• One Last Child

  • Tallman's Valley Detectives, Book 1
  • By: Anni Taylor
  • Narrated by: Caroline Lee
  • Length: 15 hrs and 59 mins
  • 4.7 out of 5 stars (1,245 ratings)

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One Last Child  By  cover art

One Last Child

By: Anni Taylor
Narrated by: Caroline Lee
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Publisher's Summary

Winner, Earphones Award 2020

Five long-missing children are about to be returned.

It was summer in the mountains when five small children vanished from their nursery school picnic. The heat was stifling that day, the tinkle of an ice-cream van in the air....

Three-and-a-half years later, in the dead of winter, the children are returned to their families...one by one.

All except for Ivy - the granddaughter of Homicide Detective Kate Wakeland. The other four children say Ivy is dead.

Speculation grows that the mysterious abductor is enacting a cruel revenge plot due to a murderer that Kate put in jail years before.

Kate isn't sure what to believe. But one thing is certain - she's about to begin the battle of her life. When the children were first stolen, she was prevented from investigating the case.

But now, Kate will be relentless in uncovering the identity of the abductor and discovering what happened to Ivy.

©2020 Anni Taylor (P)2020 Podium Audio

Critic Reviews

"Lee's delivery of both the narrative and the dialogue is flawless." (AudioFile Magazine)

What listeners say about One Last Child

Good Narrator Intriguing Twists Compelling Story Great Storyline Strong Female Lead
Average Customer Ratings
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Amazing book and amazing narration!

I absolutely loved this book! It was so good that I couldn't stop listening to it. I found myself doing chores just so I had an excuse to listen to it. It really kept you guessing all the way up until the end. This was my 1st book by this author and I'm now looking forward to reading the rest of her novels. This is a must read!

11 people found this helpful

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On of the BEST WRITTEN mysteries...

I’ve read in a long time. Amazingly well crafted, intriguing, outlined and performed. I love a good mystery and will sometimes even settle for a cheesy one to help with a fix. This one however is one of the best, most realistic and well written ones I’ve ever read. Highly recommended!

6 people found this helpful

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Loved this book and Caroline Lee is PERFECT!!

Well done! Excellent plot and intricate story line made for a wonderful read! Loved all the characters and am so glad this will be a series...Caroline Lee is spot on perfect as the narrator! Loved it!

6 people found this helpful

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Ridiculous

Narrator sounds like an Australian attempting an American who's trying to do an Australian accent. The story felt like it was made up as they went along. The ending was ridiculous.

5 people found this helpful

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Contrived and Manipulative

The lead character was well developed and had potential. Yet it strains credulity that a kidnapping of so many children was solved not by the hundreds of experts but rather because the main protagonist uncovered a clue that is so obvious, a rookie detective could have found it.

The “secret” generating an “apology” at the end was either a manipulative hook for the next book or an irritating loose end. Either option is just sloppy writing. I avoid series and checked that it was stand-alone so the lead-in was irritating in the extreme.

Caroline Lee was spectacular as always. Well, except that the accent for the psychiatrist was a bit of a cartoon. But hey, no one’s perfect...

5 people found this helpful

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So many showers

I enjoyed this book. The story was longer than it needed to be but still good. The narration was good but one thing that puzzled me was how the detective had to shower so much and how she had the time to do so. I will go on to the next book in the series.

4 people found this helpful

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terrible!

i have never written a review on here but this book and narrator were so bad i wanted to spare someone else from wasting theur time and money on it.

4 people found this helpful

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Drawn out way too much

This story lost me with hours left to go. The ending is really bad IMO so I do not recommend this book at all.

2 people found this helpful

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Great Story

A detective that is a woman in her sixties who is fit and is NOT a Miss Marple type? Yes! Having most of the leadership positions filled by strong women? Yes! A very original mystery story that has the reader guessing to the very end? Yes! Throw in big floofy white dogs as a main clue and you have a winner of a story. This is an exceptionally good mystery story. Greatly recommend

1 person found this helpful

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Great story line

I’ve never read anything like this and that’s what drew me to the book. I was intrigued to know why the children were returned! I gave it 4 stars…I thought there was some over-explaining and some details that just made some parts drag on, but it was a good book. Sometimes the main character’s personality annoyed me…lol, but that’s real life right? Overall-a good read

1 person found this helpful

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  • Fee
  • 09-12-20

51/2 *

An excellent, atmospheric book, beautifully written with well developed, likeable characters. It’s a nice change that the detective is in her sixties.

And I’ve yet to listen to Caroline Lee’s narration and be disappointed. She could make a phone book interesting but this book was was no phone book, it was wonderful material for her to work with.

