That Way Murder Lies

Written by Ann Granger

Narrated by Judith Boyd

When Meredith Mitchell's old friend Toby Smythe turns up on leave, she is delighted to see him. But Toby has a problem - or rather his relative Alison Jenner has - and he wants to enlist the help of Meredith's fiance, Detective Superintendent Alan Markby...

• Language: English
• Publisher: W. F. Howes Ltd
• Release date: Nov 1, 2006
• ISBN: 9781846322051

Ann Granger

Ann Granger is a British author of cozy crime. Born in Portsmouth, England, she went on to study at the University of London. She has written over thirty murder mysteries, including the Mitchell & Markby Mysteries, the Fran Varady Mysteries, the Lizzie Martin Mysteries and the Campbell and Carter Mysteries. Her books are set in Britain, and feature female detectives, murderous twists and characters full of humor and color.

Reviews for That Way Murder Lies

[thejohnsmith · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Enjoyable and well written but the stories, mostly, didn't really grab my attention. My favourite work in the collection is Cold - a nice fairy tale like story.

[bodachliath · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Another fine collection of stories, as Byatt's always are. This collection is dominated by the two longer stories Crocodile Tears and Cold - the latter is a fairytale like those in The Djinn in the Nightingale's Eye, and Byatt's fairytales match those of Angela Carter. As always there is plenty of erudition and wisdom thrown in along with a little arcane vocabulary. A pleasure to read.

[ashleyk44 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

My favorite collection of short stories by Byatt. I keep wandering back to it and flipping through the pages, and then I end up reading the whole thing over again. "Cold" is fantastic. I've tried to explain it to people, and the plot sounds so cheesy, but you have to read it to understand its beauty. "A Lamia in the Cevennes" and "Crocodile Tears" were also favorites. One thing I love about her stories is that they can be so real, and have that one element that is just the opposite. A lot of great stories in here, with gorgeous descriptions.

[timswings · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

All the stories are rich in physical detail. The people and the places have a very good description. And color has an important function. The message of Byatt that art, curiosity and stories will save us, is very engaging.

[rhinoa_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was my first collection by AS Byatt. It is a collection of six short stories and it is subtitled "Tales of Fire and Ice". They all have fantasy and fairy tale elements to them although "Cold" is the most traditionally fairy tale. It was also my favourite by far in the book. It follows a princess, the youngest child of the king and queen. She is loved by all but isn't very emotional and is often tired and sleepy. One day it snows and she finally comes alive and discovers one of her ancestors was a woman from the cold north lands. Her father wants her to marry (ideally from the North so she can be happy in the cold), but she chooses a man from the desert hotlands. She travels with him but begins to wane until her husband finds a compromise. It was beautifully told and mixed fantastical with cruel. It will definitely stick with me for a long time to come.The other stories that stood out were "A Lamia in the Cvennes" and "Christ in the House of Martha and Mary". These were about a man who paints a lamia who lives in his swimming pool but tries to get out of marrying her once the painting is done. Christ is about two models who stood for Velsquez as Martha and Mary and where their lives have taken them since. Unfortunately I wasn't so keen on the other three in the collection. They were a little dull and dragged. The three I did like more than made up for their lacking and as I said, Cold will stay with me a long time. From doing a search online it looks like this isn't the best introduction to Byatt's writing and I know I will be reading more by her in the future.

[exlibrisbitsy · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The byline of this book is Stories of Fire and Ice, so all of the stories contained these two elements in one way or another. Several of them read very much like fairy tales in their representations of one or the other of the elements and made for very pleasant and lyrical reading. "A Lamia in the Cevennes" was very artistic, fantastical and eerie while "Jael" managed to appear non-fantastical until the very end which gave you shivers.My favorite in the collection would have to be "Cold" though. The story of the ice princess and the desert prince was very touching and extremely well written, the prose in this story alone made reading the book very much worth it. I even read that particular piece aloud to my husband who also enjoyed it very much.If you are a fan of A.S. Byatt then you will love this book, if you are just a fan of re-written fairy tales you will also love this book and should become a fan of this amazing author. The only reason it lost a star is the first story, "Crocodile Tears" - while powerful, poetic and meaningful in its own way - was a story I found hard to get into and was a very long short story to start the book off on. I guess that particular piece just hit a little too close to home for me.

[sean191 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This is the third or fourth book I've read by Byatt. I think it's my least favorite. As short story collections go, there were some good stories and some lacking a little. But, in this case, the stories that were good weren't great, so overall, I can't rate this collection very high. I had read Little Black Book a few years back and either I remember it more fondly than I should, or it was just outright better. I think it's the latter. Regardless, I just finished this book and immediately (on the same commute to work) began The Djinn in the Nightingale's Eye. So I'll see if this was indicative of Byatt's short stories or a fluke.