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A Case of Matricide

Inspector Gorski Investigation, Book 3

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A Case of Matricide

By: Graeme Macrae Burnet
Narrated by: Geoffrey Breton
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About this listen

In the unremarkable French town of Saint-Louis, a mysterious stranger stalks the streets; an elderly woman believes her son is planning to do away with her; a prominent manufacturer drops dead. Between visits to the town’s hostelries, Chief Inspector Georges Gorski ponders the connections, if any, between these events, while all the time grappling with his own domestic and existential demons.

Graeme Macrae Burnet once again pierces the respectable bourgeois façade of small-town life in this, the concluding part of his trilogy of Gorski novels. He injects a wry humour into the tiniest of details and delves into the darkest recesses of his characters’ minds, but above all provides an entertaining, profound and moving listen.

New audio files supplied 11/11/2024

©2024 Graeme Macrae Burnet (P)2024 Bolinda Publishing Crime Fiction International Mystery & Crime Mystery

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Critic reviews

'A deeply imagined and perfectly realised novel, and reading it is a dizzyingly immersive experience … [this] concluding part is breathtaking – tragic, cinematic, propulsive – and marks a new standard in contemporary crime fiction.’ (Martin MacInnes, Booker-longlisted author of In Ascension)
'This quirky blend of psychological thriller and smalltown life is both thought-provoking and entirely convincing.' (Laura Wilson, The Guardian)
'The Best Recent Crime and Thrillers.' (The Guardian)
'A tantalizing blend of psychological thrills and small-town life … a convincing depiction of bureaucratic and provincial rot. Fans of the series will be pleased.' (Publishers Weekly)
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An enjoyable, wwll-observed, if slightly depressing trilogy of small town life. Venal men win the day although there's some light in the humanity of most of the female characters and Gorsky himself.

the humanity in the detail

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Gorski’s return has been eagerly anticipated. He’s a small-town French cop - the unremarkable town in question is Saint-Louis. The novels (this is the third of a trilogy) owe a debt to Belgian author Georges Simenon’s Maigret stories. Like Maigret’s adventures, Gorski operates in a world of moral ambiguity - shades of grey, rather than black and white. Gorski himself is a troubled soul - a heavy drinker in a crumbling marriage to the daughter of the arrogant local mayor. But he’s hard-working - and (usually) a stickler for the rules. In A Case of Matricide, Gorski is confronted with at least one probable murder. There are mysterious characters, including a Slav who’s booked into a local hotel and a once-famous writer - who may or may not be plotting matricide. There are references back to the previous novels, so it is worth reading or listening in order. There’s something mesmerising and immersive about these novels, in which description and characterisation tend to take priority over plot. There are loose ends. I wasn’t entirely sure by the end that key questions had been resolved. This is a postmodern detective novel as Burnet presents himself as the translator of another man’s work (a writer called Brunet, an anagram of the real author’s name). This is the first Gorski novel I’ve listened to rather than read in hard copy, and it was possibly a mistake. The narration is clear enough but the voicing of Gorski seemed way off - he has a kind of panto villain’s voice in the audiobook, which was off-putting though not terminally so. The meandering pace and wonderful descriptive writing probably lend themselves more to reading than to listening. There’s a major twist which I felt didn’t sit well with Gorski’s character as we’ve come to know it. And the central events of the novel weren’t particularly interesting. Loose ends are fine - but there are too many of them (mind you, it’s more than possible I missed the resolution of some of them). I’d like to read the novel, as I think I’d enjoy it more than the audiobook. That said, there is much of value in A Case of Matricide, and it’s far from a failure. It’s sad to think we’ve seen the last of Gorski and Saint-Louis but this is a worthy swan song - even if it falls slightly short of expectations.

Good luck, Mr Gorski

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Thoroughly enjoyed the conclusion to this trilogy but regretting not reading the book rather than listening. The narrator is all over the place. Awkward pauses, odd gasps and breaths. At times he sounds bored of reading it. Very disappointing.

Great conclusion to the trilogy let down by an awful narration.

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The quality of the writing is the reason I’ve rated the overall score 5 star. Graeme brings the characters and town to life. I read the first 2 books in the series when released and I’m buying them as audiobooks now as this was definitely a more enjoyable experience.

Really Enjoyable listen

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Might have to re-read/listen another 300 times to make up my mind. (although if I have to re-listen then I will wait for a remake!)

The Audiobook performance was awful and let down the book, Production was terrible: lots of long silences, gasping intakes of breath (or inhalation of vapes...Couldn't tell). I thought these were intentional at first but they grew to be bloody irritating.

As far as the book went The characters and storyline were quite brilliant. As far as the conclusion goes....um I'll let you know when I've thought about it a lot more. A LOT MORE.

Not sure if its great or pants

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I enjoyed book 3 in the series. It's important to read them all as they intertwine. Less crime stories than learning about characters and inner thoughts. If you like the other two stories, you will probably enjoy this one too.

But the performance left a LOT to be desired. Lots of sniffing/gasping/vaping that I never noticed by this narrator before. Unusual gaps and pronunciations also don't help. Very distracting.

Four stars for the story. Two stars for production/ performance.

Good story, badly produced

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I can’t say how much I looked forward to this. I have never been so disappointed in a book in my fairly long life. I echo what others have said about the narration and the peculiar gaps and sounds and it is indeed distracting and annoying. Surely editing could have taken care of that? Hard to explain without spoilers but when the main event of the novel tales place it just feels so wrong and inept and the whole thing just veers off course from then onwards. First two books were pitch perfect and this is just so off key. I wish I hadn’t read it.

The most resounding NO!

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