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Past Lying

Karen Pirie Novels, Book 7

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Past Lying

Written by: Val McDermid
Narrated by: Lauren Lyle
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About this listen

In this latest installment to her acclaimed detective series, internationally bestselling author Val McDermid returns with DCI Karen Pirie in a propulsive new thriller of deceit and vengeance, set against the disquiet and investigative challenges of a global pandemic

Hailed as Britain’s “Queen of Crime” (Scotsman), Val McDermid is the award-winning, internationally bestselling author of over thirty novels that have enthralled readers and listeners for the past three decades. The long-awaited seventh novel in McDermid’s acclaimed Karen Pirie series, Past Lying is a breakneck collision of ego, retribution, and just how far one will go to settle the score.

It’s April 2020 and Edinburgh is in lockdown, but that doesn’t mean crime takes a holiday. It would seem like a strange time for a cold case to go hot—the streets all but empty, an hour’s outdoor exercise the maximum allowed—but when a source at the National Library contacts DCI Karen Pirie’s team about documents in the archive of a recently deceased crime novelist, it seems it’s game on again. What unspools is a twisted game of betrayal and revenge, but no one quite expects how many twists it will turn out to have.

Tense, atmospheric, and relentlessly captivating, Past Lying is another winner from Val McDermid, and new and longtime readers alike will delight in this triumphant return to a stellar series.

©2023 Val McDermid (P)2023 W.F. Howes, Ltd.
Crime Thrillers Detective Fiction International Mystery & Crime Mystery Police Procedural Thriller Women Sleuths Women's Fiction Revenge Exciting Suspense
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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Narrator just reading a story.

Every character sounds the same. A change in narrators in the series is a bit jarring.

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  • Overall
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Story

I enjoy this series although I haven’t read all the books. I did find this a bit predictable- I prefer not figuring out the who-done-it well before the story line unfolds. But the use of the lockdown was interesting. The narrator was good but a bit slow - hence the length of the reading but it wasn’t a deterrent. Overall I enjoyed the listen.

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1 person found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars

Great story, great detective

I love Karen Pirie, who wouldn't? I enjoyed the story very much and also appreciated that it was read by Lauren Lyle, the actress who plays her in the series. I like Lyle's voice, and accent, but the fact that she doesn't breathe with the punctuation is annoying. The prosody is awkward and unnatural. Sometimes, particularly in the first chapters, the sentences sound like disconnected statements and has a robotic effect. Fortunately, it was less apparent as the book went on (or maybe I got used to it?). I look forward to listening to more books read by Lyle.

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