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    An Accidental Death
    An Accidental Death
    An Accidental Death
    Audiobook6 hours

    An Accidental Death

    Written by Peter Grainger

    Narrated by Gildart Jackson

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    The story opens with the apparently accidental drowning of a sixth form student in the Norfolk countryside. As a matter of routine, or so it seems, the case passes across the desk of Detective Sergeant Smith, recently returned to work after an internal investigation into another case that has led to tensions between officers at Kings Lake police headquarters. As an ex DCI, Smith could have retired by now, and it is clear that some of his superiors wish that he would do so. The latest trainee detective to work with him is the son of a member of his former team, and together they begin to unravel the truth about what happened to Wayne Fletcher. As the investigation proceeds, it becomes clear that others are involved-some seem determined to prevent it, some seem to be taking too much interest. In the end Smith operates alone, having stepped too far outside standard procedures to ask for support. He knows that his own life might be at risk but he has not calculated on the life of his young assistant also being put in danger.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateAug 26, 2016
    ISBN9781515980841
    An Accidental Death

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    Reviews for An Accidental Death

    4/5

    159 ratings12 reviews

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    • 5/5
      One of my top 3 favourite series, and I greedily await each release and ration the listening. I'm surprised Grainger is not yet a household name and this a TV series. I find some similarities in the gruff but admirable and loveable characters of D.C. Smith and Robert Galbraith's Cormorant Strike. D.C. is perhaps more plausible and wry, gentlemanly and supremely capable but entirely unstuffy, a delight to spend time with, and engagingly voiced by Gildart Jackson. It is a happy day indeed when either of them releases a new novel.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      The characterisation, the social philosophy and the reader. First class entertainment.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      Smith is no inspector Banks, but this book is still a decent British crime story. A little thin on plot and I did want it to wind up long before it did. I never cared that much about the victim but it was interesting to find out who killed him and why.
    • 4/5
      Really liked this book, it was easy to listen to, not too much personal drama from the main character. Well paced and good twists.
    • 5/5
      Superbly narrated and really beautifully character driven. Looking forward to hearing the next one
    • 4/5
      A teen seems to have drowned. DC Smith unravels what really happened.
    • 4/5
      The first in the DC Smith series opens with an accidental drowning of a 17 year old male in the Norfolk country side. Smith returning to work from a suspension is asked to review the case when his superior officer senses some discrepancies.This is a cozy mystery with humor blended with police procedural. A good beginning the series. I will read more of them.
    • 3/5
      DS Smith of Kings Lake police in Norfolk is asked to review the apparently accidental drowning of a 17 year old.
      A trainee detective - Waters - is assigned to work with him as they begin to determine the truth.
    • 4/5
      An Accidental Death: a D.C. Smith Investigation. Peter Grainger. 2016. This very nice little murder mystery reminds me of the Inspector Morse and Inspector Lewis series on PBS. Background information on Smith’s career and personal life of revealed slowly so we are in the dark at first. Obviously Smith has been in some trouble, but has been “cleared.” He is given a fresh new assistant that he has to teach the rope. Smith is asked to go over the papers of an accidental drowning of teen-age boy so the case can be closed. As he reads the reports, he realizes that the lad may have been killed so he and Waters begin looking into the case and more oddities show. Some people in other parts of the department don’t seem to want him working on the case; he realizes he is being followed, and his clues are leading back to Bosnia! This is the first of in a series and I’ll probably read the others.
    • 4/5
      This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.--- ...this was, when you thought about it, typical of the places that Smith brought you to, of the situations that you could find yourselves in when working with him...He had these ideas which somehow seemed to be more than hunches and a way of making things happen before you realized it. Half suggestions would have momentum before you could blink.I've said it before, and I'll keep saying it until it's no longer true* but there's a certain magic, an ineffable alchemy about Jackson narrating Grainger's work. It's just fantastic, I think I'd have liked these audiobooks with another narrator (or in print), but I don't think I'd have liked them as much. I've enjoyed Jackson's narration before, but it was (no offense intended) good, not great. But you put the two of them together? It's fantastic.