Talking to the Dead

Talking to the dead cover

TTTD in 100 words:

Fiona Griffiths is the youngest, most junior detective on the South Wales Major Crimes unit. And when a young mother and her six-year-old daughter are found dead in a squalid Cardiff squat, Fiona is given a minor-seeming task to perform. She performs that task – sometimes following the rules, sometimes not so much – and starts to uncover a much wider and more brutal crime.

That crime is finally solved, in blood, on a remote Pembrokeshire coast. And the reader learns just who this detective is . . . and quite why she’s so interested in corpses.

 
If you’re looking to discover a new crime novelist who writes a gritty, compelling story about a copper who rivals Lizbeth Slander in guts and determination, then look no further than British author Harry Bingham’s debut novel… Realism and social commentary immersed in a procedural unlike any other you are likely to read this year.

4/4 stars, USA TODAY

The plot is a good one, the climax in a remote lighthouse better than good.  But what sets the book apart is the first-person narration of Fi, one of the most intriguing female characters in recent fiction… This book is so good it has you wondering who should play Fiona on the big screen.

KIRKUS REVIEWS (starred review)

Fans of Stieg Larsson’s Lisbeth Salander will cotton to the heroine of British author Bingham’s highly entertaining U.S. debut… An insightful look at a damaged, unusual woman trying to fit in as well as a view of past and present Wales enhance the brisk, realistic plot.

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY (Starred review)

This is on one level an orthodox, if expertly-written, police procedural. But the character of Fiona lifts it to an altogether different, extraordinary level. She is childlike, brilliant, courageous and utterly loopy all at the same time – as well as devastatingly real and human and alone. She’ll haunt you long after you finish this book, and send you scurrying to find what else Bingham has written.

YORK PRESS

With Detective Constable Fiona ‘Fi’ Griffiths, Harry Bingham… finds a sweet spot in crime fiction . . . think Stieg Larsson’s Lisbeth Salander… Denise Mina’s ‘Paddy’ Meehan [or] Lee Child’s Jack Reacher… The writing is terrific.

THE BOSTON GLOBE (One of the Boston Globe crime books of the year)

Fiona Griffiths is a mystery of her own, and a fascinating one…  “Talking to the Dead” has the feel of something fresh and compelling. The best thing coming out of this gem of a crime story is the promise of another. Griffith deserves a series of her own, and it seems like one is underway.

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Talking to the Dead is a stunner with precision plotting, an unusual setting, and a deeply complex protagonist… At the end of this breathtaking book… we have the welcome promise of more books to come about Griffiths, a character who may well rise to the top ranks of fictional British detectives.

SEATTLE TIMES (One of the Seattle Times crime books of the year)

Fiona Griffiths, one of the most intriguing female protagonists since Lisbeth Salander… This dark, compellingly told story is the U.S. debut for British author Bingham. It’s a great beginning.

NJ-STAR LEDGER

Bingham’s riveting procedural thriller series debut has winner written all over it. The author’s ability to juxtapose his protagonist’s introspection with an inflammatory and violent storyline makes for an edgy, totally unsettling read.

LIBRARY JOURNAL (Starred review)