A mesmerizing and thrilling novel – perfect for fans of Tana French and Stieg Larsson – that introduces a modern, unforgettable rookie cop whose past is as fascinating and as deadly as the crimes she investigates.
She knows what it’s like….
At first, the murder scene appears sad, but not unusual: a young woman undone by drugs and prostitution, her six-year-old daughter dead alongside her. But then detectives find a strange piece of evidence in the squalid house: the platinum credit card of a very wealthy – and long dead – steel tycoon. What is a heroin-addicted hooker doing with the credit card of a well-known and powerful man who died months ago? This is the question that the most junior member of the investigative team, Detective Constable Fiona Griffiths, is assigned to answer.
But D.C. Griffiths is no ordinary cop. She’s earned a reputation at police headquarters in Cardiff, Wales, for being odd, for not picking up on social cues, for being a little overintense. And there’s that gap in her past, the two-year hiatus that everyone assumes was a breakdown. But Fiona is a crack investigator, quick and intuitive. She is immediately drawn to the crime scene, and to the tragic face of the six-year-old girl, who she is certain has something to tell her…something that will break the case wide open.
Ignoring orders and protocol, Fiona begins to explore far beyond the rich man’s credit card and into the secrets of her seaside city. And when she uncovers another dead prostitute, Fiona knows that she’s only begun to scratch the surface of a dark world of crime and murder. But the deeper she digs, the more danger she risks – not just from criminals and killers but from her own past…and the abyss that threatens to pull her back at any time.
Wonderful, surprizing book! The book starts as a seemingly “normal” procedural; a team of detectives attempt to find a killer. Then, ever so simply, ever so expertly, with consumate empathy and a willingness to make sure that we are beside “Fi” all the way, the investigation. as it flowers… goes internal. We are thus simultaneously investigating the case, and investigating an investigator; officer “Fiona Griffiths”. With Fiona, as unique and compelling a character I have ever encountered in…
Brilliant and another author and character I must follow. I am not going to describe the plot of this book. It is so complex and compelling I merely want to insist that if you are a fan of police procedurals, homicide detectives and British authors you MUST read this book. DC Fiona Griffiths is an island unto herself full of brilliant self-analysis and denial and courage and vulnerability and biting humor. The secondary characters are so well-described they are hardly secondary. Throughout I kept trying to compare Fiona to other female…
Harry Bingham serves up a rare bit of Welsh murder. Talking to the Dead is that wonderful type of book that gets you thinking about who would play the main characters in a mini-series. The characters are so vivid and real and the setting, both urban and rural parts of Wales, is so well painted that I can see it as though on a screen.Â