7.6 /10 1 Votes
Publisher Headline Paperbacks Pages 512 Page count 512 ISBN 0755307720 | 3.8/5 Goodreads Publication date August 1, 2004 Originally published 1 August 2004 Preceded by A Place of Safety Genre Detective fiction | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Series Chief Inspector Barnaby Caroline Graham books Murder at Madingley Grange, The Envy of the Stranger, Camilla: The King's Mistress | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
A Ghost in the Machine is a work of detective fiction by Caroline Graham, the seventh in her popular Chief Inspector Barnaby series, which has been adapted into the equally successful ITV drama Midsomer Murders.
Plot summary
Village resident Dennis Brinkley, an enthusiastic collector of old war machines and torture weapons, suffers a gruesome death after being crushed by one of his own devices. Although his demise is initially regarded as an accident, his best friend Benny believes otherwise, and her suspicions are only confirmed by local psychic Ava Garrett, who tells her that she will ask Dennis to identify his killer at her next seance.
However, the elusive murderer silences her before the event can go ahead, leaving Chief Inspector Barnaby, accompanied by his Sgt Gavin Troy, with two gruesome slayings and a complex mystery to unravel. Several of Dennis's friends and associates come under suspicion, and much of the book is devoted to detailing their tangled lives.