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The Body in the Woods cover art

The Body in the Woods

Written by: Matthew Costello, Neil Richards
Narrated by: Neil Dudgeon
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Publisher's Summary

It's Carnival week in Cherringham, but while most of the locals are looking forward to the regatta, the parade and the fireworks, Jack and Sarah are more interested in the mysterious body that's been uncovered at the archaeological dig just outside the village ... No Roman soldier - but a young man, no ID. Definitely the victim of a cold blooded murder ... from just a few decades ago. It's a baffling cold case - but one that soon heats up when a member of the carnival committee suddenly goes missing. Jack and Sarah investigate - and quickly come up against a wall of silence.

Are the two cases connected? What dark secret from Cherringham's past is being kept hidden? As the Carnival rolls to its spectacular finale, Jack and Sarah race against time to stop the murderer before they kill again ...

For fans of Agatha Christie's "Miss Marple" series, Lilian Jackson Braun's "The Cat Who" series, Caroline Graham's "Midsomer Murders", and the American TV series "Murder She Wrote", starring Angela Lansbury.

Co-authors Neil Richards (based in the UK) and Matthew Costello (based in the US), have been writing together since the mid 90's, creating content and working on projects for the BBC, Disney Channel, Sony, ABC, Eidos, and Nintendo to name but a few. Their transatlantic collaboration has underpinned scores of TV drama scripts, computer games, radio shows, and - most recently - the successful crime fiction series "Cherringham". First released as eBook novellas, this is the second full-length novel. "Cherringham" is popular around the world and has been adapted as a series of audiobooks in both English and German. The narrator of the audiobook, Neil Dudgeon, has been in many British television programmes including the roles of DCI John Barnaby in "Midsomer Murders" and Jim Riley in "The Life of Riley". He is also known for his film roles in "The Nativity", "Sorted" and "Son of Rambow". In 2012 Dudgeon starred as Norman Birkett on BBC Radio 4's "Afternoon Play" series written by Caroline and David Stafford.

©2019 Lübbe Audio (P)2019 Lübbe Audio

What listeners say about The Body in the Woods

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Love it

I am totally hooked on A Cherringham Mystery. All the stories are great. Light listening. Love it says it all

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Another great book

Did not disappoint. Really enjoying these novels even more than the short stories. Well developed plots and characters with good suspense. The language is inoffensive and the stories are not overtly gruesome. Great narration. Looking forward to the next instalment.

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Excellent as always

I always enjoy listening to Jack & Sarah’s adventures. There should be a tv series created.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Entertaining Lighthearted Mystery

It helps to know the Cherringham village setting - and be familiar with American ex-detective Jack Brennan and British computer programmer/amateur sleuth Sarah Edwards - but it's not strictly necessary here. Niel Richards and Matthew Costello develop a fun (if not terribly original) mystery after the discovery of a buried corpse at an archeological dig site. The plot is a little weak (with fairly predictable twists), but the dialogue is realistic, the characters are intriguing, and the descriptions are vivid. The chapters are quite short - driving a nice pace. The longer format (these 'episodes' generally run 2-3 hours) also yields more opportunity to build atmosphere.. and the authors exploit it nicely. Cherringham fans will be pleased, but so will readers unfamiliar with the duo.

Niel Dudgeon is excellent in this recording. His pacing and emotiveness are exemplary. His American accent continues to be fairly weak, but other character voices put the listener directly in the small British village. This is some of the best work I've heard from him.

One of the biggest features of these "Cozy" mysteries is the avoidance of strong language and commitment to minimal gore. In my mind (as a more conventional mystery fan), it usually renders the genre somewhat milquetoast.. but it's not as noticeable in this story. While this one remains faithful to that pattern - it can still be listened to in the presence of people with tender sensibilities (minors.. or.. my mom) - it has a little more maturity. 'The Body in the Woods' sounds less like an extended 'Matlock' episode and more like a conventional whodunit. This is a 7.5/10 star story.

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