With Our Blessing: An Inspector Tom Reynolds Mystery, Book 1 Audible Audiobook – Unabridged

Jo Spain (Author), Aoife McMahon (Narrator), Quercus (Publisher)

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The top 10 Irish best seller.

Short-listed for the 2015 Richard and Judy Search for a Bestseller Competition.

Discover more DI Tom Reynolds with the next book in the series, Beneath the Surface.

It's true what they say...revenge is sweet.

It's 1975. A baby, minutes old, is forcibly taken from its devastated mother. In 2010, the body of an elderly woman is found in a Dublin public park in the depths of winter.

Detective Inspector Tom Reynolds is working the case. He's convinced the murder is linked to historical events that took place in the notorious Magdalene Laundries. Reynolds and his team follow the trail to an isolated convent in the Irish countryside. But once inside, it becomes disturbingly clear that the killer is amongst them...and is determined to exact further vengeance for the sins of the past.

Listening Length

12 hours and 50 minutes
Author

Jo Spain
Narrator

Aoife McMahon
Audible release date

18 May 2017
Language

English
Publisher

Quercus
ASIN

B071YZWTGT
Version

Unabridged
Program Type

Audiobook
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Product details

Listening Length	12 hours and 50 minutes
Author	Jo Spain
Narrator	Aoife McMahon
Whispersync for Voice	Ready
Audible.com.au Release Date	18 May 2017
Publisher	Quercus
Program Type	Audiobook
Version	Unabridged
Language	English
ASIN	B071YZWTGT
Best Sellers Rank	6,474 in Audible Books & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Books & Originals) 52 in Political Thrillers (Audible Books & Originals) 188 in Police Procedural Mysteries 297 in Political Thrillers (Books)

Customer reviews

5 star		58%
4 star		28%
3 star		9%
2 star		3%
1 star		2%

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Top reviews from Australia

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Tazzii

Captivating

Reviewed in Australia on 17 May 2017

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Must read!!! In the times of today this book would be unrealistic but for the period it is written, which is not that long ago, it is sad but true. I can usually narrow the "offender" down to one or two but had no idea on this one. One of the best who done it books I have read. You wont be disappointed.
Facinating and you will not regret the read. I found this book easy to read, really good length, start and touching finish.

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Lucy Chatterbox

Irish. Witty. Gritty. Intelligent.

Reviewed in Australia on 21 November 2020

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Love everything Jo Spain has written. The Tom Reynolds series may be my favourite series of books written yet. Would highly recommend this author and in fact many of my peers love her too. She is in one word... outstanding.

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Kindle Customer

A truly moving story.

Reviewed in Australia on 21 May 2017

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A story which grips your heart. Although fictional it is the story of truly factual events. Events which happened to the shame and shock of many. Events which were hidden much to the desperate efforts of a few good, kind hearted people who could do nothing at the time.

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M. Sparks

Thrilling and Informative

Reviewed in Australia on 29 January 2020

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Incredible novel that shines a light on a distressing period of recent history whilst also being a great thriller with excellent characterisation. Looking forward to reading more from Jo Spain and Inspector Reynolds.

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Olly41

Gripping

Reviewed in Australia on 2 August 2021

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Who’d have thought! Kept me guessing all the way through. What a story teller Jo Spain is. A great read.

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Absorbing and tragic Irish police procedural!

Reviewed in Australia on 15 May 2021

The tortured and mutilated body of a elderly mother superior is found in a Dublin park. When the trail leads to a convent which had been one of the most notoriously brutal magdalene laundries, DI Tom Reynolds and his team find plenty of suspects to choose from. This first-in-the-series police procedural ticks all the boxes: the devastatingly rich history of the magdalene laundries is absorbing; the storyline moves between the ensemble cast of characters and involves snippets of the police teams’ personal lives to help flesh them out; the victim is so repellant that the plot is awash with potential suspects and red herrings; and the murderer was believable, they didn’t require omnipotent or omniscient powers to complete the murders. I hadn’t read any of Jo Spain’s books before, but she pulls no punches and I’ll definitely chase up more. Aoife McMahon is always a stellar narrator and it’s an absolutely delight to listen to her Irish brogue.

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Aidan Magee

Good plot

Reviewed in Australia on 29 June 2019

Great read

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Top reviews from other countries

Vicuña

Complex murder mystery, superbly plotted

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 29 March 2017

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After a dramatic and brutal opening, Jo Spain's amazing debut, With Our Blessing, settles into a very satisfying murder mystery steeped in recent Irish history.

A body is found in Phoenix Park in Dublin. The scene has clearly been staged by the killer and police interest is soon centred on a convent. But it's no ordinary convent; it was formerly one of the Magdalen laundries. These establishments took in young women who were pregnant and unmarried, sparing the family shame and supposedly teaching the girls the correct moral path. Babies were forcibly removed from the mother immediately after birth and to call the regime brutal would be an understatement. The scandal of the way in which the Catholic Church, police and other establishment organisations covered up systemic abuse that went on for decades is relatively recent. In fact the last laundry only closed in the 1990's, so it's still very raw.

