The Woman in the Blue Cloak

Benny Griessel

By: Deon Meyer

Narrated by: Simon Vance

The Woman in the Blue Cloak is a brilliant novella which will thrill and entertain fans of Deon Meyer's much-loved detective Benny Griessel.

Benny Griessel is a cop on a mission: he plans to ask Alexa Bernard to marry him. That means he needs to buy an engagement ring - and that means he needs a loan. So Benny has a lot on his mind when he is called to a top-priority murder case. A woman's body is discovered, naked and washed in bleach, draped on a wall beside a picturesque road above Cape Town. The identity of the victim is a mystery, as is the reason for her killing.

Gradually, Benny and his colleague Vaughn Cupido begin to work out the roots of the 17th century.

©2017 Deon Meyer; English translation copyright 2018 by K. L. Seegers (P)2019 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books

Enjoyable but not as satisfying as previous works

I'm a late convert to Deon Meyer and have become an avid Benny Griesel fan. The prior books allowed lots of room for characters to breathe and come to life aided by the superb narration from Saul Reichlin. This latest novella disappointed a little, the usual intricate plot formation wasn't present and some of the scenes seemed to echo previous sketched from prior novels a little too closely. Also, even though Simon Vance is a favourite choice for my audible books, I didn't like his performance as much. I look forward to more with Mr Reichlin please!

Fun, but wraps up quickly

A great little art mystery, but because it’s a novella, it wraps up a little too quickly. Readers of Donna Tartt’s The Goldfinch will really enjoy this one, as there are some related art references.

Too short

good but awfully short! I look forward to longer Deon Meyer work with more complex plots

Great story - terrible narration

Deon Meyer depiction of the different cultures within the South African rainbow nation is totally lost by the narrater Simon Vance. Words that are totally mispronounced and the fact that Simon just cannot mimic the different accents, does have a negative impact on the book. Nic de Jager is so much better as a narrator.