The Body in the Lake

Cherringham. A Cosy Crime Series - Mystery Shorts 7

By: Matthew Costello, Neil Richards

Narrated by: Neil Dudgeon

Cherringham parish council has invited Laurent Bourdain, mayor of a French village on the Brittany coast, to a gala reception to join the two villages in a mutually beneficial 'twinning.' The venue: Lady Repton's manor house, which her Grandson hopes to turn into a world-class conference center. An elaborate dinner worthy of the French dignitary has been prepared. But as the night wears on, and the wine flows, the mayor will vanish from the celebration, only to be found floating dead in the nearby lake. An accident it would appear, until Jack and Sarah start to piece together what really happened to the body in the lake.

Cherringham is a serial novel à la Charles Dickens, with a new audio episode released every two weeks. Set in the sleepy English village of Cherringham, the detective series brings together an unlikely sleuthing duo: English web designer Sarah and American ex-cop Jack. Thrilling and deadly - but with a spot of tea - it's like Rosamunde Pilcher meets Inspector Barnaby.

Each of the self-contained episodes is a quick listen for the morning commute, while waiting for the doctor, or when curling up with a hot cuppa. For fans of Agatha Christie's Miss Marple series, Lilian Jackson Braun's "The Cat Who" series, Caroline Graham's "Midsomer Murders", and the American TV series "Murder She Wrote", starring Angela Lansbury.

Co-authors Neil Richards (based in the UK) and Matthew Costello (based in the US), have been writing together since the mid 90's, creating content and working on projects for the BBC, Disney Channel, Sony, ABC, Eidos, and Nintendo to name but a few. Their transatlantic collaboration has underpinned scores of TV drama scripts, computer games, radio shows, and - most recently - the successful crime fiction series Cherringham. The narrator of the audiobook, Neil Dudgeon, has been in many British television programmes including the roles of "DCI John Barnaby" in "Midsomer Murders" and "Jim Riley" in "The Life of Riley". He is also known for his film roles in "The Nativity", "Sorted" and "Son of Rambow". In 2012 Dudgeon starred as "Norman Birkett" on BBC Radio 4's Afternoon Play series written by Caroline and David Stafford.

©2017 Bastei Lübbe (Lübbe Audio) (P)2017 Lübbe Audio

Great plot twist!

amateur-sleuth, cosy-mystery, Cotswolds, ex-cop, family, family-dynamics, friendship, greed, law-enforcement, lies, local-politics, murder, murder-investigation, secrets, series, small-business, small-town, short*****

Love this idea of a series given in short bursts that are just the right size as well as so much more flexible than a whole novel!
This episode involves a town that is looking to connect with a similar town in France for their mutual financial benefit. A gala is held at the local resort complex to work thing out. But a murder happens instead. Let the sleuthing begin!
The ongoing sleuthing involves a retired and widowed older NYPD homicide cop who is finding life in the English countryside a fair antidote to his mourning, and a local recently divorced woman who has returned to her hometown with her children. They make a good sleuthing pair.
Voice actor Neil Dudgeon has been an asset to my listening pleasure while I do mindless things.

The conga line

Laughed so hard and loud at the conga line. So funny. And the narrator making the sounds

Fun

One of the best so far! Clever, plot and fun, twisty ending! The characters are always fun.