No Ordinary Killing

An Ingo Finch Mystery, Book 1

By: Jeff Dawson

Narrated by: Jonathan Keeble

Length: 12 hrs and 56 mins

Publisher's Summary

An extraordinary historical crime thriller, perfect for listeners of Philip Kerr, M.J. Carter and Abir Mukherjee.

1899, South Africa: As the Boer War rages, Captain Ingo Finch of the Royal Army Medical Corps pieces together casualties at the front. Later, recovering in Cape Town, he is woken by local police. A British officer has been murdered, and an RAMC signature is required for the post-mortem. Shocked by the identity of the victim, the bizarre nature of the crime and what appears a too-convenient resolution, Finch turns detective. He is soon thrust into a perilous maze of espionage and murder.

©2018 Jeff Dawson (P)2021 W F Howes

Critic Reviews

"Dawson has produced a strong thriller with something to say.... An intriguing mix of John Buchan style adventuring and well researched period detail, full of superstition, mistrust and political intrigue.... A very strong debut." (Sarah Ward, author of the Richard Prince thrillers)

Pity about the narration

This novel started off very promisingly, the setting of the Boer War conflict was well described and historical details accurate. However the usually excellent narrator Jonathan Keeble unfortunately decided to attempt South African accents about two hours into the book. These are difficult for a non-native to achieve, and ultimately I couldn't bear to listen any more. There were mispronunciations as well, for example 'veld' should be pronounced 'felt'. There are many excellent South African narrators, for example Saul Reichlin, and I wish Audible would use them for books with South African settings. This is a frequently cited criticism as Audible readers' reviews of these books show.

I liked it but...

I truly enjoyed the writing style of the author and the narrator. both were quite enjoyable. however, the story at times was annoying and at the end I had difficulty connecting characters. Almost as if they were newly introduced, I could not place them and identify where they fit in the story.

Nice to see a different arena

The South Africa of the Boer War is a pretty underused setting in historical novels and so it’s great to see something a bit different. The plot is a veritable trawler of red herrings but the characters are well written. Not so much read as performed with both boots on by Jonathan Keeble; definitely earning his fee here.

Enjoyable yarn.

Good story with twists and turns. Slightly disappointed in the ending. More explanation as to what happened with the ending. Otherwise i will definitely be following Mr Finches career.

Gripping read

A gripping read set in a terrible and historic time frame. Interesting characters and very well narrated. Looking forward to book 2.

A new setting for a historical fiction novel

I enjoyed this book for its descriptions of South Africa during the 2nd Boer war and the various ethnic groups pulled into it. Some of the action seemed improbable, with the baddies popping up seemingly magically at times, and the ending was inconclusive to me, but overall a thumping read and Jonathan Keeble seems to be having fun juggling all the accents and action.