Salt Lane cover art

Salt Lane

the superb first book in the DS Alexandra Cupidi Investigations

 Preview
LIMITED TIME OFFER

3 months free
Try for £0.00
£8.99/mo thereafter. Renews automatically. Terms apply. Offer ends 31 July 2025 at 23:59 GMT.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for £8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly.

Salt Lane

By: William Shaw
Narrated by: Jasmine Blackborow
Try for £0.00

£8.99/mo after 3 months. Offer ends 31 July 2025 23:59 GMT. Cancel monthly.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

Confirm Purchase
Pay using card ending in
Switch payment method
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.
Cancel

About this listen

She always went too far.

DS Alexandra Cupidi has done it again. She should have learnt to keep her big mouth shut after the scandal that sent her packing - resentful teenager in tow - from the London Met to the lonely Kent coastline. Murder is different here, among the fens and stark beaches.

She was the one who found the killers.

The man drowned in the slurry pit had been herded there like an animal. He was North African, like many of the fruit pickers that work the fields. The more Cupidi discovers, the more she wants to ask - but these people are suspicious of questions.

And now it was killing her.

It will take an understanding of this strange place - its old ways and new crimes - to uncover the dark conspiracy behind the murder. Cupidi is not afraid to travel that road. But she should be. She should, by now, have learnt.

Salt Lane is the first in the new DS Alexandra Cupidi series. With his trademark characterisation and flair for social commentary, William Shaw has crafted a crime novel for our time that grips you, mind and heart.

©2018 William Shaw (P)2018 Quercus Editions Limited Crime Crime Fiction Detective Fiction Mystery Police Procedural Women Sleuths Women's Fiction Murder Exciting Heartfelt Scary

Listeners also enjoyed...

 The Hope That Kills cover art
A Long Time Dead cover art
The Missing Ones cover art
A Killing in November cover art
The Turning of Our Bones cover art
Whisky from Small Glasses cover art
The Dentist cover art
The Next Girl: Detective Gina Harte, Book 1 cover art
Fatal Isles cover art
Broadland cover art
The Murder Wall cover art
Deadly Obsession cover art
Born in a Burial Gown cover art
Ash and Bone cover art
Hero: A Simon Serrailler Short Story cover art
Death on Cromer Beach cover art

Critic reviews

"William Shaw is one of the great rising talents of UK crime fiction. This is his best book to date." (Peter James)

"Taut, terrifying and timely." (Val McDermid)

"William Shaw is a superb storyteller." (Peter May)
All stars
Most relevant  
Great narration, fast, paced story, believable characters and interesting storyline. I really enjoyed it - highly recommended.

I loved it… I will be downloading the next one

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Fantastic gripping storyline with brilliant narration. Thoroughly enjoyed all the characters and looking forward to getting the next instalment!

Very enjoyable

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
a very good story sadly hampered by the narrators ham-fisted accents. just read it please

please cut the accents!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Really good characters well developed through the story. Deals with current illegal immigrant problems in a well balanced way. interesting interaction between the 2 main female characters especially as one 8s the boss and the other often seems quite cheeky. about to download book 2.

excited to have a new series to listen to

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
one of the best of the year, congratulations to William Shaw - and very well read as well

Excellent

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I really enjoyed this series opener and am keen to listen to more. The central characters are easy to identify with and the plot licks along without any make weight details or diversions. I have experience of working on farms in Kent and fond memories of Dungeness. I also remember the era from which some of the plot dates. Personal experience can sometimes be a disadvantage when reading, but not in this case.
The narration is particularly good. Jasmine Blackborow does a fantastic job of distinguishing the characters, especially given that the main characters are women of different ages, but broadly similar accents. She also does not have the habit that I've noticed in other younger women narrators, that of dipping her voice at the end of a sentence. This is perhaps a modern speech pattern, but it gives me the impression that they are reading bullet points. Well done Jasmine.

Excellent!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Looked forward to this, female detective novel but formulaic writing with heavy handed 'female' storylines lacking in insight was irritating. Terrible reading-upper class narrator voice with 'essex clubbing girl' voice for everyone else.

Overhyped; thin characterisation

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
A great start to a new series. Good characters, good plot (although I did guess a few things) - I will definitely be reading more from this author.

Enjoyable

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
William Shaw's "Salt Lane" is a solid and enjoyable mystery, but the star of the story is the gorgeous and slightly sinister Kent landscape.

A celebration of the beauty of Kent.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Great narrator. Complex plot without being over elaborate. The characters build as the book progresses. Evocative descriptions of the Kent coast and marshes.

Credible interesting characters and story

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews