Soul Murder

By: Daniel Blake

Narrated by: William Hope

Pittsburgh homicide detective, Franco Patrese, is about to be put to the test by a series of shocking murders…

The charred body of a renowned brain surgeon is found in one of the city's luxury apartment blocks. Then a Catholic bishop is set alight in his Cathedral. Patrese's investigation uncovers high-class prostitution, medical scams and religious obsession, but it will take a terrible betrayal to uncover the truth.

©2010 Daniel Blake (P)2013 W F Howes Ltd

Critic reviews

"Daniel Blake makes New Orleans the setting for a story that's as hot, steamy and shot through with voodoo madness as the city itself. Highly recommended!" (Tom Cain on City of Sins)

Enjoyable, with weaknesses; good narration

The narration was excellent, as could be expected from William Hope. The story was perfectly enjoyable, but nothing spectacular. In particular, I felt the conclusion was rather unsubtly signalled from quite early in the story - perhaps this was intentional (ie breadcrumbs for the reader) but it's a approach that may lead to reader frustration with the protagonists' lack of awareness. This aside, the most annoying element for me was the reliance on long soliloquies to impart information: they were glaringly unnatural in the context in which they occurred - the first might have gotten a pass, but the repeated use of this technique was jarring in the latter half of the book. Again, the story was delivered excellently by the narrator, but the flaws in writing or story editing detracted from the experience. I personally will try other Daniel Blake novels, and I can suggest this as a pleasant diversion, but nothing special.