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The Unexpected Return of Josephine Fox

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The Unexpected Return of Josephine Fox

By: Claire Gradidge
Narrated by: Lucy Price-Lewis
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About this listen

Winner of the Richard & Judy "search for a best seller" competition.

The perfect listen for fans of Sunday night drama. Foyle's War meets Jessica Fellowes in this deliciously dark tale of wartime family secrets and lies in small-town England.

Everyone has secrets - some are just more deadly than others....

April 1941, Romsey, England.

Josephine 'Josy' Fox hasn't set foot in Romsey in over 20 years. As an illegitimate child, her family - headed by her controlling grandfather - found her an embarrassment. Now, she wants to return to what was once her home and uncover the secret of her parentage. Who was her father, and why would her mother never talk about him?

Josy arrives the day after the Luftwaffe have bombed the town. The local pub, The Cricketers' Arms, has been completely destroyed, and rescue teams are searching for the remains of the seven people known to be in the pub at the time the bomb hit. They are shocked, however, to uncover eight bodies, not seven. The unidentified eighth body is that of a teenage girl, whom no one in the town claims to know. Who is she, how did she get there, but most importantly - who killed her?

Teaming up with local coroner and old friend Bram Nash, Josy sets out to establish the identity of the girl and solve the riddle of her death. In doing so, she also uncovers her own personal mystery.

Be careful what you wish for....

©2019 Claire Gradidge (P)2019 Bonnier Books UK
Crime Fiction Detective Fiction International Mystery & Crime Mystery Police Procedural Women Sleuths Women's Fiction Crime
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Most relevant
This was certainly different to a lot of stuff out there, but I think I would have enjoyed the book version more than the audio version as the narrator pronounced various words incorrectly, and I don't believe there is any excuse for that. "Intestate" came out as "interstate", and I can't even begin to excuse the way she said "amalgam". So read this one, don't listen to it. A different take on a story, and something a bit different, which can never be a bad thing.

Weird pronunciations

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Really enjoyed this book, so much so that I was plugged in every time I had a spare few minutes! Wartime whodunnit written around a woman coming home to work out who her father is after her mother dies. Likeable, believable characters and extremely well read. Plot line was good although a little predictable at points but it had a decent twist at the end so I wasn’t 100% right. Really hoping there’s going to be a sequel as I’d love to know if Jo and Bram’s relationship blossoms

Fingers crossed for a sequel!

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so interesting and entertaining. great story and narration. highly recommend. sorry when it ended. Would like to read more by author.

all round great read

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there are so many nostalgic wartime books and tv programmes that it's refreshing to come across something which also goes into the darker side of that time. not what I expected at all, add I thought it would be cosy crime but this was gripping, exciting and interesting with good depth of the characters. i hope this becomes a series as i would be interested to hear what the characters get up to next.

also worth listening to for the aforementioned pronunciation mistakes including a very inventive pronunciation of amalgam which I found rather funny.

atmospheric, interesting story

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It is an exceptionally well written book, which was not padded out with long boring repetative explanations. I get though a book a week but this was so captivating I finished it in just over a day. I found it engaging and intriguing from the start. This is just such an excellent book on all levels, you could just imagine this type of thing went on at that time regarding a persons worth, class structure and moral values of the past. I would highly recommend it, thought provoking read. Just hope this is just the first book of many for this writer.

GRIPPING BOOK

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