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Cracking Open a Coffin

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Cracking Open a Coffin

By: Gwendoline Butler
Narrated by: Nigel Carrington
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About this listen

Student Amy Dean has disappeared with her boyfriend Martin - a year after Martin's former girlfriend Virginia was found beaten to death. The connection between the two incidents seems clear - but John Coffin, Commander of the police, discovers that both girls worked at Star Court House.

©1992 Gwendoline Butler (P)2013 Audible, Inc. Mystery Fiction

Editor reviews

Narrator Nigel Carrington's performance is theatrical in the best sense of the word, hitting all the exciting beats of this John Coffin mystery. Commander Coffin is investigating the disappearance of Amy Dean and her boyfriend Martin, but he is finding it unusually difficult to get any information out of their friends or the shelter for battered women where Amy and Martin's ex-girlfriend Virginia - who was killed a year before - used to volunteer. Complicating matters are the pressure from Amy's father, who was once Coffin's partner, and the anonymous warnings Coffin is receiving about his relationship with actress Stella Pinero. Carrington's versatility shines with his characterizations, which are executed with gusto.
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Enjoyed this story from start to finish. Couldn’t guess who did it. Inspector Coffin very likable and his relationship with Stella adds a touch of romance to the usual serious issues.

Good Story

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2nd read of this series enjoying the journey although I do find I a little repetitive at times

the walker is a great character

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A fine delivery of a well written story. Nigel's characterisation makes this quite good novel a joy to listen to.

Nigel Carrington, super narrator.

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Wow! this had a change of pace compared to the John Coffin novels I'd listened to before. In a review of an earlier John Coffin novel, I'd called it "comfortable and leisurely"....this book starts of in the leisurely way I'd become used to (I've been"binge" listening to this series of books thanks to Audible's Plus catalogue) but as it progressed it starts to become darker and half way through became "edge of your seat". Gwendoline Butler is truly marvellous. So often I've read/listened to book series with a central character throughout, and they become"samey" and I lose interest, but not with this author. A really great listen/read and the narrator is brilliant.

A "cracking" read/listen

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I found this disappointing and often tedious. The story did not flow,and I fell asleep, which is unusual for me. Far too much introspection.

Very Disappointing.

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Just wanted to give a DV warning

If you’ve read/listened to the others in the series, it’s very much the same.

Good narration

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A good story line and it was a free listen. Pleasantly surprised as it was just an infill book between credits.

Interesting

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I've listened to books 4 - 6 and enjoyed them, so I thought it was the same with this one. Unfortunately, it was not to be. Almost throughout I felt like I was listening to a combination of the most boring lecture you can imagine and a very long shopping list being read out. The stars I've given are for about the last 20 minutes of the story, which is the only time it came alive.

Dull As Dishwater

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The story is often tedious and very hard to get into. The characters aren't relatable or likeable, which is a shame... I've tried listening to this book 3 times.. but have now decided to just give up on it... such a shame as I really wanted to like it!

Pretty dull all round..Expected better...

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i was thinking of reading series but after one attempt to listen to this story i had to abandon this book due to narrative which i found dull and really irritating .

narrative was dull

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