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A Commonplace Killing (Unabridged)
 
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A Commonplace Killing (Unabridged) [Audio Download]

by Sian Busby (Author), Robert Peston (Narrator), Daniel Weyman (Narrator)
4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (86 customer reviews)
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Product details

  • Audio Download
  • Listening Length: 7 hours and 30 minutes
  • Program Type: Audiobook
  • Version: Unabridged
  • Publisher: Audible Studios
  • Audible.co.uk Release Date: 19 Mar 2014
  • Language: English
  • ASIN: B00J2AYD16
  • Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (86 customer reviews)
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Product Description

On a damp July morning in 1946, two schoolboys find a woman�s body in a bomb site in north London. The woman is identified as Lillian Frobisher, a wife and mother who lived in a war-damaged terrace a few streets away. The police assume that Lil must have been the victim of a vicious sexual assault; but the autopsy finds no evidence of rape, and Divisional Detective Inspector Jim Cooper turns his attention to her private life. How did Lil come to be in the bomb site � a well-known lovers� haunt? If she had consensual sex, why was she strangled? Why was her husband seemingly unaware that she had failed to come home on the night she was killed?

In this gripping murder story, Si�n Busby gradually peels away the veneer of stoicism and respectability to reveal the dark truths at the heart of postwar austerity Britain. Si�n Busby was an award-winning writer, broadcaster and film maker. She published four books, including The Cruel Mother, a memoir of her great-grandmother which won the MIND Book Award in 2004; and a novel, McNaughten, which was published to critical acclaim in 2009. She was married to the BBC Business editor, Robert Peston, and had two sons. She died in September 2012 after a long illness and will be much missed.

©2013 Si�n Busby; (P)2014 Audible Studios

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
64 of 68 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars A compelling portrait of postwar London 7 May 2013
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
Sian Busby's final book is a tremendous achievement both as a novel and as an example of what an indomitable spirit can achieve. First, the book itself: it's a very good read, with a strong narrative and a stronger sense of place and time: north London, as tatty and battered as its inhabitants immediately after the end of the war. The body of a woman is found on wasteland, the police investigating wearily assume it's a sexual assault that went wrong. But it turns out not to be the case, so who is the dead woman? A prostitute? If not, how did a "respectable" woman end up strangled?

Busby's characters are a bit squalid, like their physical surroundings; morally compromised (petty criminals, fences, spivs, sleeping with people they shouldn't) but one of Busby's hallmarks as a writer is her empathy with, understanding of and compassion for people and choices that many would dismiss with a judgmental word or two. And so you find yourself caring about the war-traumatised thief, about the diminished husband, about the hard-edged victim, about her brittle, feckless lodger, about the weary police officer who can't do a good enough job.

As well as standing as an achievement in its own right as wonderfully conceived and executed book, A Commonplace Killing is also an extraordinary achievement for Busby, who was dying of cancer as it was being completed. When she died in September 2012, her husband, BBC business editor Robert Peston, found the final part of the book handwritten in her notebook; he transcribed the final pages so that the book could be published posthumously. As he explains in the foreword to the novel, "I did not know, until reading handwriting as familiar as my own and hearing her voice in my head, that she had finished this exquisite work.
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15 of 16 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Moving Murder Mystery 4 Jun 2013
By ACB (swansea) TOP 50 REVIEWER
Format:Paperback
In post-war Holloway, north London in 1946, two boys discover the body of a woman on a bomb site. The immediate response from the police is that it is a sex-related murder "a commonplace killing", a remark tossed in by a detective in a casual, dismissive way. The site was a haunt for courting couples. Detective Inspector Jim Cooper may be disgruntled at the post-war crime boom and his own shabby, lonely life but he is street-wise. He has a pragmatic view of lawbreakers - they do it because they can - and is determined to find the culprit who strangled Lillian Frobisher along with the motive, sensing it is someone in the locality.

