Before the Poison

By: Peter Robinson

Narrated by: Simon Slater, Sandra Duncan, Al Senter

Through years of success in Hollywood composing music for Oscar-winning films, Chris Lowndes always imagined he would come full circle, home to Yorkshire with his beloved wife, Laura. Now he’s back in the Yorkshire Dales, but Laura is dead, and Chris needs to make a new life for himself.

The isolated house he buys sight unseen should give him the space to come to terms with his grief and the quiet to allow to him to work. Kilnsgate House turns out to be rather more than he expected, however. A man died there, 60 years ago. His wife was convicted of murder. And something is pulling Chris deeper and deeper into the story of Grace Elizabeth Fox, who was hanged by the neck until she was dead….

Peter Robinson’s first departure from the Banks series in over 20 years is a poignant exploration of guilt, self-sacrifice, and redemption ,and a novel of unsettling psychological suspense. Robinson grew up in Yorkshire, and now divides his time between Richmond and Canada.

©2011 Peter Robinson (P)2011 Hodder & Stoughton

Loved this book

Robinson cleverly combines a 2011 storyline of a man greaving for his wife with a 1950's murder mystery. Did Grace Fox kill her husband? Who was she, what kind of life did she live - a restricted life of a country doctors wife constrained by 1950's morality? We learn that there was a lot more to Grace than that, a remarkable woman who lived through a remarkable time in history. There were plently of twists and turns in this plot to keep me guessing right to the end. I loved this mystery, and I came away feeling like I had learned a lot more about women in 1940's and 50's Britain. I cant wait to listen to it again! All the ingredients of a great download - enjoy!!

Before the Poison

Many issues and events included in one book yet with effortless readability. Great reading from a most talented writer to whom I am most grateful for such wonderful entertainment.

Nicely Paced

Nicey pace, excellent story. Robinson keeps up the usual tension in an unusual basis for this story. The narrator bills the tension just right.

A nice change of pace

Peter Robinson has left D.I. Allan Banks for the moment. The publicity that accompanies the audible.com profile is spot on and I found this a compelling mystery. A grieving widower buys a house in a bleaker part of the Yorkshire Dales. Having experience in this type of house myself, I can attest to the sometimes creepy atmosphere. Chris Lowndes, the unsuspecting house-buyer hadn't purchased the house, his life may well have taken a different tack but the real hook is that the former owners, a doctor and his attractive wife lived, until he is poisoned. His wife, an enigmatic figure permeates the whole novel from the account of her hanging in the early 1950s to the start in her own words in the second part of the novel. Had this been in paper, it would have needed to be pried from my hands. I couldn't stop listening, such was the compelling nature of the story and the accomplished narrative. Lowndes, the unsuspecting and conned house-buyer is a sympathetic character and his late loved wife and memories are shaken and stirred by an almost-ghost story and his whole life is upturned by a preoccupation with an executed woman whose story reverberates throughout the book, to the extent that although she remained enigmatic to me, she was real: I don't think I can speak more highly of credibility.

Before The Poison

Peter Robinson. British crime at its best. No DCI Banks for a change, which was a nice surprise.

This is a good story. Enjoy!

Peter Robinson always writes a good story. This is a most unusual story. It's a crime story. It's a war story. It's a love story. The narrators are excellent. I became drawn into the story and it is only in the last 30 minutes you have all the facts. There are still some threads you need to decide for yourself. It is a very satisfying book. I listened once and listened again. I highly recommend this book.