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Payment in Blood  By  cover art

Payment in Blood

By: Elizabeth George
Narrated by: Derek Jacobi
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Publisher's summary

“The Lynley books constitute the smartest, most gratifyingly complex and impassioned mysteries now being published.”—Entertainment Weekly

The career of playwright Joy Sinclair comes to an abrupt end on an isolated estate in the Scottish Highlands when someone drives an eighteen-inch dirk through her neck. Called upon to investigate the case in a country where they have virtually no authority, aristocratic Detective Inspector Thomas Lynley and his partner, Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers, grapple for both a motive and a murderer.

Emotions run deep in this highly charged drama, for the list of suspects soon includes Britain’s foremost actress, its most successful theatrical producer, and the woman Lynley loves. He and Havers must tread carefully through the complicated terrain of human relationships while they work to solve a case rooted in the darkest corners of the past and the unexplored regions of the human heart.

©1995 Elizabeth George (P)1995 Bantam Doubleday Dell Audio Publishing, A Division of Random House, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Satisfying indeed. Novelist Elizabeth George...has another hit on her hands." (Washington Post)

"A vivid cast of suspects, an appealing team of sleuths...a country-house setting that will put readers in mind of the best of Agatha Christie. For fans of this type of puzzle, Payment in Blood is a must." (Plain Dealer, Cleveland)

"A spectacular new voice in mystery writing...[George] invites comparison with both P.D. James and Ruth Rendell in the psychological interest of her characters and the intricacy and ingenuity of her plotting." (Los Angeles Times)

What listeners say about Payment in Blood

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 3 out of 5 stars
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  • 3.5 out of 5 stars
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Story
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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

praise with reservations

Well-read but the quality of the recording is not good - I would probably have been happier had I heeded the warning about the quality and waited for an unabridged version with higher quality recording.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Bad recording quality

Any additional comments?

I cannot really say anything about the story since I could not bear to listen to it for longer than 10 minutes. The quality of the recording is bad, as if it was poorly digitized from an old tape. Admittedly English is not my mother tongue, but I never had any problems understanding audiobooks; and with this one I couldn't catch half of what the narrator says!
And for some reason return does not work. My first bad experience with you, Audible :(

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Poor Production value

This book sounds like it was recorded from a radio,,, a very old radio. I kept waiting for Edward R Murrow to interupt with War news

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

poor sound quality

story is OK but the sound quality is terrible. Blurry music often overwhelms the words and sounds like a bad old recording.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

The recording was awful

Huge fan of Elizabeth George, the recording was very difficult to follow, I stopped listening after 30 minutes.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Terrible Recording Quality

Please consider redoing this recording, I could barely follow the story...the sound quality was substandard. Even remixing it could likely help.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Good story, poor recording

This recording sounded like it was recorded from an old radio show. It was garbled and at times hard to understand. It was not Derek Jacobi, the reader, who was at fault. It was the technical side.

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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

disappointing

poor recording....narration and sound unbearable....too bad...decent storyline...will not pick this narrator again, don't waste your $$$

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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

Don't buy this!!!!( I wasted my money big time)

Let me count the ways
1) Its abridged (and badly done at that)
2) The music is too loud, you can't hear the reader over it, as well as the music itself is very distracting.
3) The cadence of the reader is wrong, wrong, wrong and there is no apparent adjustment either up or down in speed.
4) If there was a minus one I'd give it that score!!!
5) I feel very let down by Audible

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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Recording is awful

What would have made Payment in Blood better?

Almost anything done with the recording could have made it better. It was excruciating to listen to as the quality was so terrible. I could not finish it and I could not get my money back because I buy so many that the time to return has expired

What was most disappointing about Elizabeth George’s story?

The narration was poor. The background music was even worse. It was almost impossible to stay focused on the story when the poorly incorporated music was behind the narration.

How could the performance have been better?

Eliminate the music.

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

Could not ascertain if there were any.

Any additional comments?

A complete failure, flop, an awful recording. If this had been the first audible book that I had listened to - I would never have purchased another one.

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