the author was a recent graduate from a creative writing class. Far too many similes. Far too many. All. The. Time. They were a cringey distraction. None of the voices / speech patterns felt very authentic either… The lead detective consistently presented as speaking in full cannot / did not / is not, instead of can’t / didn’t / isn’t. And the pregnant teenage girl from the difficult background who spoke beautifully and correctly. It just didn’t ring true. Oh, and I lost count of how many times a ‘palmate newt’ (?) was mentioned. Weird.
Narration was OK - Not awful, but also not really good.
Overall I’d rate this as distinctly average. I stuck with it to the end, but it drove me nuts.

Not bad, not really good either…

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The monotone, croaky durge of the narrator put me off. felt like she was affecting a northern accent. I fell asleep many a time and had to keep rewinding. Story wise the final twist showed no logical pathway and came out of thin air. Too many strands to keep control of.

First and last by this narrator.

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