The Scent of Guilt

DI Bliss, Book 2

By: Tony J. Forder

Narrated by: Greg Wagland

Length: 11 hrs and 20 mins

Publisher's summary

Twelve years after he left Peterborough under a cloud, DI Bliss returns to the city and the major crimes team. Having spent years policing organised crime, Bliss is plunged straight into the heart of a serial murder investigation.

Meanwhile, Penny Chandler has been promoted to DS and has been working in London on the Met’s sexual crimes team. But when two rapes are reported on her old patch in Peterborough, Chandler volunteers to interview the victims. Chandler joins the hunt for the attacker and soon notices a possible link between the rapes and Bliss’ murder investigation. Could the same man be responsible?

Just as both cases seem to stall, a call comes in from an ex-policeman who knows of unsolved cases in the USA with a similar MO. Bliss finds himself travelling to California to hunt for a killer whose reach may have stretched further than anyone could possibly imagine. But in order to catch the murderer, Bliss must discover the killer’s motive. A motive which should have remained buried in the past...

©2017 Tony J Forder (P)2018 W. F. Howes Ltd

Keeps you interested right to the end

I love Crime Mystery I would recommend this book I am looking forward to reading more by this Author.

Love this series

Intelligent characters & great story lines. I’ve read the first two for free- what a bonus for hours of entertainment. I enjoy British detective series. Also check out DI Barton series.

Great Continuation of DI Bliss Series

After reading other reviews, I have to agree that the American accents do not do the story or the American characters justice. However, the rest of the performance is as solid as the first book and the story is compelling. Mr. Forder is a talented author and has solid heroes in DI Jimmy Bliss and DS Penny Chandler. Get past the bad American accents and you will find a good procedural cop story.

America, prepare to laugh

I enjoyed this book and also its predecessor in the series. Solid plot, good characters, enjoyable narration. I'll be listening to the next installment immediately.

I have to comment, however, that a substantial portion of this story takes place in California and, as an American listener, I found both the dialog and the narrator's American accents to be... Sorry, but they were utterly ridiculous. Imagine my surprise to find that a majority of people in the LA area speak like they are from the deep South, east Texas, or the Bronx. The only equivalent I can think of (to explain to my British friends) is if the Brit characters went around saying, "By jove!" or "Egad!" or "What ho!" in a Cockney accent. LOL (literally.)

Perhaps both author and narrator could listen to an audiobook written and read by Americans before attempting this again.

Good story, annoying main character

Basically a good story but the main character drives me crazy. The stories would be much better without the long introspective narratives where the author describes Bliss’s inner tormented thoughts over and over and over...

I like the scenes with all the cops working together and bantering and figuring out the mysteries. I’d like to see more of that and less of Bliss’s depressing inner thoughts

Almost funny...

Ok the story wasn’t funny but when the trip to CA came up I couldn’t help but laugh. I actually lost the plot at that point being so cracked up by the John Wayne accent for Leary and the slow speech of the female detective as though she were challenged in some way. Then the hysterical misuse of CA. slang, when Bliss was planning to “hook up”, with Leary. Also, Tony Forder has clearly never dealt with law enforcement in CA. The guys in the truck would have had much more than a little talking to. Other than that section, I thought it was well done and enjoyed the story.

good series

I enjoy this series and love the narrator, if I wad gonna say anything I'd like to hear more is the women that are Detectives in this series be more able to defend themselves. I know British and American women in detective stories differ a lot. but I would love it if the women that really should have self defensive moves because they are trained to. I know British cops don't carry guns, which took awhile to get used to, but that makes it even more important that the women detectives should be trained and fully capable of taking down any adversary even if the perp is twice the size.

WOW, great writing and narration!

Excellent thriller/mystery! Highly recommend. I'm an avid listener of books in this genre, and much appreciate the skill of this writer, as well as the excellent narrator. Am on to the next book in the series.

ok story

another cliff top ending. I'm surprised the uk has any coastline left. some good characterization. some failures with plot devices. I like the rather deadpan narration.

Mediocre - Way Overwritten

Get or at least listen to your editor Tony lest you toss in great hunks of drivel and or needless descriptions and tedious digressions. Oh, and work on your detective's tendency to make the most far-fetched decisions every time. I could feel myself aging as Wagland droned on about fogs, cliffs, rain, self pity, self indulgence, and self... self... self. It's like reading a pre teen's diary awash in complex sentences that never... never... never... end. Did you receive criticism once that you've got to show, not tell? Has this left you terrified that you never show enough? Sigh.

This is a marginally interesting ensemble. But why you decided to shift the locale for 1,000 chapters or so was unforgivable. Perhaps you improve with the next in this series? You've got a 'good set of bones' underlying this police procedural, share it with the reader and get us away from Bliss's agonixing introspections.