A Ghost in the Machine

There are six intertwined stories here, involving fraud, murder, psychics, and family relationships. At first the reader has difficulty keeping the characters straight, but Graham uses dense plotting to pull everything together. The murder of a man who collects full-scale models of medieval instruments of war and death is the strand that unites all the plot lines.

The author gets the murder solved and then provides a sort of afterword relating how each individual's life was effected, for good or ill, by the murders.

Graham excels at character development. Very few of her characters are stick figures; almost all present the mixed emotions, motivations, and traits that we find in real people. One of the most realistic of all is Sgt. Gavin show more Troy, who could easily be someone you actually know.

Don't spoil this for yourself by reading the last couple of pages first. A truly stunning ending gave me goosebumps and impressed me very much. Highly recommended. show less

A collector of ancient weapons is crushed by a trebuchet, a young woman is duped into squandering an inheritance, and a pseudo-psychic woman leaves the earthly realm, creating the possibility of a loving home for her neglected daughter. This (so far) last installment of the Inspector Barnaby/Midsomer Murders-series was published a few years after the rest of the series and feels a little bit like an indulgence (since the TV-series had by its publication become a hit) in that it's very long and the mystery, although it does permeate the storylines, isn't treated as being too urgent. The main thrust of the book is definitely village life and its inhabitants' respective quirks, relationships, and fates. The mystery-part is clever, though show more not rushed, and the denouement at the end is quite thrilling. Well worth the read if you're a Midsomer fan (this book has not been filmed), especially since it hints at Barnaby's upcoming retirement. No word if any more installments are forthcoming. show less

The death of Dennis Brinkley in his collection of medieval weaponry is dismissed as an accident until a medium who has a surprising amount of knowledge of the circumstances of his death is poisoned a few days before she is due to reveal all.

Barnaby's investigations only really get started just over half way through, and so most of the book is spent following the various characters before, during, and after the investigation rather than the investigation itself. Having said that, it was an intriguing mystery albeit with some characters left at loose ends the reader may wish to finish off for themself.

This was a surprisingly good story with interesting characters. On the other hand, Inspector Barnaby did not really appear until almost half way through the book so it was less a Barnaby story than a generally entertaining read.

In the village of Forbes Abbot, Dennis Brinkley is the subject of much local gossip as he collects replicas of old war-weapons and torture devices of varying sizes. Paradoxically, one of the collector's war machines crushes him to death. The villagers believe that a freak accident occurred, but his best friend Benny thinks someone is getting away with a homicide.
The locals believe that Benny's contention is substantiated when psychic Ava Garrett insists she will ask Dennis to identify his killer at a séance she is hosting. However, before she can call on Dennis, an unknown assailant kills the psychic. Chief Inspector Tom Barnaby and Detective Sergeant Gavin Troy investigate the two homicides.
This took too long to get to the bit where show more Barnaby and Troy were involved (nearly half the book) and there were too many side plots. Barnaby is getting ready for retirement in 6 months, is Graham too? As usual with Graham, the last chapter gives you a future view, and this gave the impression of having been written in a hurry. I think the editor should have got ruthless with the first half of the book and made her work harder in the second half. show less

This was the first of the DCI Barnaby books that I've read. The characters are completely different to what I've come to inspect from the Midsomer Murders TV shows but much more well rounded and the story rocked along at a great pace.

This was a very long book with little action, in fact it was way too long. The plot involves investments and stock market trading but the technical terms used are not explained so it is difficult to know what's going on. I loved the character in the TV, but not so much in the book. Probably good that this is the end of the series.