The Language of the Dead cover art

The Language of the Dead

A World War II Mystery

 Preview
LIMITED TIME OFFER

3 Months Free

£5.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly.
Get this deal
Offer ends on 15 July 2026 at 11:59 BST.
More purchase options

The Language of the Dead

By: Stephen Kelly
Narrated by: Shaun Grindell
Get this deal

£5.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly.

Buy Now for £13.24

Buy Now for £13.24

German bombers are arriving daily, seeking to crush England. But in a rural Hampshire village, things have remained fairly quiet - until an elderly loner, Will Blackwell, is brutally murdered. The method of his killing bears the hallmarks of the traditional vanquishing of a witch, and indeed local legend claims that as a boy Blackwell encountered a ghostly black dog sent from the devil, who struck a bargain for Blackwell's soul.

Not long after the murder, a young woman who is carrying the illegitimate child of a fighter pilot also is violently killed; then a local drunkard ends up in the race of an abandoned mill with the back of his head bashed in. As the Germans continue their relentless attack, Detective Inspector Thomas Lamb rushes to solve the crimes. Do the killer's motivations lie in the murky regions of the occult?

©2015 Stephen Kelly (P)2015 Tantor Detective Fiction Historical Mystery Suspense Thriller & Suspense Traditional Detectives Crime Village Germany Language
adbl_web_anon_alc_button_suppression_t1

Critic reviews

"Charles Todd fans will welcome Kelly's first novel, a superior whodunit set in WWII England." ( Publishers Weekly)
All stars
Most relevant
I didn’t particularly like this book principally because I found the narration very annoying. To begin with I wondered why an Australian was reading it but on googling found that the narrator is English. His attempt at accents was irritating too to the point where I lost interest and concentration and the book confused me as I’d not been listening attentively enough to follow the various subplots.

Passable

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.