View source for Someone Else's Skin (D.I. Marnie Rome 1) by Sarah Hilary

{{infobox1
|title=Someone Else's Skin (D.I. Marnie Rome 1)
|author=Sarah Hilary
|reviewer=Sue Magee
|genre=Crime
|summary=A deserved winner of the Theakston's 2015 crime novel of the year award.  It's top-class crime wring and highly recommended.
|rating=4.5
|buy=Yes
|borrow=Yes
|pages=432/10h56m
|publisher=Headline
|date=July 2016
|isbn=978-1472207692
|website=http://www.gregoryandcompany.co.uk/pages/authors/index.asp?AuthorID=90
|cover=1472207696
|aznuk=1472207696
|aznus=1472207696
}}

You don't really understand someone until you've lived in their skin and D I Marnie Rome is about to learn this the hard way.  When she was called to a women's refuge to take a routine witness statement she walked in on an attempted murder.  Somehow security had broken down and there was a man in the refuge with a bunch of white roses.  But hidden in the flowers was a knife and in the struggle that followed the wife managed to get hold of the knife and stabbed her husband despite being injured herself.  Is it attempted murder, or is it self defence?  The woman has a sorry tale of all that she's gone through at the hands of her husband.

''Winner of the Theakston's Crime Novel of the Year'' the blurb said and when you're looking for a good police procedural to listen to there aren't many better recommendations, so I bought a download and began to listen.  To begin with I wasn't terribly impressed and I could easily have given up but something kept me going (perversity?) and I'm glad that I did because the plot is downright ''ingenious'' and I really didn't see where it was going.  I warmed to Marnie Rome - who seems to be curled inside the shell she created when her parents were murdered by the boy they had fostered to give him a chance in life - but who has a real presence on the page.  She's not alone, either - even relatively minor characters came off the page fully clothed. 

I didn't see where the plot was going but as with all the best police procedurals all the clues were there in plain sight and even knowing the ending, the book is still going to be one to reread, just for the pleasure of seeing how it was done.

I listened to an audio download (which I bought myself) narrated by Abigail Thaw.  Thaw has a convincing range of voices and whilst the male voices were not ''quite'' as convincing as the female it would be very picky to complain about it.  In fact, I went out and bought the next book in the series...

For another strong female we can recommend [[Crossbones Yard (Alice Quentin 1) by Kate Rhodes]].

[[Sarah Hilary's D I Marnie Rome Novels in Chronological Order]]

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