A Long Time Dead: A D.I. Duncan McAdam Mystery (The Misty Isle, Book 1)

4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars | 18,569 ratings

Price: 21.83

Last update: 08-11-2024


Top reviews from the United States

carol Wilgus
5.0 out of 5 stars engrossing and enjoyable
Reviewed in the United States on August 5, 2024
I liked the characters and loved the descriptions of Scotland.
I have visited and he captured the essence of the country and its residents.
John R. Mason
4.0 out of 5 stars Long Time Dead
Reviewed in the United States on May 31, 2024
The book drew me in and carried me along. Loved the atmosphere. Likable D.I. Intriguing plot that keeps you guessing. Love the local language. Will be getting next book in the series. Recommend.
LT
5.0 out of 5 stars fascinating plot line, realistic characters with depth that inspire empathy, can't put it down!
Reviewed in the United States on April 1, 2024
I want to thank the Amazon reviewers of this book for giving such detailed, accurate reviews of this book. It was suggested to me as I was searching for a book by an author I read regularly.

I too, as another reader wrote, visited the Isle of Skye years ago so the setting caught my attention. I am a VERY PICKY reader who is known to put down and stop reading books I think are no good without any hesitation at all. I was also an English Lit major in college so I had to read and study lots of literature from Chaucer to Shakespeare to Tony Morrison and everything in between whether I wanted to or not, but as a result I was exposed to a lot of books by different authors considered "masters" in their genres.

That said, I LOVE this book! I am more than halfway through and can't stop reading it! The characters, esp. D. I. Duncan McAdam, have their own issues that are skillfully revealed by J M Dalgliesh, and the plot is intriguing and the pace is superb! I am getting ready to purchase the next book in the series! Seriously! If you love crime and mysteries, you will love this book!
quaintreader
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Book
Reviewed in the United States on July 17, 2024
I loved this mystery. Original plot with great characters. I am so intrigued by the Scottish islands, their weather and dialect.
I read when I should have been sleeping. Couldn't get enough. A fabulous book. On to book #2 in this series. So happy there are more!
Jane B.
4.0 out of 5 stars Keep reading! It starts a little slowly, but you will be rewarded.
Reviewed in the United States on November 10, 2023
I just finished reading "A Long Time Dead", by J. M. Dalgiesh. It gets off to a somewhat slow start, but I kept reading it for the descriptions of the island of Skye, in the Western Isles, and because I found her detective, D.I. Duncan McAdam, interesting. I started to say, I liked him, but actually I didn't at first. The guy's life is a mess--he can't keep a relationship alive, and his co-workers are not fond of him--but I wondered how it all went so wrong for him. He doesn't seem like a bad sort. Of course, we're seeing this from his POV.
Being disliked at work and getting a formal reprimand for some unspecified offense gets you the rotten assignments--like getting sent out to Skye in the late fall, to investigate a cold case where the victim's body has just been found. It's a chance to go home for awhile, they tell him. Trouble is, he doesn't want to go home. He has reasons.
"A Long Time Dead" has good plot twists and introduces us to some fascinating characters. I've ordered the next in the series.
Siesta1422
3.0 out of 5 stars Easy read
Reviewed in the United States on April 12, 2024
Detective Inspector Duncan McAdam returns to work in Glasgow after some unspecified leave and quickly finds himself packed off back to Skye to be the local lead in a missing persons case. As the story develops we learn a bit more about why Duncan left the island and hadn’t returned for a long while, and the clashes with his sister. Meanwhile, the case unfolds without much fanfare and tbh nothing too unique about it. There’s the usual range of good, bad and ugly, both in the force and the local population.
An easy read and a likeable enough MC, but not sure if it’s enough for me to keep going with the series.
Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars worth the read
Reviewed in the United States on July 28, 2024
I enjoyed this book. It had a good plot with twists. I also enjoyed getting to know the characters. Looking forward to the next book.
CafeAmore
4.0 out of 5 stars Promising introduction new detective.
Reviewed in the United States on November 17, 2023
Dalgliesh’s prose s vividly evokes the harsh—but sometimes beautiful—desolate and achingly lonely topography of the Isle of Skye, whose isolation is magnified by the fog which obscures a view of neighboring island.

In this first of the Misty Isle books, a new detective, Skye native DI (detective inspector) Duncan McAdams, promises be an interesting mix of human frailties, re-adjustment to his (foreshadowed) continuing life on the island, grudging respect from a hostile DCI (detective chief inspector), and the inevitable romantic interest. McAdams is at once vulnerable and tough and also distant, but with a bit of emergent compassion. As the book starts, McAdams has not only been booted out by his girlfriend, but “summoned”—the upshot of a disciplinary hearing regarding his job as a detective with the Glasgow law enforcement agency—to the Isle of Skye to assist in solving a 20-year-old cold case.

I was a bit incredulous that McAdams did not contact his sister before work obligations sent him back to his family home after years of little to no contact.

I had trouble distinguishing between two work teams formed by the DCI on the Isle of Skye: the local contingent and what seemed like a different local group. Nevertheless, DS MacEachern was an able foil to the sometimes stiff McAdams.

Long Time Dead would be a good escape vehicle for whodunit fans. Bundle up while reading against the icy north winds and fog.

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