* I expect that will be roughly the time that one of them retires.The downside here is, that I don't have a lot to say beyond that. And it kind of drives me crazy. I made a couple of notes, but I've misplaced them (which is pretty annoying).WHAT'S LUCK AND JUDGEMENT ABOUT?We start off with Smith and Waters taking a helicopter to an oil rig with some other police to investigate a death/missing person (the helicopter rides inject a much-needed bit of levity to keep the beginning of this novel from being too dark). Smith and Waters are really along for the ride, most of the work will be done by the others, but the victim was in Smith's jurisdiction—as it the rig. Or close enough, so they have to come along.The higher-ups and the executives on the rig are willing to write it up as a suicide, but are leaning on an unfortunate accident as the explanation. Smith, shockingly, isn't convinced. Suicide seems unlikely for several reasons, and one would have to work really hard to get around all the safety measures, guard rails, fences, gates, and whatnot in order to have an unfortunate accident. It makes him no friends, but Smith is convinced (and is more so by the hour) that this is a homicide.As bad as it is for the victim, their suffering is over—but for their survivors, the crime (if there was one) will affect their lives for years to come. In this case, we're talking about his wife and a small child. They didn't have a lot of money coming in before his death, but now, there's nothing. A small apartment, little financial security, and nothing else. Without becoming maudlin, or focusing on them too much, Grainger does allow us to see how these events will alter their lives and what the future may hold for them. We got a little bit of that in the previous novels, but it plays a larger role this time. It's a small thing, but one that's too often over-looked in Crime Fiction.There's a new detective on the team, a transfer, and one that Smith has a hard time relating to—he's trying to be cautious and make sure she's acclimating. At the same time, he's worried that he's not using her, and that the best way to get her acclimated is to throw her in. With the rest of the detectives (including those he doesn't appreciate), you don't see him uncertain or reflective. So watching Smith trying to figure out how to manage someone is a new side to him.That same detective plays a role in an undercover operation that Smith undertakes to follow a lead—it's possibly the most comedic part of the series to date—while not really being that funny at all. Judge for yourself.As much as Smith's hunches, his intuition, might start his team down a road, or help him to see a connection that others miss, once he makes that intuitive leap to start an investigation, procedure takes over. I can't think of another "police procedural" where the procedure is as effective as it is in these books. Smith and the team (mostly the team) grind and grind and grind, doggedly going through all the steps before them, and it pays off—at least to a degree. I really respect that as a narrative choice—sure, Smith's (or someone else's) intuition (experience guided by intelligence, as Nero Wolfe would put it) will sometimes help set the direction, but it's legwork that gets it done.WHAT'S GOING ON OTHER THAN THE MAIN CASE?Smith continues to work with the True Crime writer on that previous case of his, and a friendship develops between the two As an ongoing arc, this is a real slow burn, and I'm enjoying it, as much as I don't understand what Grainger is up to. I'm assuming instead of a B (or C) story, this will eventually become the A story for a novel—maybe the last in the series? But unless this is just going to demonstrate that Smith's biggest case ever was his biggest failure and he's going to have to find the real killer now, I'm not sure I see how.** Okay, I just came up with a half-baked idea where it would work, but I'll hold off on that idea until it can get solidified.Lastly, it's time for Smith to be recertified as physically fit to carry on his duties. He's missed two previous opportunities to qualify and he has no choice but to show up for this one. It feels pretty personal, the DCI who's had it in for him since before the series started seems to be using this to force him out. The reasons he missed the previous two are legitimate reasons, and the DCI just looks petty for forcing his hand like this. But then when doesn't this guy look petty? In the last book, he tried to get Smith to transfer to another office, and that didn't work, so this is his new attempt. It's short-sighted and small-minded to force Smith out, but the dies have been cast. While the new assignment was being dangled in front of Smith, a private-sector job was also offered—the lengths (the questionable, reckless, and likely illegal) that Smith goes go to pass this test demonstrates how un-tempting he actually found the offers last time, no matter what he may have thought. Smith loves this kind of police work and will have to be forced into retirement, kicking and screaming.SO, WHAT DID I THINK ABOUT LUCK AND jUDGEMENT?So much for the three paragraphs that I was hoping to come up with for this post, I guess, eh?I pretty much gave that away in my first paragraph, didn't I? There is something about the combination of Grainger's novels and Jackson's performance that make these books so satisfying. Are they the best written, most exciting and suspenseful Police Procedurals? No. But they are just about the most satisfying, most immersive, most effective that I can think of—even when the ending isn't what you'd want. There is a strong sense of humanity in these books, not just in the protagonists, but in the victim, the killer, the witnesses, the people who aren't the killer but who aren't up to anything legal/moral/ethical...everyone. There's no one cartoon-y or over the top (in any direction). You just don't see enough of that.I was sucked into the intricacies of this case and thoroughly enjoyed spending time with Smith and the rest of the team—and I can't wait to return to this world.
    • 4/5
      A young man on an outing with friends dives into the river to follow a canoe. He goes around the bend and his body is located the next day along the shore. At first glance it appears to be an accidental drowning, but a couple of things bother the pathologist and DS Smith (ex-DCI Smith who to confuse things more, is called by his first initials DC.) There was a bruise on the boy's head that suspiciously seemed to match the engraving on paddles rented by a canoe rental agency that had had a canoe stolen.Grainger has written a really good police procedural with just the right amount of sardonic humor reminiscent of RD Wingfield's Frost series. I am adding Grainger to my list. 
    • 4/5
      Peter Grainger writes a good mystery. Easy story telling style with humor and good character development. Will read more from this author.