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Type of bind: MP3 CD
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN num: 9781593352943
Format: Audiobook, MP3 Audio, Unabridged
ISBN number: 1593352948
Label: Brilliance Audio on MP3-CD
Manufacturer: Brilliance Audio on MP3-CD
Quantity: 1
Printing Date: June 10, 2004
Publishing house: Brilliance Audio on MP3-CD
Release Date: June 10, 2004
Sale Popularity Level: 1019055
Studio: Brilliance Audio on MP3-CD
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Product Description:
Winter 1963: two children have disappeared off the streets of Manchester; the murderous careers of Myra Hindley and Ian Brady have begun. On a freezing day in December, another child goes missing: thirteen-year-old Alison Carter vanishes from her town, an insular community that distrusts the outside world. For the young George Bennett, a newly promoted inspector, it is the beginning of his most difficult and harrowing case: a murder with no body, an investigation with more dead ends and closed faces than he'd have found in the anonymity of the inner city, and an outcome which reverberates through the years.
Decades later he finally tells his story to journalist Catherine Heathcote, but just when the book is poised for publication, Bennett unaccountably tries to pull the plug. He has new information which he refuses to divulge, new information that threatens the very foundations of his existence. Catherine is forced to re-investigate the past, with results that turn the world upside down.
A Greek tragedy in modern England, A PLACE OF EXECUTION is a taut psychological thriller that explores, exposes and explodes the border between reality and illusion in a multi-layered narrative that turns expectations on their head and reminds us that what we know is what we do not know.
Amazon.com Review:
Penzler Pick, August 2000: Val McDermid, better known in England than in the U.S., is a well respected writer of crime fiction. Her three ongoing mystery series feature red-haired PI Kate Brannigan; Lindsay Gordon, a lesbian socialist journalist, and Tony Hill and Carol Jordan, clinical psychologist and detective inspector respectively. A Place of Execution is McDermid's very first stand-alone mystery, and with it, she redefines the term 'village mystery.'
It is 1963, the Beatles are becoming wildly popular in England, and the Swinging Sixties are about to change the post-war Western world. But in the village of Scardale in the Peaks District of Derbyshire, a desolate area beloved of hikers and climbers, nothing has changed for hundreds of years. The village has remained small and insular--most villagers are related, and the most common second names are Carter and Lomas. When Alison Carter, aged 13, disappears while walking her dog, the case is given to a young detective inspector named George Bennett. As Bennett gets to know the families in the village and their concerns, he realizes that this case is not as simple as it very first seems. The villagers seem to be closing ranks, and Bennett suspects they may be protecting one of their own. Central to his investigation are Alison's mother and her husband. When Ruth Carter remarried, she chose Philip Hawkin, an outsider who is now the current squire of the village. As Alison's stepfather, he raises all kinds of blue flags for Bennett. But so does Alison's close relationship with her cousin Charlie who, too conveniently, it seems, finds a vital clue.
All this is complicated by the fact that the police and the villagers cannot find Alison's body; there are also other disappearances in the area which may or may not be connected. To reveal more about this riveting mystery would be to give too much away. McDermid takes the reader through a maze of conflicting facts and theories, and when Bennett, with the help of local police, solves the case, the real story is only just beginning--especially for Bennett, who will question not only his own part in solving this case, but ultimately the profession he has chosen. --Otto Penzler
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Rated by buyers 
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A Place Of Execution is the very first Val McDermid book I've read and I'm now worried that any book of her I read now will be a let down. It was utterly riveting.
Without giving too much away the book is the story of a child abduction in 1960's Britain. There are chilling references (depicted in newspaper snippets) of the disappearance of victims of Ian Brady and Myra Hindley (2 of Britain's most notorious child killers)
The central figures is George Bennet, a newly promoted detective inspector investigating the abduction/murder of a 13 year old girlin a remote Derbyshire village. Faced with dead ends and closed doors it becomes a personal obsession. Years later he tells his story to a journalist,Catherine Heathcote.
The description of policing and investigating in the 1960s is utterly compelling. There are some harrowing passages, but these are necessary to the plot and thoroughly non gratuitous.
The twist is totally unexpected and brilliant.
I'm not going to say much more. I cannot recommended this book enough
Rated by buyers -
This Edgar Award finalist and New York Times Notable Book of the Year is a beautifully crafted, intriguing mystery, with well-fleshed characters and an intricate plot. Quintessentially English to its core, this mystery will captivate the reader, not only with its plot but with the vivid imagery that the author skillfully conjures for the reader. Filled with a myriad of twists and turns, this book will keep the reader riveted to its pages.
