The Body on the Beach

An Island Mystery, Book 1

By: Anna Johannsen, Lisa Reinhardt - translator

Narrated by: Nicol Zanzarella

One victim. One murderer. Which of them is guilty?

A man is found dead on a beach on a small island off the coast of Germany. The gruesome discovery rocks the close-knit community of Amrum: in a town where nothing stays secret for long, who among them has a motive for murder?

DI Lena Lorenzen is brought in to investigate. For her, it is an unwelcome homecoming to the isolated island she turned her back on fourteen years ago. But now her past - and the island’s - is catching up with her. As her investigation leads her to a children’s home, where rumours of abuse by the murder victim are rife, she learns that the town she thought she knew housed secrets darker than nightmares.

When it becomes clear that this is just the beginning, Lorenzen is faced with an unenviable task: in a case where the victims have blood on their hands, can she bring the true criminal to justice?

©2019 Anna Johannsen (P)2019 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved. Translation © 2019 by Lisa Reinhardt.

Great police procedural

A fantastic translation, it's impossible to hear it's not originally in English. The benefit of a non-English language book is a look into other cultures and this is no exception.

A very solid police procedural, interesting with enough tangents and suspects to be engrossing. It's been a while since I've listened to a murder mystery novel and this was very enjoyable way to get back into Audible.

Great reader, I'll have to look up more of her work, very pleasant and realistic to listen to.

I will definitely be buying any others in the series.

Interesting!

I like reading stories that take place in other countries. This is very interesting. Makes me want to research the area. It was a little hard keeping track of some of the characters because their names both started with the same letters. That’s the only criticism that I have on the story. Good plot unfortunately I think the storyline is truer than we all think.

Decent story

Interesting read(listen) while driving. At times I was confused by character names but still a good mystery.

Interesting!

I enjoyed the book and the description of the land and lives there. The plot was tight, the writing excellent, and the characters well fleshed out. The narrator was great and brought the story to life.

Enjoyed.

I haven’t listen to a murder mystery in a while and this wasn’t too bad- kind of fun Kept my attention

Crime on Island Off the German Coast

Glad to have run on to this interesting crime series featuring DI Lena Lorenzen, who has been sent home to the island of Amrum off the coast of Germany to solve a murder case. I’d never heard of Amrum, and I love learning about new places. The author’s descriptions of the little island and its people were outstanding. And I like . . . really like DI Lorenzen, her approach to the crime, how she deals with her partner, and most off all her relationship with her aunt. I want to know more about her, so I really hope that more of the series will be translated and come to Audible. The writing is very good and not graphic, although the subject matter itself is hard to swallow. I like how the author unfolds the story, bit by bit, giving the listener just enough, not giving away too much. Excellent story and the conclusion was well worth the wait.

Good intellectual story.

I've gotten used to the American style of excessively thrilling stories (books/movies) that often lack real substance. This book was more in line with the movies and books from Scandinavia that I've seen/read. Those are the stories that I can still remember vividly years later, while I currently can't even remember what the last movie I saw was about.

The only thing I can complain about, has nothing to do with the actual story, is the pronunciation of "Lena" by the narrator. It's my name, and I know that in German and Danish it is pronounced 'Lēna' (Leena). There were variations in her pronunciation, which I heard every one of, so perhaps she was asked to say it "Leyna".

But anyway, my pathological pickiness aside, great book from a truly talented and intelligent writer.

Great for couples

Husband and wife both loved this book. It was very go and was suspenseful as well.

Great author

Second book I've listened to by this author. Both excellent. currently searching for more by her.

Slow moving

Story line was slow. I lost interest but finished. I would not recommend this book.