A Murder of Crows

By: Ian Skewis

Narrated by: Ian Skewis

Length: 11 hrs and 10 mins

Publisher's summary

The most violent thunderstorm in living memory occurs above a sleepy village on the West Coast of Scotland. A young couple take shelter in the woods, never to be seen again....

DCI Jack Russell is brought in to investigate. Nearing retirement, he agrees to undertake one last case, which he believes can be solved as a matter of routine. But what Jack discovers in the forest leads him to the conclusion that he is following in the footsteps of a psychopath who is just getting started.

©2017 Ian Skewis (P)2018 W. F. Howes Ltd

A Challenge!

I found myself changing my mind several times about who the murderer was in this book! With the dysfunctional police and townsfolk at odds with one another and the victim’s mother crippled by Alzheimer’s anyone seemed capable of being the culprit. The narration was wonderful and added richness to the story. Anxious to read more about the dogged detective.

Go for it - this book is worthy of your time!

The Murder of Crows - a personal review

Quite often a technically clever story can feel contrived, unnatural, improbable. Not so in this case.

The story flows nicely, yet it surprises the reader again and again.

Skewis knows his characters, and they are three-dimensional, true, coherent, and many-faceted. You’ll end up caring about every single one of them. There are no ”extras”, seat fillers among them.

I suspect a lot of life experience has been available to the author, prior to writing The Murder of Crows. And as we all know, acquiring life experience isn’t always a barrel of laughs.

Consequently this book leaves the readers a bit wiser than they were before, and not merely entertained.

The book is not just ”read” by the author - his warm accent gives additional depth and authenticity to the auditory experience.

If I were Ian Skewis, I’d be extremely proud of this work. As I’m not, I’ll just have to be either envious (am a writer myself) or grateful (am also a reader).

I think I’ll choose grateful ;)

MK

where to begin

The author has a lovely voice, and it goes well with his word skill. Normally I find changing speakers offputting, but he handles that well. The story though... well it needs work. Each individual vignette is moving, but the parts are so much greater than the sum. I assume that this book is a lead in to the coming one, and hopefully it will be more cohesive. That I will risk a credit on it(should it materialize) says much about his potential.

4

I did not know what to expect with this book. There was a nurder, apparently, I'm still not sure about this. A hat full of
villagers popping in and out people the pages, Loch Ness makes an appearance, a crow flies in with startling evidence,
dementia takes a bow and a fine detective story appears. A cut above the usual and I recommend it. it should probably be a 5. I'm off to see if Audible has any more by this fine author.

Some irritations

I think that might be the first time ever that a Detective Constable has been promoted straight to. Chief Inspector. I struggled with the story throughout really. Listening as I was walking it was sometimes hard to follow the time frame, the internal monologue of the characters and the general lack of connection which didn’t really build to a crescendo. Thus it was necessary to have a discrete epilogue which revealed all - to no end really.

Deeply-drawn characters and atmosphere

Difficult to imagine reading the written word, as the author’s narration was brilliant. Easy to become invested in the protagonists. Uneasy ending but glad Jack will return.

Intriguing

Very gifted writer and narrator. The story is building with this book; have a feeling it is just the beginning. The prose is detailed, sophisticated, and brings you close to the story and geographical setting. Looking forward to more from this writer.

UNSATISFYING

(No spoilers here) I like the multiple-narrator strategy, but all the characters seem to lack emotional depth and maturity. Some info that is contradicted by one narrator or another piques my interest, but then it's explained (MUCH later) in a way that doesn't let me try to figure it out. Buddy-cop relationship is not well established before one guy wrecks it (for unclear motives). People walk or run through the woods at night...in the rain...without flashlights...but don't trip or fall. Caretaker for a dementia patient seems not to know some very basic strategies for dealing with same. Some glaring and occasionally amusing dangling modifiers.

I *wanted* to like this, and I did listen to the whole thing, but no. Planning to return it, would definitely never listen to it again. (And I am very much a repeater!)

Brilliant!

Deeply articulate character development, story plot and narrative. Description of light is a delightful foreshadowing. Alices memories fade in a poetic bittersweet decent into dementia and invite the unknown backstory!
Just brilliant!

A Murder of Crows

Excellent character development but could use some comic relief. It does get a little heavy.
About the ending, that’s a problem. I understand what the author is doing, setting up a character that can carry a series but the way it is brought into the story is too abrupt. It doesn’t flow with the rest of the story. In fact, it’s added as a prologue after an epilogue and seriously alters several characters. Nope. Doesn’t work.