Deadly Company

Mitchell & Markby, Book 16

By: Ann Granger

Narrated by: Julia Barrie

No one feels safe when there's a murderer in their midst....

Ann Granger returns to her fan favourite series with the gripping 16th Mitchell and Markby novel, featuring her trademark strong and appealing characters, gentle wit and engrossing intrigue.

Superintendent Alan Markby and his wife, Meredith, have retired for the night when they are disturbed by a visitor. It's not the first time someone has called at the Old Vicarage in search of a priest, but in this case, having just found a dead body in the churchyard, Callum Henderson needs the police. Accompanying Callum to the graveyard, Alan declares that this has all the hallmarks of a murder scene.

News of the incident travels fast in the market town of Bamford, but no one seems willing to admit to knowing the dead man or how he ended up in the cemetery. As Alan and his team search for clues, Meredith becomes convinced that something must have been overlooked. Meanwhile, despite Alan's warnings, Callum appears to be in cahoots with the team's latest recruit, DS Beth Santos. While every lead points to yet more foul play, nothing can prepare Meredith and Markby for the shocking truth behind this mystery....

©2022 Ann Granger (P)2022 Headline Publishing Group Ltd

Enjoyable book, but who was the main cast here?

Glad to see Alan and Meredith returning for a new book. However, I find Meredith mainly out of action in this book. She wasn’t as involved as in the past books, and the whole story seemed to put the supporting cast of Callum and Beth as focus. I feel that they were the main characters instead. Perhaps Ann Granger was looking at a new series focusing on these two?
A new narrator was used in this book. While Julia Barrie had a lovely reading voice, I agree with another reviewer that she made the female characters sounded mostly whining. I especially cannot stand her portrayal of Laura, she made Laura sounded so very irritating and whining. The male voices sounded better.
Overall, I still like the series very much. I hope Ann Granger would continue with it.

If you enjoyed the previous, you'll like this too

Have to say I kept finding it annoying how female voices sound by this (female!) reader. They sound sort of whiny and silly, even the strong ones. However, I love the atmosphere of all Granger's series and quirky but often relatable characters in it.