The Scribe (Kramer and Carver Book One) by A.A. Chaudhuri (Audio Book)

 

The Scribe (Audio Book) by A.A. Chaudhuri.

Released 1st January 2021 by Isis Publishing Ltd.

Narrated by David Thorpe.

From the cover:

Making it as a lawyer has always been a cutthroat business.

A killer is targeting former students of The Bloomsbury Academy of Law. The victims – all female – are gruesomely butchered according to a pattern corresponding with the legal syllabus. Even more disconcerting are riddles sent by the killer to investigating officer, Chief Inspector Jake Carver, offering clues as to who is next and where they will die.

Up-and-coming lawyer Madeline Kramer, a former classmate of a number of the slain, soon finds her life turned upside down by the savagery. And when she decides to help Carver track down the killer, she places herself in mortal danger. Can Maddy and Carver unscramble the complex riddles and save the lives of those destined to die?

A. A. Chaudhuri’s Ripper-like mystery, The Scribe, throws down a challenge even hardened crime thriller fans will be unable to resist. It's perfect for those who love Lee Child and Ian Rankin.

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The Scribe offers an entertaining mix of legal thriller. police procedural and serial killer mystery, with a nice bit of the menacing macabre and a few steamy scenes to keep things interesting all the way through.

It opens with a bang that will hook you from the word go, as a young lawyer is horribly butchered when working after hours in her central London office, leaving very little for the police to go on except the enigmatic message that has been carved into her chest - the single word 'Contract'. Before long, more bodies start to pile up, each one a young female linked to The Bloomsbury Academy of Law, and with a different legal term carved into their chest, which inspires the media to start referring to the mystery murderer as 'The Scribe'.

Chief Inspector Jake Carver and his team are desperate to track down the killer and put a stop to his grisly campaign, but with so little to go on they are at a loss. It's not until the smart young lawyer Madeleine Kramer, herself a former friend and classmate of some of the victims, comes up with a theory that Carver begins to make any headway at all - and so begins a beautiful partnership! 

I really enjoyed the underlying premise of this thriller, with the legal theme running slickly through the whole piece and tying all the imaginatively staged murders together nicely, and it was really rather interesting delving into the wide variety of different areas of the law. Chaudhuri also works in some interesting threads about the abuse of power, sexual politics and the legacy of difficult childhoods that are very thought provoking too.

There are red herrings and twists aplenty that will stop you in your tracks, and just enough subtle hints to keep you questioning if the clues really are pointing towards the culprit or not - a nice bit of Christie like plotting that always goes down well - and for the most part the tension builds steadily, apart from the odd scene here and there, where you felt you were ahead of the game and wanted the characters to catch up a bit.

The central players of Carver and Kramer complement each other perfectly, each taking a nice slice of the credit for tracking down their serial killer foe, and the 'will-they-won't-they' sexual tension builds in a charming frisson to their relationship which, when added to their realistic character flaws, brings them alive off the page.

Bearing in mind that this is an audio book review, I should add that David Thorpe, as the narrator, carries the story very well, keeping the pacing at the right pitch and handling the various voices with style, which keeps you completely focussed on the action and the twisty plot at all times - always important in a good audio book - but I have also read big chunks of this one in e-book too and can tell you it works just as well in both formats.

I thoroughly enjoyed this one and I cannot wait to see what sort of twisty mystery our author has in store for Kramer and Carver in their next adventure, The Abduction (which I will be reviewing in March, so keep your eyes peeled!) - especially what happens next on the personal front!

The Scribe is available to buy now in paperback e-book and audio formats.

Thank you to A.A. Chaudhuri and Isis Publishing for providing me with an audio version of this publication in return for an honest review.

About the author:

A. A. Chaudhuri is a former City lawyer. Once a highly ranked British junior tennis player, she went on to gain a degree in History at University College London, then trained as a solicitor and worked for several major London law firms before leaving law to pursue her passion for writing. 

In addition to books featuring the feisty Maddy Kramer, she has written four stand-alone novels, including racy thriller, Illicit Retainers, and political thriller, The Darker Side of White, yet to be published. She lives in Surrey with her family.