1 person found this helpful

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  • J Roberts
  • 06-03-23

was not sure when I added it to my library

but I was not disappointed in the slightest. A brilliant story, packed with well crafted, believable characters. I guess the best review I can give is that I cannot wait to buy the next book in the series.

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  • Deb
  • 05-03-23

Great

I rarely write a review only rate. But I felt compelled to review, simply to applaud the Author and Narrator. The story as other reviewers have mentioned is full of twists that keep you wanting to listen that kept you guessing. Narrator was brilliant. Definitely recommend if you enjoy this genre.

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  • Bookworm
  • 02-26-23

Really good story

Good story. Well set out, and enjoyable to listen to, right to the end. Would have liked the characters voices to have been a little bit more different than each other in places, but this didn’t distract too much from a good story.

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  • Faye Watson
  • 02-13-23

Great twisty story

Really enjoyed this story, really great twisty plot with lots of small nuggets of information that keep you guessing. Not sure about a lot of the accents though…

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  • Kate K
  • 02-03-23

Addictive listening

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Caroline Lee’s narration was brilliant as ever and one of the reasons I bought the first book in the series. I now have books 2 and 3 to look forward to. Well plotted - I never guessed the identity of the kidnapper - and the relationships between Kate and her colleagues and family were all credible. I look forward to hearing Kate solve more crimes with her dogged persistence to track down every potential lead.

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  • AG
  • 01-27-23

Brilliant author

I discovered Anni a few weeks ago and have listened to all the books she has on audible.
In total I’ve listened to almost one thousand books on audible mostly in the crime and post apocalyptic genres. Anni is one of the best authors I’ve ever encountered. Her books are engaging, exciting and full of twists and unexpected turns. The character development is brilliant and the stories are so creative. I don’t know how someone can have such a creative mind and an ability to write at this level.

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  • Ursula Connolly
  • 01-09-23

A great read and a great story.

Looking forward to reading more Anni Taylor books thus was a really good listen.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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  • Eileen salter
  • 01-02-23

Fantastic story !

Could not stop listening such a clever piece of work and the ‘reader’ was so easy to listen to

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  • Anonymous User
  • 12-18-22

LOVED IT!!

Recently discovered Anni Taylor, her books are immersive, well written, narrated & BRILLIANT! Totally recommend!

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  • Karen
  • 11-11-22

Loved it!

A great story - with twists and turns that are well linked together. Lots of threads to weave together but it was done beautifully.
Having visited the Blue Mountains area a lot, I enjoyed knowing the areas in the story - great Australian read/listen.

2 people found this helpful

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  • S
  • 09-28-22

One of the best authors I’ve encountered.

I really enjoy a good plot in a suspense novel. This isn’t one of those, it’s a brilliant plot! Logical, complex, suspenseful, well crafted, and it even ended logically with all loose ends neatly tidied up.

1 person found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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  • Kerrie-Anne
  • 05-07-21

terrible reading

shitty book, shitty reading. very good for going to sleep. honestly prime sleep book. interestimg enough to keep you distracted from whatever gives insomnia. every single sentence sounds like a dumb ass Aussie asking a question......?
lol

1 person found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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  • Lucy M
  • 06-05-23

Well written but stilted performance

This was a good story although felt very familiar to some other recent listens. Narration was a bit stiff in parts but not intolerable.

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  • Samantha
  • 06-05-23

Narration almost unbearable

I’ve loved Anni Taylor’s other books, but this one was almost ruined by the narration, every single accent she did was terrible. Very hard to listen to, and almost offensive? Even the way the Australian characters were read, was very cringeworthy. I made it through listening at a faster speed. I liked the storyline, but the narration was a big thumbs down.

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    2 out of 5 stars
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  • Wild Flower
  • 05-24-23

Dragged on!!!

I usually love novels by Anni Taylor, but this storyline was unnecessarily long and couldn't captivate my interest. The narrator didn't help.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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  • MH
  • 04-30-23

A clever story

So many detective books are fairly predictable, but not this one. The way the story unfolds is so interesting! The characters are layered- I couldn’t make up my mind how I felt about Abbey. Love having a functional lead as well. Highly recommend!

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    4 out of 5 stars
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  • Anonymous User
  • 04-28-23

Anni Taylor

I enjoy Anni Taylor’s books, this one had a good story line but the narrator’s voice for different characters was really bad.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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  • C. Bright
  • 04-24-23

Gripping

Once the character introductions and the background story got out of the way, I could not stop listening!

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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  • Anonymous User
  • 03-26-23

time line problem

this is supposed to be the first book in the series but the time line is out. This book was written supposedly before the Silent Town but it's written after One Last Child but Kate was 65 in the first book but she was younger in the silent town.