The Shrine

A DCI Ryan Mystery

By: L. J. Ross

Narrated by: Jonathan Keeble

From the number-one international best-selling author of Holy Island and Impostor.

A murder for the history books.

After a long and eventful winter, DCI Ryan and his team are looking forward to the joys of spring. But, when one of their colleagues is shot dead on her own doorstep and the brass think it’s an inside job, Ryan finds himself drafted in to investigate.

He’s barely scratched the surface when reports flood in of a terror explosion at Durham Cathedral. Chaos descends on the sleepy, historic city and, when the smoke clears, they find a priceless artefact that once belonged to Saint Cuthbert is missing.

With tensions running at an all-time high, unable to trust the local police, can Ryan and his team bring a killer to justice — and restore Cuthbert’s cross to its natural resting place?

Murder and mystery are peppered with romance and humour in this fast-paced crime whodunit set amidst the spectacular landscape of County Durham.

©2020 LJ Ross (P)2020 Audible, Ltd

Too short

This audio started off well enough but ended too quickly seemed like half a story. Otherwise great writing as usual.

Great author, great reader

Another enthralling detective novel by a wonderful writer. Ryan and his colleagues zip through an investigation, only to wonder...

New to the series. I like it.

This was a plus free listen. The book is short, but complete enough. I will probably read more in the series as the characters are relatable and pleasant.

Another Great Book

This is another very good story in a long line of great books about DCI Ryan. Highly recommended!

Excellent..

Another wonderful book about Ryan, Anna, Frank and MacKenzie. This time Anna is caught in an explosion and she’s hurt pretty badly, and Ryan is out for blood. Unfortunately, the story doesn’t end with this book. It’s not a cliffhanger but the story will go on about Cuthbert’s Cross in the next book.

No romance and no swearing.

As to the narration: Love, love, love Jonathan Keeble.

The shrine is excellent!

I had read The Shrine when it first came out. My husband and I were driving home from Denver to Wisconsin—1,000 miles—and I thought he would enjoy this book! I’ve read all the DCI Ryan books but my husband hasn’t read any. We have a fond spot in our hearts for Durham Cathedral and figured that this was the one to listen to! We both enjoyed it! Thanks, LJ Ross!

Decent story

Short story with open endings. This one seemed rushed but it entertained me nonetheless.

Excellent Mystery - Great Characters

OMGoodness – I have found a wonderful new-to-me author and mystery series. I came into the series at the sixteenth book, but I fully intend to go back and start at the beginning because I enjoyed this one so much. I loved the characters; I loved the setting; I loved the mystery; I loved the writing style, and I can’t believe I’m just discovering them.

I used the Whispersync feature with this book, so I listened to the audio of some of it and read some of it. I liked the narrator’s voice as it was very smooth and flowed nicely. However, he didn’t seem to have a very wide range of voices – the females sounded like males with high voices and the male characters just sounded kind of raspy rather than distinctive. That said, I still enjoyed the listen – just not as much as I would have if there were a wider voice range.

Detective Chief Inspector Maxwell Finley-Ryan and his wife, Dr. Anna Taylor-Ryan are happily awaiting the arrival of their first child. As Ryan muses, “For all the tragedies he’d known, Ryan considered himself a lucky man and never more so than the day he’d found Anna—the other, better half of himself.” Now, they are bringing a child into the world.

Never do they expect two tragedies to befall them – almost at the same moment. Are they related, or are they just coincidences? Detective Chief Inspector Joan Tebbutt is brutally gunned down right at her front door. “She heard the motorbike before she saw it and, when she did, there was no time to react. The first shot penetrated the side of her neck and, as the pathologist would later remark, she might have survived that.” At almost that exact same time, Rose is gravely injured in a bombing at Durham Cathedral. “In addition to the head trauma, your wife has several broken bones in her right arm and ankle. She’s also suffering from moderately severe smoke inhalation.” With two of their own dead and injured, DCI Ryan’s team will leave no stone unturned – there will be no hole deep enough to hide, nor any corner far enough away to hide these despicable criminals. The team will find them and see that they are punished – fully – under the law.

The best way to handle both cases is to divide and conquer, so the team divides up and each part takes a different case. Their leads lead them all over the place – from terrorists to fraud, to vendettas, to – well, you name it and there is some of it in the story.

While we see who the murderer is, we don’t see the mastermind in the wind-up of this story. I assume the next book will see more of his/her machinations and then, maybe his final punishment. So, it isn’t exactly a cliffhanger, but we don’t get a total wrap-up of the story either.

I definitely enjoyed this read and cannot wait to get started on the first fifteen that I missed.

I love the history embedded into the storyline.

The characters are so very rich in development that I can imagine knowing them. The wholesome values and inoffensive language allow me to listen in the car with my young grands without fear.

The Shrine

Wow, another great DCI Ryan book, I am absolutely hooked! Already can't wait for the next one! I am going to reread them all, so wish they could make a TV series out these books, would definitely be a success. The narration is as always, excellent.