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  • Death in Disguise

  • A Midsomer Murders Mystery, Book 3
  • By: Caroline Graham
  • Narrated by: John Hopkins
  • Length: 13 hrs and 48 mins
  • 4.7 out of 5 stars (80 ratings)

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Death in Disguise

By: Caroline Graham
Narrated by: John Hopkins
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Summary

To the distaste of the Compton Dando villagers, the big house has been taken over by a group of New Age eccentrics. And when the first death is reported, no one is surprised...or disappointed. The coroner rules it an accident.

But only weeks later, there’s another death. And this time, it is murder.

Detective Chief Inspector Barnaby is called to the scene immediately, and there’ll be no escape until he has sifted through the world of psychics, cult leaders and horrifying deaths to get to the cause of it all.

©1992 Caroline Graham (P)2022 Bolinda Publishing Pty Ltd

Critic reviews

"Simply the best detective writer since Agatha Christie." (The Sunday Times)

"Wickedly acid, yet sympathetic." (Publishers Weekly)

What listeners say about Death in Disguise

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Wonderful. Wonderful!

Before reading the ‘Midsummer Murders’ books I was unaware of Caroline Graham’s skill as an author. Whilst the television series amuses, her books accomplish this and so much more - such a sensitive depiction of her characters’ inner turmoil and desires. And John Hopkins even manages to sound like John Nettles as Barnaby! Such a talented actor. Marvellous stuff.

1 person found this helpful

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Brilliant

So interesting. Not just the plot, but the wonderfully drawn characters. John. Nettles’ review is spot on.

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very confusing.

I loved some of the character description and the narration was excellent. The plot was very confusing. Many of the characters had several different names, (real and 'spirit' names).
Important plot twists were not developed or resolved. The characters were somewhat wooden and cliched, in fact the only believable character was Calypso, the goat. All in all it proved to be a hard listen.

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Wonderful

Great listen, beautifully crafted characters. Really enjoyed this book, after a lifetime watching Barnaby on TV this book (and the others) really fleshed out the story to draw you in - loved this. The narration was excellent - perfect choice, can’t wait for the next one.

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Better than the tv series!

I’ve watched a couple of the episodes of Midsummer Murders on tv and thought that the numerous murders were totally unbelievable. But I decided to give it a try and downloaded one of these audible episodes. Therefore I was surprised that it was very enjoyable. The characters Barnaby and Troy were so different from the tv characters that for a while I had to readjust my image of them. And as for Cully well she is altogether the complete opposite of her tv persona! But I enjoyed these books so much more, there was depth to the characters and they seemed more life like.
The narration was spot on and flowed smoothly and from one character to the next.
Enjoyed the first audible episode in the series now downloading the next 3!

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Loved it

Slow complicated start but stick with it. I love these books, I have already downloaded the next in the series and I am going to be so disappointed when I’ve listened to them all. Narration brilliant as always.

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You can't beat a bit of Midsommer

unlike the TV programmes, it takes a while for the bodies to turn up, so by the time they do you know the cast of characters and I for one worry which one it will be who gets the chop. Having reeled you in the death(s) are all the more shocking when they do occur!

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  • Di
  • 15-12-22

English mystery masterpiece!

Caroline Graham writing is so exquisite in describing and creating characters, in such detail as to making it possible for the reader to fully understand the complexity of emotions and thought process, in a way that is also gently, at times even amusing, but always respectful and never sarcastic or mocking. I struggled at the beginning of this book, too many characters were introduced very early on, I could not understand what they were talking about and what was going on in their world at all. Only later to understand that was quite a natural and perhaps deliberate line of the plot, which eventually delivered one of the most intriguing and twister mysteries with wonderful wrap up at the end.

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John Hopkins excellent as narrator. Again!

John Hopkins is superb. His multiple characterisations are seamless and the variety is fantastic. I feel guilty as I wish for Mr Hopkins to throw all of his considerable talents into this series, at the expense of all other, and perhaps more attractive, labours. Bravo.

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Terrible!

John Hopkins was brilliant as always and I love the fact these books have finally been made in to audiobooks… but this was without doubt the worst book ever! Really had to convince myself to stick with it. If you’re a lover of Caroline Graham (which I am!!) just skip this one.

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  • wisconsinclark
  • 04-10-22

Tedious at first, but hang in there

I enjoy character setups, books taking time to set the scene before a murder takes place. I don't care if the crime does not occur until the middle of the book. The problem with this story. for me, is in the beginning, I did not care for the characters, and the description somehow seemed boring. Once the murder takes place, the story picks up and becomes quite entertaining. By the end of the book all is explained, and while i liked the wind up, I never liked the main cast of characters. Still, I would recommend the book and I liked the narrator.

3 people found this helpful

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  • JJW3
  • 23-10-22

struggled to finish

good narration, but I struggled to finish. I only hung in there because I liked the 1st and 2nd books.

2 people found this helpful

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  • Ichiji
  • 24-10-22

A disappointing outing in the series

This was less a mystery than a social satire. As a satire. it was not terribly interesting because the characters were fairly shallow. The actual investigation doesn't start until halfway through. I have enjoyed other books in this series, but not this one.

1 person found this helpful

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  • George
  • 22-10-22

Characters unlike able

Icky characters, gave up and forwarded to after the murder. Way even the main characters were depressing.

1 person found this helpful

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  • Marilee
  • 22-03-23

A gem!

The characters are so well done, so intricately portrayed. I’ll listen over and over again.

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  • Reasonable
  • 19-03-23

Wonderful

Intricate interesting plotting. Wonderful dry humor and vivid characters. So good I kept staying up late to listen.

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    3 out of 5 stars
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  • Everton Kiwi
  • 25-02-23

Lovely but long.

Expertly narrated by John Hopkins, I can’t help but feel this title could have been abridged - but that’s just me.

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  • Melissa
  • 16-02-23

Worth the listen, as always

The narrator does an excellent job in this series. I like the set up and introduction that happens before the crime/murder in this series. The story is good, but I gave 4 stars , rather than 5, only because the setting and interest of the characters (astrology and such) became a bit tedious only because it’s not something I am normally interested in— but still very well done.
Characters become real through nuanced descriptions and situations and the mystery(mysteries) are tricky to figure out, so pay attention.

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  • italoromano
  • 18-01-23

Nearly 5 hours into this …Still waiting for something to happe

This book’s background story goes on and on and on and on ….where is the beef !!! BORING !

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  • Pat
  • 16-01-23

Please do the whole series!!!!

Please do the whole series! I liked the tv show, but the books are so much better!!!