Smoke and Whispers

Name: Smoke and Whispers
Brand: Recorded Books
Availability: InStock
Author: Mick Herron
ISBN: 9798897564446

Author: Mick Herron

Series: Zoe Boehm Thriller

Narrator: Alix Dunmore

Unabridged: 8 hr 17 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Recorded Books

Published: 10/28/2025

Categories: Fiction, Mystery & Detective, International Crime & Mystery, Amateur Sleuth, Traditional British, Crime

Synopsis

Oxford private detective Zoë Boehm turns up dead in Newcastle, launching her friend Sarah Tucker into an investigation with several leads—but no one she can trust. When a body is hauled from the River Tyne, Sarah Tucker heads to Newcastle for a closer look. She identifies the dead woman as private detective Zoë Boehm, but putting a name to the corpse only raises further questions. Did Zoë kill herself, or did one of her old cases come back to haunt her? Why was she wearing the jacket a murderer had stolen years before? And what’s brought Sarah’s former sparring partner Gerard Inchon to the same broken-down hotel she’s staying at? Coincidence is an excuse that soon appears pretty unconvincing. Sarah can’t leave until she’s found the answers to her questions, however dangerous they might turn out to be. “In this assured mystery from British author Herron … does a nice job of planting red herrings and making [Sarah Tucker's] amateur sleuthing plausible.”—PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

About Mick Herron

Mick Herron, British novelist and short story writer, is the author of the Slough House espionage series, four Oxford mysteries, and three standalone novels. His work has won the CWA Gold Dagger for Best Crime Novel, the Steel Dagger for Best Thriller, the Theakstonâ€™s Novel of the Year Award, the Palle Rosenkrantz Prize, the Ellery Queen Readers Award, and the USC Libraries Scripter Award. His works have been nominated for the Macavity, Barry, and Shamus Awards. He was born in Newcastle and studied English at Oxford.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Jeffrey on August 23, 2009

In this tight mystery Sarah Tucker comes to Newcastle to identify the remains of a friend Zoe, who allegedly has been fished out of a local river dead. The woman is wearing Zoe's clothes and kind of looks like Zoe but she is also wearing a jacket that was stolen by a man named Alan Talmadge, who Zoe......more

Goodreads review by Michael on November 27, 2017

'Smoke and Whispers' is another of Mick Herron's mysteries starring Sarah Tucker and the intrepid PI Zoe Boehm. I was at a bit of a disadvantage in getting into it as I hadn't read a previous novel that introduced the 'bad guy', but there was enough in the narrative that I could make sense of the st......more

Goodreads review by Jorn on March 11, 2019

A little humor, a little poetry, one okay mystery, one okay detective. The return of the world's most boring serial killer, pursued by a tedious detective. Not much to enjoy.......more

Goodreads review by Alex on August 05, 2017

Sarah Tucker travels from Oxford to Newcastle to identify the body of a woman fished out of the River Tyne near the Millennium Bridge. Private detective Zoë Boehm is missing or has gone to ground, not answering emails or her phone. The two are not close friends but Zoë once saved Sarah’s life, and a......more

Goodreads review by Christine on June 22, 2025

Interesting, clever and extremely well written. I really enjoyed it, probably more than the other books in the series......more