Lillian's husband, Walter, has returned home from war to a bomb-damaged house, a wife who no longer loves him, a frail incontinent mother-in-law and a lodger who does not pay her rent. His prospects are not bright. Lillian is desperate to escape this scenario. She even misses the odd fling that she had during the war. Now her domestic life is depressing; rationing , shortages, queuing ,the black market are everyday events. The story leading to Lillian's murder is set against the bleak and authentic atmosphere of a run down crime-ridden area filled with vivid imagery of a ruined area. Sian Busby's narrative utilises the dialect of the times portraying in graphic detail the features of the location 'heavy with loneliness, shadowy with the ruin of lives and homes'. She draws her characters in a way they can readily be identified with by the reader.

Sian Busby has written an impressive authoritative novel of authenticity. It is melancholic, atmospheric and heart-rending. The circumstances surrounding the publication of this book are well-known and add to the sense of loss and poignancy.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Evocative, gripping read 15 Jan 2014
By SuzHam
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
It's been a long time since I sat up half the night to finish a book, but I did with this one. Not only does it leave you guessing about the perpetrator until almost the end, it brings the taste and feel of what it must have been like to live in post-war Britain. Good storyline, brilliant descriptive writing. Would definitely recommend.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Postwar Blues 1 April 2014
Format:Paperback
This book leaves you touching and feeling the brick dust and grime of 1946 London. The sense of despair and "when will it get better" hangs over the book like a London smog. The cafes and pubs are filthy, the houses collapsing around their inhabitants - a very strong sense of place. The characters are also well drawn, with a three way third person multiple viewpoint which takes a little getting used to at first.
It's not really a whodunnit - we can guess the victim and the murderer from the start - but the suspense is around whether the depressed Cooper will ever catch his man, and the details of why and how the deed was committed. In the end you feel sorry for all the major characters, with only the young Douglas and PC Tring carrying the hope for the future. A great read, and a great shame that Sian Busby will write no more.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars As all good detectives know.... 3 Aug 2013
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
Despite my initial reservations about the subject matter, I did really enjoy the plot and characters. However, the constant phrase of "as all good detectives know" really irritated me & I think they overplayed that hand. Really enjoyed the correct historical references to the Met Police of the post war years & the introspective feelings of Cooper. In all - would recommend to others
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars a good read 9 July 2013
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
I listened to a bit of it on the radio and wanted to know what happened. It was a quiet, thoughtful book, with good period feel.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating
Very nice thriller in the past. I really enjoyed also the description of an England recovering from the Second World War. I would recommend it.
Published 2 days ago by Miss P. Gallucci
5.0 out of 5 stars couldn't put it down
First Sian Busby novel I have read. Like others have found it gripped me from start to finish. Read it !
Published 4 days ago by Fredsmum
1.0 out of 5 stars Big disappointment.
I so wanted to enjoy this book. Sad to write a bad review in the tragic circumstances of the late Mrs Peston who I understand was "Sian Busby". Read more
Published 5 days ago by Oxford Buyer
4.0 out of 5 stars Easy reading
This was bought as a present for me and I enjoyed it, as something different. I will definitely search for more of her books as the author is now dead and I am interested in the... Read more
Published 5 days ago by l1nda47
4.0 out of 5 stars A clear picture of a bleak post war Britain
Busby has captured the ongoing destructiveness of war on society and relationships through her clearly drawn flawed and desperate characters
Published 5 days ago by Binns bookworm
3.0 out of 5 stars Good old fashioned who done it
Gave 3stars to this book as I have read many of this genre before,but still thought it deserved 3. A look at Britain through the eye's of people just after the war. intriguing. Read more
Published 9 days ago by JAN
4.0 out of 5 stars Evocative solid read
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The evocation and description of post-war London is excellent - you can almost feel yourself living amongst the debris and unrelenting austerity. Read more
Published 9 days ago by Damo Green
2.0 out of 5 stars Did not see the point really
I knew who the killer was virtually straight away. It was slow to begin with and I thought, it will get better, but it didn't. I finished thinking what was the point in that.
Published 12 days ago by Paula Woods
4.0 out of 5 stars quality
For obv reasons the prologue is very moving to read. The story itself is quality...where you get lost in the plot and the characters almost are real people!!
Published 12 days ago by A. Cameron
4.0 out of 5 stars Good story,but the end was slightly disappointing-it was written by...
Well written,characters were interesting .Great description of post war atmosphere.enjoyed the story ,a bit dark at times ,felt the hopelessness of the situation she found herself... Read more
Published 13 days ago by hawthorn23
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