Once upon a Crime cover art

Once upon a Crime

 Preview
Try Premium Plus free
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Once upon a Crime

By: Fergus Craig
Narrated by: Fergus Craig
Try Premium Plus free

£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

Confirm Purchase
Pay using card ending in
Switch payment method
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.
Cancel

About this listen

The absurd crime fiction parody by fictional author 'Martin Fishback' - as seen on BBC Two.

Exeter: a city in decline, East Devon's capital of crime.

Detective Roger LeCarre: a man on a quest to rid the world of crime (starting with Devon and Cornwall and then working outwards) so he can concentrate on his watercolours.

LeCarre runs 10 km a day but probably burns more calories shaking his head at what has become of his city. Now Exeter is set to become the UK Capital of Culture and the ambitious lord mayor wants to turn things around. But when a young man's (dead) body is found in the centre of town, things get murky.

Detective Roger LeCarre is a character never seen before in modern fiction - a tough but troubled detective with a drink problem and a marriage in trouble. Can he find out who killed the young man, save the city and change his energy provider before the new more expensive tariff kicks in?

Filled with drama, eroticism and very specific Wikipedia-sourced information on Devon, Once upon a Crime is a thriller that takes itself very seriously and that should not, on any account, actually be taken seriously.

©2021 Fergus Craig (P)2021 Hachette Audio UK Crime International Mystery & Crime Literature & Fiction Mystery Fiction Witty Detective Suspense

Listeners also enjoyed...

 Garth Marenghi’s TerrorTome cover art
Alan Partridge: Big Beacon cover art
Tips for Actors cover art
From the Oasthouse: The Alan Partridge Podcast (Series 1) cover art
A Man with One of Those Faces cover art
The Bingo Hall Detectives cover art
Nebulous: The Complete Series 1-3 cover art
The Final Game cover art
The Satsuma Complex cover art
Death at the Auction cover art
The Turin Shroud Secret cover art
London Large: Blood on the Streets cover art
Ice Blue cover art
The Stranger Times cover art
The Warlock Effect cover art
The Cornish Wedding Murder cover art

Critic reviews

"What's better than a good crime novel? I'll tell you - a spoof crime novel, by the absurdly funny and clever Fergus Craig." (Miranda Hart)

"We all need more laughs like this." (Aisling Bea)

All stars
Most relevant  
Having read this a lot whilst running, you get some strange looks as you start laughing apparently for no reason.

Do not listen to it in public

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Loved every word. So, so funny. Don't listen in public. Too embarrassing when laughing out loud, often.

Hilarious

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Genuinely laugh-out-loud; and considerably enhanced by Fergus’ hilarious narration, if you love crime novels…or maybe even kinda hate crime novels… this book is brilliant.

Hilarious send up of crime fiction

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This is a book which will be studied by literature students for years to come. A rare example of what can be achieved when a work transcends its genre and becomes deeply profound, questioning the very nature of what it is to be human.
Written by a wordsmith with such a delicate sensibility you cannot fail to be moved to tears.
Buy it.
Immediately.
Don’t even waste time listening to the preview.
Bravo Martin and bring on book 2!

High literature indeed!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
funny from the start to the very close. loved it and the reading of it. was exactly what I hoped it would be,just wanted more le carre

Hilarious & gripping

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
In the words of Chan, “yes…yes”. Very funny and the audiobook is the best version. Check out his videos on Twitter.

Great CRIME spoof

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
If you’re a fan of Fergus, you’ll love this. Once upon a Crime is a laugh a minute, unless you listen on double speed, and then it would be a laugh every 30 seconds, or two laughs a minute. It’s the same.

Hilariously brilliant.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Hilariously romping through pedantic and overzealous crime fighting with Detective Roger LeCarre. A flight of fanciful old fashioned coppering in Exeter with a salute to Alan Partridge-esque verbal ramblings , Inspector Clouseau incompetence, peppered with clichés, and cricketers surname characters. Brilliantly read by the author.

not to listen to this would be a CRIME!!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
If you've followed Roger LeCarre on @FergusCraig Twitter, you will love this.
It does not disappoint, ever better it has been narrated by the author.
Loved it, thank you Fergus. Look forward to many more!

Loved it

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Seriously it's not serious, funnily it's also not funny.
Seriously it's not funny, and funnily is not serious.
If I had to sum the book up in four words I would say "sarcastic cringeworthy crime drama"
If the BBC dramatized this for radio it would be on Radio 4 at 6:30 p.m.
Looking forward to the second installment.

This book is . . .

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews