Deception on His Mind

The discovery of a Pakistani man's body on the beach outside Balford-le-Nez, a dying Essex resort town with a small but growing Asian community, ignites the tensions that have been simmering in the seaside town and brings Sergeant Barbara Havers to Essex alone, without her usual partner Inspector Thomas Lynley. Working her most important case to date without his experience beside her, Havers must navigate her own prejudices, a crime that feels personal, and a community where the truth is buried under multiple layers of grievance and concealment. Deception on His Mind is unusual in the Inspector Lynley series for centering Havers.

Donada Peters narrates this lengthy novel with the stamina and precision the material demands, voicing Havers's characteristic bluntness alongside the complex ensemble of the Essex community with consistent authority. At nearly twenty-three hours, Deception on His Mind is one of the longest entries in the series, and Peters's performance sustains its quality throughout, giving the novel's ambition in both scope and cultural sensitivity the audio treatment it deserves.