An Air That Kills

Lydmouth, Book 1

By: Andrew Taylor

Narrated by: Philip Franks

From the number-one best-selling author of The Ashes of London and The Fire Court this is the first instalment in the acclaimed Lydmouth series.

Workmen in the small market town of Lydmouth are demolishing an old cottage. A sledgehammer smashes into what looks like a solid wall. Instead, layers of wallpaper conceal the door of a locked cupboard which holds a box - and in the box is the skeleton of a young baby.

Items within the box suggest that the baby was entombed early in the 19th century, but when another man is also found dead, the evidence suggests that the baby's death is more recent and that a killer is on the loose. For journalist Jill Francis, newly arrived from London, this looks like her first story to chase....

©2012 Andrew Taylor (P)2020 Audible, Ltd

2 stars for the mystery, 4 stars for the novel.

This feels less like a murder mystery and more like a genesis story of a new detective inspector and the small town he’s moved to. There’s a great deal of time spent introducing and then interweaving many different characters, several that I’m sure we’ll see more of in future. Then when you’re at the VERY end of what is essentially just a novel, do they wrap up the original mystery and pile a couple more onto the pile. 2 stars for the mystery, 4 stars for the novel.

A Delicious New Series To Sink Your Teeth Into.!!

A great new series,.. with an old friend ....the narrator of many wonderful N. Marsh “who dunnits “..
Welcome back..!!

The opposite of a cozy mystery...

...and I don't like cozy mysteries, so you think I'd like this one. But the unrelenting grimness of the town and virtually everyone in it made it a hard slog to get through - and definitely made me uninterested in continuing with the series. Perhaps in this instance a little more coziness woukd be a good thing. The narration and the writing is good, but not enough to make up for all this dreariness.

A good start to a new series from Andrew Taylor an

A good start to a new series from Andrew Taylor and well narrated by Philip Franks. A married Police Inspector and a female journalist both move to Lydmouth and cross paths during a murder investigation. This book was entertaining, well paced, nicely written, easy to listen to and kept me interested to the end. It is refreshing to find a writer who does not rely on bad language, blood and gore or James Bond gadgetry. I put it in the top tier of my library and look forward to more from this author.

Well told/believable plot

Characters, plot, and motivations are believable, So like all the Andrew Taylor books I have read/listened to.