Review copy was received from NetGalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
A Bird in the Hand by Ann Cleeves Narrator: Sean Barrett
Series: George and Molly Palmer-Jones #1
Published by MacMillan Audio on January 6, 2026
Genres: Mystery
Length: 7 hours, 20 minutes
Format: Audiobook
Source: NetGalley
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In England’s birdwatching paradise, a new breed has been sighted—a murderer . . .
Young Tom French is found dead, lying in a marsh on the Norfolk coast, with his head bashed in and his binoculars still around his neck. One of the best birders in England, Tom had put the village of Rushy on the birdwatching map. Everyone liked him. Or did they?
George Palmer-Jones, an elderly birdwatcher who decides quietly to look into the brutal crime, discovers mixed feelings aplenty. Still, he remains baffled by a deed that could have been motivated by thwarted love, pure envy, or something else altogether.
But as he and his fellow ‘twitchers’ flock from Norfolk to Scotland to the Scilly Isles in response to rumors of rare sightings, George—with help from his lovely wife, Molly—gradually discerns the true markings of a killer. All he has to do is prove it . . . before the murderer strikes again.
I really enjoy Ann Cleeves and all her series I have read so far. So when this older series, George and Molly Palmer-Jones, is now being recorded on audio I had to try it. All the books are being released in early January but I only am starting with the first. George and Molly are “twitchers” which is what bird watchers are called as they travel around the English countryside. There is some bird watching aspects but mostly it is a police procedural of sorts.
A Bird in the Hand begins with a bird watcher being murdered. George is asked to look into things as people disappear and more odd things happen as he has worked for the home office. The police don’t try too hard, wanting just to blame it on a mentally disabled man. George has plenty of suspects.
In the quest to solve the bird watcher, Tom’s murder, they find out all kinds of secrets. There were those jealous of Tom for his bird watching skills. Tom had just been offered a plum job. Then there was his courting of a single mother who they find is in love with the father of her child.
George with Molly’s help, works though all the possible suspects and witnesses, collecting bits and pieces of jealousies and egos, and mental instabilities. It’s much as Miss Marple looked at people’s characters to figure out the murderers. I didn’t guess but they solved it well.
The series is one of Ann Cleeve’s earliest but it has a timeless quality viewing the human nature of people. I recommend it for those who enjoy her mysteries and might want to learn a bit about bird watching.
Narration:
Sean Barrett has narrated many books but this is my first listen to him. We are mostly in George’s point of view or stream of thoughts. The narration was in a slight accent and seemed appropriate in tone and age. It was also easy and clear to listen to the performance. I enjoyed it very well at my usual 1.5x speed.
Listen to a clip: HERE
About Ann Cleeves
Ann grew up in the country, first in Herefordshire, then in North Devon. Her father was a village school teacher. After dropping out of university she took a number of temporary jobs – child care officer, women’s refuge leader, bird observatory cook, auxiliary coastguard – before going back to college and training to be a probation officer.
While she was cooking in the Bird Observatory on Fair Isle, she met her husband Tim, a visiting ornithologist. She was attracted less by the ornithology than the bottle of malt whisky she saw in his rucksack when she showed him his room. Soon after they married, Tim was appointed as warden of Hilbre, a tiny tidal island nature reserve in the Dee Estuary. They were the only residents, there was no mains electricity or water and access to the mainland was at low tide across the shore. If a person’s not heavily into birds – and Ann isn’t – there’s not much to do on Hilbre and that was when she started writing. Her first series of crime novels features the elderly naturalist, George Palmer-Jones. A couple of these books are seriously dreadful.
In 1987 Tim, Ann and their two daughters moved to Northumberland and the north east provides the inspiration for many of her subsequent titles. The girls have both taken up with Geordie lads. In the autumn of 2006, Ann and Tim finally achieved their ambition of moving back to the North East.
For the National Year of Reading, Ann was made reader-in-residence for three library authorities. It came as a revelation that it was possible to get paid for talking to readers about books! She went on to set up reading groups in prisons as part of the Inside Books project, became Cheltenham Literature Festival’s first reader-in-residence and still enjoys working with libraries.
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I read all types of books but my favorites are urban fantasy and romantic suspense.I like some romance and some action / adventure / mystery in everything.I like sex in my books but please, only between TWO people.Intimate conversation is equally important to the sex in a book.It lets me see the characters.The other thing I enjoy is humor.
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Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
- 25-Audio
- 25-COYER
This almost sounds like cozy fiction, and I like the idea of taking older books and bringing them to life again in audio.
yes and maybe because the setting is in another country / culture, it seems more timeless and not really dated.
Great review, Anne💜
Thank you Jonetta.
I love birdwatching and mysteries so this sounds like a great combo for me. Especially since they’re now out on audio. I’ll look it up!
Well they will all be out January 6th. But yes the whole series of 8 I think at once.
What a fun blend!
It’s a good story with interesting characters.
Oh this sounds good! I just listened to my first Vera book and am really looking forward to reading more from this author. I like the sound of this series.
It feels more cozy than some of her series with the bird watching. But there was a serial killer.