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Too Good to Be True
- Narrated by: Kenny Blyth
- Series: Shetland Island, Book 6.2
- Length: 1 hr and 43 mins
- Unabridged Audiobook
- Categories: Mystery, Thriller & Suspense, Mystery
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not bad but that's all
- By Ian on 16-01-22
Summary
Too Good to Be True is a gripping audiobook from Ann Cleeves, featuring Detective Inspector Jimmy Perez from the best-selling Shetland series.
When young teacher Anna Blackwell is found dead in her home, the police think her death was suicide or a tragic accident. After all, Stonebridge is a quiet country village in the Scottish Borders, where murders just don't happen.
But Detective Inspector Jimmy Perez soon arrives from faraway Shetland when his ex-wife, Sarah, asks him to look into the case. The local gossips are saying that her new husband, Tom, was having an affair with Anna. Could Tom have been involved with her death? Sarah refuses to believe it - but needs proof.
Anna had been a teacher. She must have loved kids. Would she kill herself knowing there was nobody to look after her daughter? She had seemed happier than ever before she died. And to Perez this suggests not suicide...but murder.
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What listeners say about Too Good to Be True
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Performance
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- John Doe
- 22-11-16
"Shetland" thriller.
I enjoyed this book and I think fans of the Shetland series will do as well. It's well narrated by Kenny Blyth whose Scottish accent adds authority to the tale. My main criticism of this book is that it was a little too short and did not allow the characters to develop as I would have liked them to.
That said the author has produced another absorbing investigation for Jimmy Perez and fans will not be disappointed.
6 people found this helpful
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- fotini
- 03-02-17
Disappointing
I usually enjoy Ann Cleeves books, especially the ones featuring Jimmy Perez, but this one was just such an unbelievable story. It was full of coincidences and the final denouement was, for me., just too contrived. Perhaps it would have been better had it been longer and more developed as it seemed to rush to a conclusion without enough substance.
4 people found this helpful
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- DartmoorDiva
- 13-11-16
Unimaginative
I have enjoyed most of Ann Cleeves' novels, and have noticed the way her writing and plotting has evolved over the years. Sadly, this effort is something of a regression. The plot was predictable And the behaviour of some of the main characters was quite unbelievable. This was nothing like the quality of her recent Shetland or Vera works. Disappointing.
7 people found this helpful
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- J. Mason
- 26-05-20
Not too good
If you like the back drop of shetland then don't bother with this one as it's not set there.
I'm really not sure why she bothered writing this one...
1 person found this helpful
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- Amazon Customer
- 22-06-18
Short and sweet
Absorbing storyline that is over far too quickly! A little Jimmy Perez is better than none.
1 person found this helpful
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- Linda
- 09-08-17
Very short
I enjoyed this story - shame it was so short. The narrator has a good easy voice to listen to
1 person found this helpful
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- Amazon Customer
- 18-07-22
Short and shoddy
Not up to Ann Cleeves usual standard of story telling and a mere 15 short chapters. Poor
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- Mrs Shore
- 03-06-22
An older book
Not worth a credit of £7.99 better to buy for £3
Must be an older story as it doesn’t have the depth of Jimmy Perez as we now know him.
Still enjoyable though and worth a listen.
Short story of just over 2 hours.
I do love the Shetland stories whatever they are.
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- Lucy Anne Barber
- 14-03-22
brilliant thanks.
really enjoyed this story, well written as usual. Well read although I guessed the murderer!
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- Sunbeam72
- 20-09-21
Previous review inaccurate
The previous reviewer who commented on the ‘Shetland backdrop’ obviously hasn’t read this book before commenting. It’s the only ‘Shetland’ Ann Cleeves book that is NOT based in Shetland! This one is Northumberland-based.
It’s a good, quick listen.
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- Colin
- 19-08-20
Fast moving short story
A pacey short story featuring Ann Cleeves Scottish detective Jimmy Perez.
Good characterisation, lots of red herrings & misdirections to leave the reader guessing right to the end.
Good holiday reading.
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- Grete
- 21-10-18
A short novella but a good story
All the ingredients for a crime novel are here but Ms Cleeves chose to write it as a short story or novella. There are lots of characters I wish we knew more about, and elements of the plot described in a sentence that could have been a chapter in themselves. A little more insight into Perez and his first wife. I bought it, so I didn't use a credit for it.
Kenny Blythe is a very good narrator.
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- Cher Carter
- 28-05-18
A Mere Short Story
And not a very good short story. Shame on you Ann Cleeves for releasing this as a novel, for that matter, for releasing it at all. Absolutely not up to your standards.
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- Charmaine
- 14-03-17
Too good to be true
Good story , short but good. Actually the shortest book I think I've ever seen from her ( as a fictional story Possibly just acting as a information gap between two full books ??Still worth the price of admission. :)