Jo Spain has a real feel for people and dialogue. Each of the police team has an interesting personality and there are various back stories. The characters feel well rounded and plausible. The nuns are a mixed bunch and I found a strong sense of claustrophobia and threat building as the investigation got underway. There was an almost palpable sense of cold in the long corridors and disused dormitory and the scenes are really well set.

Within the investigating team, there's a link to the convent and this element proved particularly interesting and unexpected. The plotting throughout is intricate and careful. Various pointers are given, but they don't always lead where expected, so it's twisted and kept me guessing. I can't believe it's taken me a couple of years to find this author, who's already a best seller. Her success is well deserved and I'll be following her further work with interest.

21 people found this helpful

Helen Lancaster (Kindle Customer)

Another great read

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 23 June 2019

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Another great read by No Spain. This one is about the Magdalene Laundry's in Ireland and the abuse the girls went through. Having to give up their babies been put to work and punished for the slightest thing. They were at the mercy of the Nuns. Although some of them have been compensated for what happens by the Government it doesn't make it easy to forgive. It was a well told book and I enjoyed it very much. I have been looking at your other books Up and as much as I like them I wouldn't pay the prices you are asking. Maybe they will go down in price eventually.?

9 people found this helpful

Janie U

Great atmosphere and loved most of the plot

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 5 December 2020

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I've read a couple of stand alone books by this author and enjoyed them very much. My husband read them both recently and, having enjoyed them too, he decided to start on the Tom Reynolds series by the same author, of which this book is the first. He has read two now and is on the third so I thought I ought to catch up.
520 pages and 58 chapters. This is a brick of a book but is a fairly large font and a good pace is usually promised by a good crime novel.
The plot sucks in the reader straight away with an elderly woman having been crucified in a Dublin park. Tom and his team get on the case and the story starts to flow.
There is never any doubt about the geographic setting of the book as the Irish flavour is everywhere, particularly when the story starts to dig into the secrets of the catholic church that had previously been buried in the past.
Reading the dialogue gives the reader no doubt about the authenticity of the characters. The Irish accent never takes away from the pace of the speech but words are sufficiently different to add an accent - sometimes it is worth reading a sentence slowly in you head and they will most definitely have an Irish twang.
I warmed very quickly to Tom and his team as they all seemed to be genuine people with normal problems in normal lives outside the police force.
Progress in the investigation is made and the storyline is very plausible with all the characters behaving as I would expect them to.
The timing in December and the snow storm adds drama, intensifying the story. It is a great skill to be able to use the techniques of a traditional Agatha Christie murder mystery but bring it up to date with modern police procedures and modern investigation technology. Many authors try to achieve this by creating enclosed scenarios which often feel fake but this author does this brilliantly and the setup is very natural.
My big disappointment was the ending which was rushed and unnecessarily dramatic when the killer was finally revealed. I was have been much happier if the last 40 pages had shown a much more subtle touch.

Alessi Lover

WIth Our Blessing - Jo Spain - Irish Catholic Church, Murder and Births

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 1 September 2017

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Just loved it!
Gruesome times for those in what was similar to the Magdaline laundries and some heartache you could feel through the darker times of which should be happy ones. Sadly the births of these babies bring sadness and emotions that are not dealt with the best way.
Steeped in Irish history and reading it you will see how the old Catholic Church methods back then were not the best at all. I did think I knew who the killer was and why, really did eighty percent then found out how wrong I was.
A book that deals with the harder part of births and a killer. Just loved how it all sort of intermingled with the rest of the read and felt this was such a good read as previous books by Jo Spain.

7 people found this helpful

Galning

Recommended

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 17 April 2017

Verified Purchase

Really enjoyed this - so why not 5* ? I try and reserve my 5* reviews for books that completely blow me away, that I either don't want to end or that I'd happily read again straightway. This wasn't quite that good - but for a debut novel it's a pretty good book.

My complaints would be that, at times, the writing seems a little naïve and slightly childish. But, as the book wore on, I forgave this because I liked the sub plots (all surrounding pregnancies) that looked at the societal changes towards single mothers (from an Irish perspective).

I thought I knew who the killer was at about 86% - but I was wrong. And, for a debut, the author was very clever at laying traps that made you think it was one or another person - only for it to turn out to be someone else.

The sadistic nature of the "Laundries" was pretty much tempered. So this is more a crime novel that happens to be based around religious institutions, rather than a book just about Ireland's revelations around how these poor girls were treated.

Would recommend it. If you do buy it and find the start puts you off a little - keep going. I eventually found I couldn't put it down.

4 people found this helpful

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With Our Blessing: An Inspector Tom Reynolds Mystery, Book 1 Audible Audiobook – Unabridged

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