No Birds Sing

Castlemere #4

by Jo Bannister

LIVE BAIT

The canal town of Castlemere is the kind of hard-luck place that provides constant challenge to its crack team of detectives. Bu the skills of Superintendent Frank Shapiro, Inspector Liz Graham and the volatile Sergeant Cal Donovan are put to the test in very personal ways.

A string of violent crime--train robberies, a dog-fighting ring and a rapist stalking the area--forces both Graham and Donovan to g undercover. The rapist is attacking blond, fortyish, successful women. Liz fits the profit and acts as a decoy, unprepared for the shattering repercussions in the department, her marriage and herself. As Donovan joins the vicious ranks of the pit bull circles, both cases take shocking and deadly turns....

Genres: Mystery, Crime, Fiction, British Literature

301 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

Jo Bannister lives in Northern Ireland, where she worked as a journalist and editor on local newspapers. Since giving up the day job, her books have been shortlisted for a number of awards. Most of her spare time is spent with her horse and dog, or clambering over archaeological sites. She is currently working on a new series of psychological crime/thrillers.

Reviews

[Sue Commander · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and it kept me turning the pages. Taken at face value it is an ordinary police procedural novel but I became so interested in the characters, their motivation and their relationships. The criminal activity described in the book is a little bit different from the usual crime fiction. I look forward to reading other books in the series.

[Rusty · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a fast paced thriller-mystery that keeps one reading to discover what will happen next. The crimes are diverse - train robberies, a dog-fighting ring and a rapist finds detectives Frank Shapiro, Cal Donovan and Liz Graham investigating these these events. Liz fits the profile chosen by the rapist and consents to act as a decoy even as her marriage is deteriorating. Donovan goes undercover to check out the dog-fighting ring. Very nice reading!

[Jane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Probably the best book by Jo Bannister that I've read. She loves to put her main characters through trauma, and her work can be brutal at times, but there is also a sweetness to the relationships between the characters. This book shows the trio of Donovan, Graham, and Shapiro at their full power, spotlighting their ability to work as a team but also their friendship and respect for each other. No Birds Sing deals with fear, respect, and the aftermath of rape and physical trauma but also strength and choosing to do what's right.

Spoilers ahead: Donovan borrows a pit bull that is scheduled to be euthanized in order to infiltrate a dog fighting ring. He gets in a lot deeper than he expected, and the dog saves his life twice. He can't let the dog be put down after that and goes to some lengths to make sure he can keep the dog, which is scarred and not lovable. I first read this book when it came out 25 years ago and that plot point, and the way Bannister handles it, has really stuck with me. Bannister at her finest.

[Sherrill Watson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A well-written mystery novel, set in "Castlemere", England. A somewhat tangled mess of crimes, ploddingly attacked(?) by scruffy Sargent Cal Donovan, Detective Superintendent Shapiro and Detective Inspector Liz Graham, and their supervisor and sometimes antagonist, Supervisor Giles. Rape is handled gently and maturely (to my mind, at least), and LGBT people (Tudor Gates) likewise. But that is a small part of the plot. Everything is resolved, mostly without guns, carefully, completely and VERY satisfactorily. I won't be giving anything away by telling you that at the end, Brian Boru is reclassified from a pit-bull into a bull mastiff / Doberman pincher after saving Donovan's life.

[Kirstin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hmmm, not a bad novel as such but I felt there was too much going on at the same time...train robberies, illegal dog fights, burgleries, rape an all in such a small town ? The rape story on its own and how Liz Graham dealt with it in her own way would have been quite enough as it was really well told so I kinda ended up skipping over the rest.

[Christa M · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent character development. My first by this author & I'm excited to read more.

[Kirsty Darbyshire]

expectations are an odd thing. i don't know what i do to obtain them. maybe i judge a book by its cover, but the cover of this book is perfectly good. i've only heard good things about the castlemere series, of which this is the fourth, so i can't blame my preconceived ideas on either reviews or author's first book syndrome. this book is definitely not below par, it's both well written and very well plotted.

the characters are where it really shines though. one of the main threads of the tale is about rape, a crime that isn't often dealt with in crime fiction. fictional murders are common place and often reduced to almost comic book proportions on the page, rape's not a crime that can reasonably be given that treatment. the actions and reactions of both the female and male characters in this book are infinitely believeable and very touching. the tangled web of other crimes that the castlemere detectives have to deal with could almost make an adventure story, but it's the realism of the rape storyline that i'll remember. (this is book 4 in the castlemere series)

[Phyllis · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think Jo Bannister has the mystery books licked. There are three police detectives who share the
leads in this series. I will soon read more in order to learn more about each of them, Liz Graham,
and Cal Donovan share the role of problem solvers and at the same time victims of crimes. their
superior,Frank Shapiro is the one who provides an anchor in this book' All work together to capture
the two sets of criminals.

[Wiebke Kuhn · Rating 3 out of 5]

For quite some time I thought this book was set in the 1950s or so, only to stumble across a (rare) mobile phone. The plot centers around rape and other victimization and how the characters deal with it - and how others should interact with the victim. While I liked the characters, I found the lengthy explanations of what it all means rather tedious. And while I liked the way reader expectations were set up, the story itself did not fulfill these expectations for me.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Getting more and more in to this series good job I have the next one as well.

[Jane Auringer Danjin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Castlemere Series with Liz Graham