Empty Vessels

By: Marina Pascoe

Narrated by: Ben Allen

Length: 7 hrs and 37 mins

Publisher's summary

Meet Inspector George Bartlett and Constable Archibald Boase in their first investigation together.

In the closing months of 1921, Bartlett and Boase have a missing girl on their Falmouth patch. Before long they find themselves drawn into a murder investigation when another girl is found dead on a local beach. We meet the Pengelly family, unwittingly drawn in through their daughter's involvement with the prime murder suspect, and find ourselves involved in mysterious goings-on at Penvale Manor.

Deception and disguise come together in the final spectacular and surprising showdown when the killer is revealed.

©2014 Marina Pascoe (P)2016 Story Sound

Great book

I love to listen to a good book read, read by a great narrator as I gin around my house. This book filled the ticket. The only odd thing as other reviewer have pointed out was the wedding. It was in endless detail and did not seem to me to pull the plot forward. But audio books are easy to skip over parts as paper. I did skip that part and don't feel that there are any hanging threads for doing it.

The characters in the book are amazing. The author's way of remembering loss is authentic. The different ways people "walk through the valley of death" or chose to stay there is real. That portrayal gives the characters relatability that pulls you to the next book.

Meh... ok as far as it goes

Is there anything you would change about this book?

The title characters are incredibly credulous and don't seem to do much investigating. They don't do simple things like show a photo of a missing person to the person they are questioning about her. They seem to lack knowledge of basic investigative techniques. If you are ok with this, the rest of the book is fine.

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

The time period is one of my favorites (1920's). The detectives' lack of investigation is the least interesting. There seems to be quite a bit of description of how much the constable eats that could have been spent fleshing out the investigation.

Have you listened to any of Ben Allen’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I haven't heard anything by Allen, but he does a fine job with the accents and characters. He made the story more interesting.

Could you see Empty Vessels being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

No.