Lane

A Case For Willows And Lane, Book 1

By: Peter Grainger

Narrated by: Henrietta Meire

Length: 5 hrs and 1 min

Publisher's summary

"So I thought I might take up paragliding. You know, buy one on eBay and just jump off the cliff one morning." 

Emily Willows is middle-aged, widowed, wealthy, and bored. When she makes those flippant remarks to her son over coffee one Friday, she has no inkling that within a few hours she will be facing the most terrifying situation of her life. Nor could she have guessed that she will be confronting it with the enigmatic young woman who moved in next door a few months ago and who has hardly spoken a word to her since. And neither of them has realized yet that after this meeting, their lives will never be the same again.

©2017 Peter Grainger (P)2018 Tantor

Good, and hopefully the series will improve

As with the D.C. Smith books, Grainger is writing both a police procedural and a series of well-observed character studies here. He does his customary magnificent job with the latter; these are wonderful characters. And it's a real pleasure to see (well, ok, hear) what he does with female characters when they're really out front and center of the story. So an excellent entry on the Grainger oeuvre on that level. As a straight-ahead detective story, however, this isn't so great. About 95% of the plot is a long, intricate, massively-detailed chase sequence that really doesn't advance the plot all that much, and we're left hanging about pretty much all the questions that the plot (such as it is) raises. I get the impression that this is a setup for the rest of the series, so I'll give it the benefit of the doubt for now. But standing on its own, it's a little frustrating.

Also, while Henrietta Meire is very decent and while I totally understand why they needed a female narrator for this, I'm never going to be totally satisfied with any narrator of Grainger material other than Gildart Jackson.

IT'S A DEFINITE YES

While this audiobook is shorter than most (about 5 hours long), the only substance the story lacks is all the pointless filler that many authors include to make their books fatter and the audiobooks longer. A succinct and smart mystery, good narration, likeable characters, and a hint at the end that we haven't heard the last of the two unusual females featured in this story. Well done, and can't wait for part 2!

A great beginning to a new series

What fabulous characters! I'm a loyal fan of the author's D.C. Smith series and Grainger has a knack for creating interesting characters. Well done with Willows and Lane. The story is detailed elsewhere but suffice it to say this was one that I couldn't put down. The narration was also top-notch. The end was abrupt and leaves much more to explore in several (I hope) sequels. Bravo, Peter Grainger!

Couldn't Finish It

It blows my mind that the author of the DC Smith series wrote this. It's one laboriously-detailed long car chase scene then a chase on foot. The characters, meant to contrast with each other, are uninteresting. Added to the snooze-worthy plot, the narration is awful. One character speaks like a robot, the other like a Queen Elizabeth II wannabe. One of the reasons the book is rather short is that the narrator speaks so rapidly. Maybe the book all of a sudden got fascinating at the end; I just couldn't bear any more. Really sorry about this negative review. I love Peter Grainger's books, but not this series.

Not Sure

The characters in this story were underdeveloped. Lane was somewhat intriguing, but I barely connected with any of them - there just wasn’t enough depth. That said, I can overlook that for now & chalk it up to working the kinks out of a new series

The possible deal breaker for me is Henrietta Meire, who IMO is a below average narrator. I wasn’t able to get past 1st book in the Fen series & not sure if I can overcome both issues here to continue with the series.

Great start to a new series

I loved this book it kept me going while painting the spare room . My only criticism is that Mrs Willow is described as being in her 50’s but everyone treats her like an old lady ! Apart from that it was riveting and the narration was very good just wish it had been longer hope Audible gets the next one soon.

Peter Grainger has cop chops!

I love Peter Grainger DC Smith novels so much that I’d hoped to give the entire series as Christmas gifts... but they aren’t available in any format other than kindle and audio. Until now, US citizens couldn’t get the Lane & Willows books on audio, so I was thrilled to see the first book appear on Audible this week! It’s everything I’d hoped for. I freaking love Peter Grainger- and Henrietta Meire does her usual wonderful job in this performance. Three cheers.

Fast-paced start to a new series

Wow - no cozy village mystery with knitting patterns here! The author gives us just enough time to care about the main characters and then off we go. This is more of a suspense novel than it is a mystery. Two women with little in common find themselves fighting for their lives against determined criminals. Can't wait for the rest of the series.

Can't wait for the next one!

This pairing of an older widow and a tough young female detective is perfect. We watch as the young women awakens the older to her potential. This relationship is just starting. Go back to work Mr. Grainger!

Another well written series by granger

Interesting plot and excellent character development. Granger is a sophisticated novelist.. As with the dc series the lane series is certain not to disappoint.

Superb narration. Especially well done are the different speaking styles of various characters.

Not as good as hoped

Perhaps I am spoiled by the DC Smith series which I absolutely adore. All the excellent dialogue and small detail that Peter Grainger seems so good at was there but I found this book a little pointless. However the characters are interesting and I can't quite see how they will be kept together to form the basis of the next story (I see there is one). I shall probably download No. 2 to see how this is managed and to see of Peter Grainger manages to really capture my imagination again.

Good story, bad regional accents

I enjoyed the story very much, as well as getting to know the two main characters. Whilst the narrator’s own voice is very pleasant to listen to as well as her female characters, I found the male characters with regional accents quite irritating. The ‘west country’ was more like ‘dodgy northern’ and the ‘Scottish’ wasn’t very good either. I will try the next in series to see where it goes. It’s the same narrator so I’m hoping the accents improve!

More please!

This was so much fun. Utterly unexpected and compulsive. Two "tough old birds" against the
world. More please!

Lane

Difficult to get into not like Peter Grainger's DS Smith series, which I much prefer. Listened to it 3x more times, bit better but think I am too used to DS Smith. will download the next book in this series & give it a try!

Lane

Enjoyed this book as I do all Peter Granger books . Very good narration too. The characters believable.