*Have You Heard? * Audiobooks For Your Listening Pleasure* The Yard by Alex Grecian

The Yard (Scotland Yard's Murder Squad, #1) by Alex Grecian
Also by this author: The Harvest Man, Lost and Gone Forever
Series: Scotland Yard's Murder Squad Book 1
Published by Putnam Books, Penguin Audio on May 29th 2012
Genres: Mystery/Thriller/Suspense
Pages: 422
Format: Audiobook
ISBN: 0399149546
ASIN: B00870FLSQ
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Victorian London is a cesspool of crime, and Scotland Yard has only twelve detectives—known as “The Murder Squad”—to investigate countless murders every month. Created after the Metropolitan Police’s spectacular failure to capture Jack the Ripper, The Murder Squad suffers rampant public contempt. They have failed their citizens. But no one can anticipate the brutal murder of one of their own . . . one of the twelve . . .When Walter Day, the squad’s newest hire, is assigned the case of the murdered detective, he finds a strange ally in the Yard’s first forensic pathologist, Dr. Bernard Kingsley. Together they track the killer, who clearly is not finished with The Murder Squad . . . but why?
Filled with fascinating period detail, and real historical figures, this spectacular debut in a new series showcases the depravity of late Victorian London, the advent of criminology, and introduces a stunning new cast of characters sure to appeal to fans of The Sherlockian and The Alienist.

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#ScotlandYardMurderSquad #Mystery/Thriller @alexgrecian @PenguinAudio   *I was first introduced to author Alex Grecian by Lover Rosette and her review of his novel, The Harvest Man. When I had the opportunity to purchase the audible version of his debut novel in the Scotland Yard’s Murder Squad series, The Yard, I decided to give it a listen.  In reading some other reviews of the book, as is my habit, I noted that one criticism was the lack of attention to historical detail. In fact, the reviewer was concerned enough to write the author and received what she thought was a friendly reply from him, acknowledging the mistakes, but saying as an American from the mid-West he hadn’t actually expected his book would be so widely read. Honestly, that makes me like the author even more, and I hope, since he has enjoyed such success with the series, this is no longer an issue. For me, the bloopers were not a problem because I’m not really a history buff, nor am I so knowledgeable about Victorian mores that I could pick the bloopers out.  The book is well-written with an intricately woven plot. In a post-Jack the Ripper era, people are dying and getting cut up all over the place and Londoners are losing faith in the newly formed Murder Squad. Characters are plentiful and run the gamut from likable to terrifying and from ordinary to bizarre. Maybe I’m just weird, but two of my favorites are a pair of prostitutes who are insanely (literally!) humorous and yet sweetly touching in their devotion to each other and to a dead friend even if their method of getting revenge for her is a bit off the chart.

The narrator, Toby Leonard Moore, gives an excellent performance and does a yeoman’s job with all the characters and their various accents and class-related speech inflections.  Mr. Moore is actually an accomplished actor and I was surprised to learn that he was born in Australia and is not British. Enjoy looking at his Facebook page here.

This is a listen that will appeal to mystery/thriller and police procedural fans. Even though there isn’t a great deal of suspense as to who is doing all the killing, the author creates a dark and creepy atmosphere that will leave readers who are fond of  grisly, gory mayhem very satisfied. Those who like loose ends tied up will also be satisfied, and even though it doesn’t really have a place in this type of book, those who like a HEA will be equally satisfied. Other books in the series in their reading order are The Black Country, The Devil’s Workshop, The Harvest Man, and Lost and Gone Forever which releases in May of this year.