The Dead House

Written by Harry Bingham

Narrated by Siriol Jenkins

Midnight in a country churchyard. A corpse lying at peace.

The dead woman looks totally peaceful and there are no marks of violence. But why is she here, in this remote spot? Why does no one come forward to identify her? And why is she wearing a thin white dress on this howling October night?

When young Welsh police sergeant Fiona Griffiths starts to investigate, her enquiries take her to a quiet monastery buried deep in the Welsh hills. And when she finds that a young teenager from the area went missing a few years earlier, her anxieties start to deepen.

In a terrifying denouement - with echoes of Edgar Allan Poe - Fiona discovers the true horror of this crime . . . and she risks becoming its very next victim.

The Fiona Griffiths crime thriller series has won countless admirers round the world. If you're looking for a gripping thriller led by a strong female protagonist, then look no further. The Dead House is your kind of book.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Brilliance Audio
• Release date: Jul 23, 2019
• ISBN: 9781978648791

Harry Bingham

Harry Bingham is an ex-City trader who has worked for major British, American and Japanese firms but who now writes full time. He lives near Oxford with his wife and their three dogs.

Reviews for The Dead House

[Henry · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Cringe-provoking narrator. And all the ‘but Carlotta doesn’t answer… Carlotta’s dead, isn’t she… I have to find the answer…’ the folksy shait… ?

[hcnewton · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.---WHAT'S THE DEAD HOUSE ABOUT?The big task force that Fiona's in, trying to get at the group she's been on the heels of since book 1, is about to be shut down—they're just not getting results. Predictably, Fiona isn't dealing well with it. She needs something else to do to remind her why she's with the police.Circumstances too elaborate to get into lead her into being a detective on-scene near a small village to oversee a found body until the local police with jurisdiction can take over—but in the end, we have Fiona alone in a room with a corpse for a few hours. Naturally, she develops a strong emotional connection with the body and becomes determined to find out what happened to this woman.There are no obvious signs of violence—and even some signs of care—to the woman, but she's dead and she's been left in a remote location without anyone notifying the authorities. And, it turns out, she's been missing for quite a while.Fiona needles her way into the investigation, of course (because what else is she going to)—and the path that she and the DI she's assisting leads far beyond the small town they start in and to some truly dark places. (yeah, that's incredibly vague, but I'm faced with being vague or giving you a few thousand words almost spoiling the story beats on this one)SO, WHAT DID I THINK ABOUT THE DEAD HOUSE?Yes, over the last couple of books particularly, Fiona's doing a good job on socializing, on connecting with people, on acting "normal" (a goal she longs for and yet doesn't want at all). I love seeing that kind of development, as much as we like to see damaged protagonists struggling to cope—it's always great to see them making healthier choices.But at the same time...you put Fiona in a room alone with a corpse for too long so she develops a bond with the person she starts calling "Carlotta" (and resists using Carlotta's actual name when she's eventually identified)? I'm in. Fiona as the creepy detective who's way too interested in dead bodies is just fun to read about.Bingham doesn't throw out all the progress she's made, Fiona just sidesteps it for a little bit. Her natural tenacity and the people skills that she's developing aid her in this investigation (and her self-destructive tendencies hinder her, too). It's really the best of both worlds as far as Fiona's character goes.I wasn't as taken with this story as I wanted to be—as I expected to be. And when the final whodunit reveal was made, I'd been waiting for it for longer than I should have been—not because I'm all that clever, but who else could it have been? That said, when the motivation and methods behind the reveal are made clear? That blew me away and creeped me out.I can see how this is going to help the overall arc of the series, it had some great moments—and any time spent in Wales with Fiona is a reward. But I wanted a bit more from this one. Don't start with this one if you're interested in the series, but if you've read the rest, you'll enjoy this one.

[ffortsa · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Another wonderful mystery featuring Fiona Griffiths and Wales. We see everything through Fiona's eyes, through her thought processes and particular emotional frame. Bingham intensifies her perspective by writing in the present tense - have I ever read a mystery in the present tense before this series? I think not. And every once in a while, the reader comes across the most beautiful sentence or description, anything but hard-boiled police procedural.At an empty cottage in a Welsh valley, for instance:I stand in the doorway, looking out. Quiet pastures steepening to a little fringe of wood, the bare hills above. I don't know what a physicist would say, but time doesn't flow in these valleys the way it moves elsewhere. There's something so changeless here, something so little altered since the retreat of the glaciers, that I feel myself in a kind of permanent present. One that knits the modern, the medieval, the Roman, the pre-Roman.The tremble of those many pasts is with me here. A faint turbulence that plucks at my skin, the hem of my coat.The story this time is both modern and medieval, and by the time Fiona pieces it together, it's almost too late. Of course.Wonderful book.

