Death in Disguise

A Midsomer Murders Mystery, Book 3

By: Caroline Graham

Narrated by: John Hopkins

To the distaste of the Compton Dando villagers, the big house has been taken over by a group of New Age eccentrics. And when the first death is reported, no one is surprised...or disappointed. The coroner rules it an accident.

But only weeks later, there’s another death. And this time, it is murder.

Detective Chief Inspector Barnaby is called to the scene immediately, and there’ll be no escape until he has sifted through the world of psychics, cult leaders and horrifying deaths to get to the cause of it all.

©1992 Caroline Graham (P)2022 Bolinda Publishing

Critic reviews

"Simply the best detective writer since Agatha Christie." (The Sunday Times)

"Wickedly acid, yet sympathetic." (Publishers Weekly)

"Detective Chief Inspector Barnaby and his team are called out to a cultish New Age commune to determine the cause of a series of brutal murders in the third installment of Midsomer Murders, narrated exquisitely by John Hopkins. Hopkins brings his ample talent and experience to the task, giving voice to this large cast of quirky characters and building suspense with perfect pacing and inflection. Hopkins is familiar to Midsomer fans, both from narrating the first two books in the series and from his part as Sergeant Dan Scott on the television show. Although this is the third in the series, listeners can enjoy this audiobook as an excellent, complex mystery on its own as they become acquainted with the cult members and discover clues along with DCI Barnaby." (AudioFile Magazine)

A disappointing outing in the series

This was less a mystery than a social satire. As a satire. it was not terribly interesting because the characters were fairly shallow. The actual investigation doesn't start until halfway through. I have enjoyed other books in this series, but not this one.

Rather disappointing

This has to be my least favorite of the series. The characters are shallow and the book was just boring until the investigation started, and that was probably half way through the book. It just felt like 2 different genres mashed together in a disjointed book. John Hopkins is a class act as always though.

Midsummer murder who did it?

Very well written. John Hopkins is the perfect voice for Ms Graham's murders. I liked the fact that all the stories of each individual character are wrapped up for us in the end. Kept me wondering who done it until the end.

Another great Midsomer Murder mystery

John Hopkins does a fantastic job narrating this series. The story takes place on a commune in a large home, where silly mystics mix with those who are truly seeking a peaceful existence. The only quibble here is the books are showing their age a bit--with some sexist workplace language and scenarios that would never be accepted in a book written today. But I put this and the others in the series squarely in the cozy and fun murder mystery genre. Good fun.

Still 5 stars

Still 5 stars all around; however, I did have to ponder this one for a bit ... The writing is incredible, consistent with the first two in the series, as are the locations, characters and certainly the murder mysteries themselves. There is a bit that gnaws at the back of your mind though - something that was barely even a whisper in Book 1 has now built up to an actual voice in Book 3. There are some truly despicable ideas shared occasionally that even though they are probably spot on for the time period, they are quite cringe worthy. The redemption is that one or another of the characters does act as public conscious and condemns if not the speaker, at least the inappropriate transmissions. As long as that continues to be the case, I don't anticipate a real problem.