The Hanging Tree

What it’s about

A death at an exclusive party entangles Peter with wealthy families, Lady Ty and the continuing hunt for the Faceless Man.

A death following an exclusive gathering brings Peter into contact with people whose social position can complicate an ordinary police question. Lady Ty and the river families give the opening enquiry a further set of obligations, while an existing pursuit remains in the background. The case belongs firmly to London: a city of invitations, private loyalties and different kinds of authority. Peter's first-person voice keeps the proceedings brisk even when his professional footing is less secure among the wealthy than at a crime scene. The book starts from a new death, but it trusts the reader to know why its returning figures matter. Expect a crowded investigation in which a favour can carry as much weight as a formal instruction.

Why it works

Privilege and magical power are placed side by side, giving Peter a case in which influence can be as obstructive as sorcery. The story brings several established relationships back into play and accelerates the long-running conflict without abandoning police procedure. Its social observation is as important as its set pieces.

Wealth is an effective complication for this particular detective. Peter can demand answers in his official capacity, but access to a private room does not guarantee access to an honest account. The novel uses that asymmetry to give social observation a practical role in the case. Being powerful does not make someone supernatural, and being supernatural does not put someone beyond ordinary questions about what happened. Peter has to work at the boundary, where status can make evidence difficult to obtain or easy to dismiss.

The river families make that boundary less tidy still. Their relationships are personal, historical and political, rather than a set of colourful witnesses to be filed under folklore. Peter's connections to them have developed across earlier books, so a conversation can carry obligations that a newcomer will not fully hear. The police procedure matters precisely because it supplies a way of asking for reasons when everyone has a preferred version of events. Aaronovitch gives the joke a job too: a dry observation can register that Peter sees the absurdity of a room while still respecting its influence.

The large number of familiar figures is both the attraction and the difficulty. Returning to London after a rural case brings back its complicated networks, but readers who have been away from the series may need to recall several ties before the case feels fully grounded. This is not a volume to use as an introduction to the Folly. It is a later investigation whose pleasures depend on recognising the pressure placed on an established way of working. The balance between a new crime and a longer pursuit lets the book feel consequential without making the immediate question of a death mere scenery.

How the audiobook sounds

The large cast asks a great deal of the narrator, particularly across class, age and recurring family groups. Holdbrook-Smith keeps those distinctions legible and makes Peter’s dealings with powerful people sound wary without losing his humour or professional confidence.

A crowded cast gives the performance a practical task: the listener needs to know who holds the floor, who is familiar with Peter and who expects deference. Subtle differences in formality can do more work than an exaggerated voice. Peter's dry running account remains the point of orientation even when the conversation shifts towards private family obligations or public influence. That continuity is valuable in an audiobook with more than one kind of power in the room.

The pace can change sharply between questioning, social observation and a quieter piece of deduction. A short commute is enough to follow a scene, although a listener returning after several days may want to remember which obligation belongs to which person. Longer sessions make the movement between the case and the continuing pursuit easier to track. The delivery does not need to make every wealthy character imposing; the tension often lies in how casually an obstacle is presented. If you enjoy voices that reveal status through timing rather than volume, this is a strong example of the series' ensemble listening appeal.

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