[cathyskye · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I have been luxuriating in Harry Bingham's Fiona Griffiths series since the very first book, Talking to the Dead. Bingham's hallmark precision plotting and the most fascinating character in all of crime fiction are two of the major reasons why I am hooked on these books.Here in The Dead House, Fiona is as brilliant as ever, and she's found a new detective inspector to impress/bewilder. It takes a very special DI to both recognize Fiona's incredible intuition and indefatigable desire to see the job through... and to know how to work with her to use those talents without forfeiting one's rank and job. Our Fi isn't the easiest person to deal with. If you are not a fan of caving, be forewarned: you're going to find yourself underground for extended periods of time. Since I do not "do" underground, I was feeling extremely jittery through these sections of the book (which means they are very well done). One of the things I love about Fiona and about Bingham's writing is that you never quite know what to expect (other than a fantastic read). One of my favorite parts of The Dead House was when Fiona finds a way to bring in her sister the interior decorator so she can help a grieving father. The police forces of the world may not have Life Reassembly and Home Decoration Teams... but they're a wonderful idea. Fiona is usually in such grim situations that it's nice to read a touching-- and funny-- scene like this.Through the first four books in this series, I have awarded each one an A+/five stars. I knew that, sooner or later, that rating streak would have to end, and it does here. The Dead House is a "mere" A/four-and-a-half stars because there were two things that were just a bit over the top for me. One was the medieval aspect of the mystery's solution which I can't say anything more about. The other occurred when Fiona calls a friend to come and witness a potentially dangerous arrest. But four A+'s and one A in five books? This means you really need to get your hands on this series and read each book, preferably in order because you need to know why Fiona is so unique.You can thank me later.

[annbury_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The fifth in the Fiona Griffiths series lives up to its precursors, and then some. This novel starts out with a bang, when Fiona spends the night in the company of a beautiful corpse in a stone building in a graveyard in the heart of rainy, wild Wales. Things just get weirder after that, but the author makes it all believable, and keeps it totally engrossing. No more plot description, because who needs spoilers. The only thing I didn't like about this book is the fact that there isn't another available in the series yet. This is a truly remarkable series.

[maneekuhi · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I find Bingham's latest Fiona Griffiths, "The Dead House" a rather difficult book to review. This is the fifth book in the series, one of the best series I have read (in the company of Ian Rankin, John Lawton, and Len Deighton) and perhaps the best book in Bingham's series. It has a few flaws, or annoyances if you will. But it's 5 stars all the way and a great read and you'll learn a lot about spe.....well, never mind.It's plot is somewhat unusual, but then that may be said of the four other Fiona books as well. Fiona describes this situation as a "corpse without a crime and a crime without a corpse". It begins with her investigation of the sudden and unexplained appearance of the remains of an attractive, young woman in a country-side church grounds, specifically in what was termed a "dead house" in days of olde. Fi's investigation brings her and friend Cesca to a nearby monastery where they spend the better part of a day in prayer! and Fiona returns subsequently in pursuit of answers re 'Carlotta's' death. Along the way a kidnap and ransom plot are uncovered and once again Fiona engages in a very strenuous activity in pursuit of a possible witness (readers with claustrophobia issues may have some difficulties with these chapters). But they are incredibly tense, and the writing is some of the best I have read all year.Now the above occur at about the 50% point in the book and if you've read other Fiona stories you just know that the bad guys will likely capture her before the end and once again it will seem that Fiona's days (or years in this case) are numbered. But, rest assured, Fi makes an incredible escape as all 5'2" of her overcomes her muscular jailer (think "better living through chemistry"). After she gains freedom the case is quickly resolved, but hey, there are more than 50 pages left in the book. Or at least I think so. For whatever reason this Kindle version did not have page numbering though I could tell you precisely how many locations were left. Now here's a thought, maybe there should be a page numbered version for a slight additional charge. I'd pay $1 for that, wouldn't you?! And let's get rid of all the #$%! typos. Anyway, we then get treated to a lengthy what-happens-after-the-case-is-solved instead of the usual crime fiction fade to black. And it was as expected very well done.Flaws? Fiona invites Cesca to come witness the case wrap-up at the crime scene with cops and evil people all over. A nice touch re a developing relationship but get real - who needs more civilians at a crime scene. Secondly, at one point in book, Seal of the Confessional becomes important in understanding a development in the case, and I suspect there are actions that could have been taken in real life that were not posed in the book (I am still researching this). But regardless, the whole introduction of the Seal seems to me to be a huge stretch and I can't believe that guy as smart as Bingham couldn't have come up with a simpler and less religious solution. So maybe not a "flaw" but how about this.....A few years ago in the US, I believe it was Cleveland, three women were rescued from the basement of a kidnapper, a man who had imprisoned them for some years. So I believe that it is possible for an individual, perhaps severely deranged, to do such a thing, but I believe it's a stretch for a group of people to participate in such a horrible crime without one of them coming forward, and I'm a bit put off by the group represented.But put it all together and it still spells "great book!" Highly recommended. Can't wait for #6 and where is this Cesca thing going ?!

[jkdavies · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Book 5 on early Kindle release - never as satisfying as having a real book in my hands, but worth it to read sooner rather than later. This story picks up after Fiona has persuaded the force to open "Operation April" looking into a possible network of nefarious Welsh villains, but little seems to be happening, the villains aren't saying much under surveillance, and it seems they meet out of the country in Germany if they want to make big plots.Fiona is then sent to support a tanker crash near Brecon, but while there is called to support when a girls body is found laid out in a deserted church. To everyone else it looks like an accidental death from a heart attack; but Fiona isn't entirely convinced. She finds this corpse without a crime, and digs into the details of a crime without a corpse from several years earlier. The story takes us to a reclusive monastery, to the caves under the Brecons, and to the super-rich in London; and Fiona starts to see links to the now mothballed "Operation April"Of course, being Fiona, she goes into dangerous situations barely prepared and alone, but somehow wriggles through...