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The Stone Wife cover art

The Stone Wife

By: Peter Lovesey
Narrated by: Michael Tudor Barnes
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Summary

Just as the bidding gets exciting in a Bath auction house, three armed men stage a hold-up and attempt to steal Lot 129, a medieval carving of the Wife of Bath. The highest bidder, appalled to have the prize snatched away, tries to stop them and is shot dead.

Peter Diamond, head of the murder squad, soon finds himself sharing an office with the stone wife - until he is ejected. To his extreme annoyance the lump of stone appears to exert a malign influence over him and his investigation. Refusing to be beaten, he rallies his team and begins finding suspects and motives.

The case demands that someone goes undercover. The dangerous mission falls to Sergeant Ingeborg Smith, reverting to her journalist persona to get the confidence of a wealthy local criminal through his pop star girlfriend. And soon, murder makes a reappearance...

©2014 Peter Lovesey (P)2014 Soundings

What listeners say about The Stone Wife

Average customer ratings
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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent, but...

Where does The Stone Wife rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Very good story, more like the earlier Diamonds.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Peter Diamond is a good creation, who should have been on TV years ago.

What about Michael Tudor Barnes’s performance did you like?

Michael Todor Barnes reads very well indeed, except for Peter Diamond's accent. Diamond is a Londoner (something made a lot of in the early books). He is not from the West Country.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

A Good Wif was there...

Of course a series about a Bath detective should have a tale with at least passing reference to Chaucer's Wife of Bath, one of the more memorable characters of the Canterbury Tales.

Diamond is led through a series of incidents and yet somehow manages to untangle the false leads and catch the culprit, sorting out truth from lies and fact from fiction. The narrator is excellent and the best of all the Diamond story tellers.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Inspector Diamond series is my favourite

I love all the Inspector Diamond series books and have all the ones available on Audible.

I recommend these books as they are always good stories with a great narrator


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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

A pleasant listen

This was my first Peter Lovesey novel. I found it a pleasant listen which felt quite old fashioned. It reminded me of an Agatha Christy novel, although set in modern times. Whilst I listened to it all and enjoyed it, I don't think I will rush to read others in the series.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Entertaining

Classic Peter Dimond I was pleased that I identified the killer at the first clue. The sub story was good and could have been made more a part of the conclusion.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Ridiculous

I enjoy the Peter Diamond stories even though they’re not very credible, but this one takes the biscuit.
Without giving the plot away, I can only say that ingaborg Smiths’ behaviour was so dumb as to be totally unbelievable.

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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Very tedious

A laboured story so full of recaps of the plot it felt like a child’s first detective novel.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Rather an amusing story line

I always enjoy a Peter Diamond book, it is like meeting an old friend, this clumsy but highly intelligent policeman. Here he is somewhat haunted by the lady in the title. I found it quite funny in some places as he wrestles with her. Paloma did not figure much though, and I missed the feminine touch. But all in all it kept me interested to the end.

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

not believable and reader same voice for all

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

not possible

Has The Stone Wife put you off other books in this genre?

much more selective not a consistent writer

Would you listen to another book narrated by Michael Tudor Barnes?

possibly

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from The Stone Wife?

the whole premise is poor from start to finish

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Back on form

A better storykine with a little humour thrown in. No way for the reader to work out who the murderer was but I like it that way!

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