Narrated by Gary Furlong

OMG, this book! My good friend Em has been nagging me to read Bitter Legacy ever since it came out (in 2016) and I’ve honestly been intending to read it… but time and other commitments have conspired against me and I just haven’t got to it. So when I saw it was coming out in audio I eagerly snapped it up for review and am happy to report that it’s every bit as good as Em said it was. It’s a complex, brilliantly written and constructed combination of mystery and seriously fucked-up, angsty romance, Gary Furlong’s narration is superb and I was completely captivated by all fourteen-plus hours of it.

Detective Sergeant James Henderson is one
of the Met’s (Metropolitan Police) rising stars. He’s on the professional
fast-track, his instinct and ability to think his way around and through
complicated situations contributing to a high success rate, and his modesty and
congenial personality give rise to strong and comfortable relationships with
his colleagues. He loves what he does and feels he’s in a better place
professionally than he’s ever been… which is something of a contrast to his
personal life, where he lacks confidence and is still smarting from the pain of
his father’s rejection two years earlier after James finally came out and told
him he intended to pursue a different career to the one expected of him.

Working as part of the South Kensington
Murder Investigation Team, James is called to the scene of the gruesome murder of
a young woman found dead in the hallway of her Knightsbridge home. An initial
inspection of the crime scene reveals little that appears to be of relevance,
although James does find a note of an address in Kensington, and heads over
there the following day to see if he can find out the nature of the connection
between the victim and the residents of 22 Selworth Gardens. When he arrives,
he’s not surprised to see that there are several flats at the address and
decides to start with the ground floor flat and work upwards. When he pushes
the bell and is invited up to the first floor, he realises he’s made a mistake
– but before he can identify himself and explain his presence there, the
intercom shuts off and the door opens, so James makes his way up. He’s not
pleased when he’s kept waiting by the occupant of the flat and is about to go
downstairs to knock on doors when a voice behind him greets him and James finds
himself looking at the most beautiful man he’s ever seen.

Photographer Ben Morgan has clearly assumed
that James is one of the many who has answered his advert for a flat-mate. Although
James does happen to be looking for somewhere else to live, he quickly proceeds
to interview Ben to see if there is any connection between him and the murdered
woman. When it appears there isn’t one, he leaves – but not before mentioning
his own flat-hunting and asking if perhaps Ben might call him if none of the
other applicants works out. It’s rather irregular, but the flat is beautiful
and probably out of his league anyway. Just like Ben.

I’m not going to say more about the plot
other than that it’s clever and utterly brilliant, and that the author really
keeps listeners on their toes. One murder becomes two, and then more, and James
is convinced that there must be something linking them to each other – he just
can’t quite make that all-important connection.

Even more compelling than the procedural
storyline is the complicated and difficult relationship that develops between
James and Ben. James may be confident and successful professionally, but when
it comes to personal relationships, he’s somewhat naïve, and (according to his
last girlfriend) “emotionally innocent”;
he’s always known he’s gay but has repressed it in an attempt to be what his
father expected him to be, so while he’s had relationships, they’ve all been
with women. He quickly develops a crush on the gorgeous Ben, who is a kind,
funny and charming bloke as well as being lovely to look at, and it doesn’t
take long for that crush to turn into something deeper. James is in seventh
heaven when it seems that Ben may return his feelings – but his hopes soon come
crashing down around him and he has to face up to the fact that he’s in love
with a man who will never be his.

Before I go any further, I have to point
out something that may be a deal-breaker for some, which is that Ben isn’t
faithful to James while they’re sleeping together. BUT – Ben makes no secret of
the fact that he’s promiscuous and isn’t about to change, and even though James
knows this, he still can’t resist falling into bed with Ben and… hoping. James
wants a monogamous relationship and Ben knows this – but he can’t keep his hands off James any more than James
can keep his off Ben… both men are upfront about what they want, and know those
things are diametrically opposed – and yet the pull between them is too strong
to deny or resist. It’s a recipe for disaster. There were times I just wanted
to slap James upside the head and tell him to get out and that he deserved
better, but the author writes his thoughts and feelings so well that it’s easy
to understand exactly why he acts as he does. And even though the story is told
entirely from James’ PoV, Ms. Maclean does a terrific job of fleshing out Ben’s
character and revealing him to be an entirely complex personality and –
amazingly – making it difficult to hate him, despite all the hurt he causes.

The book’s setting – south west London – is
vividly detailed and I loved the descriptions of the locale, the architecture
and the transport (as a Londoner, I’m always pleased when an author can bring
the place to life in a way that feels fully authentic) and I was also impressed
with the way she portrays the workings of the case and the pressure James and
the team are under.

Gary Furlong is a favourite narrator of
mine, and I was really excited when I learned he’d signed up to narrate this
book. He delivers an almost flawless performance, differentiating effectively
between a large-ish cast of characters, providing convincing female voices and
using a variety of regional accents where called for (he’s a dab hand with a
Scottish brogue, as used for James’ friend and colleague Alec). Mr. Furlong
brings exactly the right degree of emotional clout to the more harrowing scenes
between James and Ben, as well as capturing the essence of both characters
extremely well. I’ve had the occasional issue in the past with the way he reads
narrative passages, feeling he could sometimes have been a little more
animated, but I have absolutely no complaints on that score here. Everything
about his performance works on every level, and I’d count this as one of his
best to date.

A clever, compelling mystery skilfully
combined with an angsty and powerfully intense romance, Bitter Legacy is one of the best audiobooks I’ve listened to this
year. I can’t wait for the audio release of the next book, Object of Desire, early in 2020.