In the winter of 1983, a thirteen year old girl, Alison Carter, out for a walk with her dog, suddenly vanishes from her sleepy, insular English hamlet. Although there is no corpse, an unexpected discovery in a local cave brings George Bennett, the young Inspector assigned to the case, to an inevitable conclusion, leading to an arrest. Despite its resolution, this case will continue to haunt Inspector Bennett for decades to come.
When journalist Catherine Heathcote decides to write a book about the Derbyshire murder case, the now retired George Bennett fully cooperates until the eve of publication, when he suddenly requests that the book not be published for reasons that he refuses to share with Ms. Heathcote. Suddenly, the intrepid journalist senses that there is more to this story than meets the eye, and she sets out to unravel the secret of what really happened to Alison Carter in the winter of 1963. It is a journey of discovery that will fascinate the reader.
Those who enjoy beautifully written, well-plotted mysteries will simply love this highly atmospheric book. The author is clearly a superlative writer, with real talent for writing intricately plotted mysteries, while creating memorable characters. Bravo!
Rated by buyers -
I read a lot of mysteries, but this was my very first of Val McDermid's (the "Edgar Award Runner Up" attracted me). I'm impressed and will make a point to find more.
While this is a murder mystery, it's not traditionsl at all. First, it carries the story through to the apparent solution in a not-overbearing police procedural style, but then it nicely illustrates the relaionships and diverse interests between the police and the prosecuiting attorneys as well as the drama of the subsequent trial. All well done.
Then, second, it re-sets the stage 35 years later to a subsequent investigator's point of view to lead to a surprising conclusion. Although the transition is a little disconcerting, also, well done.
Could easily be read as a novel, very good development of interesting characters, as opposed to being only a mystery. Nice job!
Rated by buyers -
Thirteen-year-old Alison Carter disappears on a frigid December night in 1963. No one is more determined to discover her fate than newly promoted Detective Inspector Bennett and his able and trusted partner Detective Sergeant Tommy Clough. For Bennett, the search for Alison, "even if it is just to bring home a daughter's dead body to her mother" becomes a crusade. Their investigations are hampered by the seemingly insular and inbred feudal community of Scardale where Alison lived, along with her closely-knit family of mother, aunts, uncles, and cousins. Their homes and livelihood depended largely on the grace of their landowner and squire, the much-disliked Philip Hawkin, Ruth's second husband and Alison's stepfather. From the barest of clues, coaxed like blood from stone from the locals, Bennett and Clough mount an investigation, garnering ghastly evidence that ultimately results in a conviction and an execution. Justice was served. Or was it? It will take thirty-five years and an ambitious and aggressive journalist to uncover the truth behind Alison Carter's disappearance.
My feeble endeavor at a synopsis cannot do justice to this masterpiece. From its introduction to its ending, Val McDermid's A Place of Execution had me on tenterhooks. Anyone who would deny the fact that mystery novels can be literature must not have read this. Expertly written with fully fleshed out characters so vividly described you'd swear they were right before you. The ingenious plot whose denouement and its horrors could not be diminished by any reader's speculation, no matter how dogged the effort, will remain in my head for a long time. The sensitive yet unflinching depiction of a most heinous crime and the agony it caused make me admire the author's skill even more. There is not a single one of its 465 pages I would take away--every single one of them was a pleasure to read! And did I say justice was served? In my opinion, it was.
Rated by buyers -
I have both read the book and listened to the audiobook.
This is the story (an English one) of mystery and murder. I don't normally like reading novels where children are sexually abused but this one is tastefully conveyed in that realm -- while it is quite graphic in places, the reader doesn't feel like he or she needs a shower after hearing about it.
A Laird of the manor has a taste for chicken porn, photos that he prefers to see himself in. He has an entire culturally-backward village of children to choose from as well as his own step-daughter. The community is extorted to a large degree by this predator in that they are all directly dependent upon his pecuniary support and they fear his Peer influence with the authorities.
Finally, this S.O.B. gets caught by the police with the aide of the man's wife who suddenly discovers that she's living with a monster. Things appear to be all tidied up, but this is not the case. This hamlet of conspirators just may have pulled one over on the police and the officer in charge of the case must come to terms with this possible fact years after his retirement.
This is a compelling, contemplative, well-done mystery novel. I usually prefer British cozy-type murders with lots of poison lying around (Christie, Tey, Sayers, etc.), but here is an example of an excellent and solid, more real-to-life but still a bit atmospheric, mystery.
As far as the audiobook goes, the reader is quite excellent and I convey my highest recommendation for both forms of media.
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