A Bird in the Hand cover art

A Bird in the Hand

Palmer-Jones, Book 1

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A Bird in the Hand

By: Ann Cleeves
Narrated by: Sean Barrett
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About this listen

Ann Cleeves Classic Crime—engaging mysteries to savour, beloved characters to meet again

A Bird in the Hand is the first mystery novel featuring George and Molly Palmer-Jones by Ann Cleeves, author of the Shetland and Vera Stanhope crime series.

In England’s birdwatching paradise, a new breed has been sighted–a murderer....

Young Tom French was found dead, lying in a marsh on the Norfolk coast, with his head bashed in and his binoculars still around his neck. One of the best birders in England, Tom had put the village of Rushy on the birdwatching map. Everyone liked him. Or did they? George Palmer-Jones, an elderly birdwatcher who decided quietly to look into the brutal crime, discovered mixed feelings aplenty. Still, he remained baffled by a deed that could have been motivated by thwarted love, pure envy, or something else altogether.

But as he and his fellow ‘twitchers’ flocked from Norfolk to Scotland to the Scilly Isles, in response to rumours of rare sightings, George–with help from his lovely wife, Molly–gradually discerned the true markings of a killer. All he had to do was prove it...before the murderer strikes again.

©2015 Ulverscroft (P)2015 Ulverscroft Amateur Sleuths Cosy Crime Crime Fiction Detective Fiction Mystery Scary Murder Suspense

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All stars
Most relevant  
I could not get into this story, Narrator was too monotone, story too slowly paced, setting too homogeneous, failed to finish.

Slow pace.

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I love all Ann Cleeves books, and I did enjoy this. I just found there were a fair few places where was bored.

Excellent Narration

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It took me a while to get into this story - lots of characters and mention of different places geographically distant from each other so not always clear at the start but eventually I got the hang of it and found it most enjoyable.

Unusual story. Interesting highlights

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I’m all about mysteries. But this one didn’t do it. Maybe is because is one of the firsts. I won’t stop reading the author. Just this specific book wasn’t my cup of tea as is more like a story than a mystery book.

Boring

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Did not enjoy the story that I had listened to. Voice of reader very monotonous. Can't say bird watching so seriously is one of the things I want to do or read about so won't be finishing this book. I much prefer vera stanhopfe books.

what do I THINK!

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You,d have to be bird watcher to really enjoy this book. I found the progenitor unsympathetic.

Not the best Ann Cleeves..

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The narrator was so dull, the story was terrible. I can't believe this was written by Ann Cleeves

Just awful

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Expected to love this as I know the area well, but very disappointed .The main characters were flat as was the reading. Just didn’t work.

Loved everything she’s written untill now.

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Way too slow going and not helped by the narration, unfortunately. The level of birdwatching details was excessive, and the minor characters just seemed like shadows.

Not up to the author's usual standard

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Did not enjoy this book. In fact, i was unable to finish it, I found it quite boring all the talk about bird watching went on too long. It's put me off reading the other books in this series. 😩

struggled to get through the first few chapters

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