The Broken Afternoon cover art

The Broken Afternoon

DI Wilkins, Book 2

 Preview
Try Premium Plus free
1 credit a month to buy any audiobook in our entire collection.
Access to thousands of additional audiobooks and Originals from the Plus Catalogue.
Member-only deals & discounts.
Auto-renews at $16.45/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

The Broken Afternoon

By: Simon Mason
Narrated by: Matt Addis
Try Premium Plus free

Auto-renews at $16.45/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $26.99

Buy Now for $26.99

About this listen

A DI RYAN WILKINS MYSTERY

A four-year-old girl goes missing in plain sight outside her nursery in Oxford, a middle-class, affluent area, her mother only a stones-throw away.

Ryan Wilkins, one of the youngest ever Detective Inspectors in the Thames Valley force, dishonourably discharged three months ago, watches his former partner DI Ray Wilkins deliver a press conference, confirming a lead.

Ray begins to delve deeper, unearthing an underground network of dark forces in the local area. But will he be able to get closer to the truth of the disappearance? And will Ryan be able to stay away?

This audiobook includes an exclusive preview of the next in the DI Ryan Wilkins Mysteries A Voice in the Night.

©2023 Simon Mason (P)2023 Quercus Editions Limited Crime Fiction Mystery Police Procedural Fiction Crime Suspense

Critic Reviews

Move over Morse. Simon Mason's Oxford crime novel confounds all our expectations. (Val McDermid)
Humane, tense, funny and fabulous (Amanda Craig)
All stars
Most relevant
Thoroughly enjoyed this book, great sequel. Really enjoying the characters. Hoping for more in the future!

A great second book!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I love this series. Stephen Fry is right. Whip smart complex twists and thoughtful unconventional characters with completely enthralling stories make for a rollicking, emotional, complicated cast of flawed clever protagonists. What a treat

Absolute cracker!!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Sigh -- my Audible review of this book vanished upon submission (three times) and never appeared (I've waited a weeks and asked Amazon how this can be) but I feel compelled to write it again as this book is super special...

Ryan is such a wonderful fresh character, like no other fictional detective. The story is good with a twist at the end -- the other characters are fine (nice to see a decent Superintendent!) but Ryan is just incandescent. Good-looking, smarmy Ray plods along and takes all the credit but Ryan just exudes warmth, brilliance, selflessness and optimism in a way that lifts the spirits.

I've been looking forward to book 2 and was hoping Ryan wouldn't be exiled to the sidelines for his 'insubordination'. Ryan on the outside is not so interesting. We all know that's the reality of life - the Ryans don't fit into corporate structures. Giving him DI status and the authority to take down uppity Oxford-types is the whole delight of this series.

I just hope Simon Mason is on a roll now and can keep these books coming!

Beautiful job Matt Addis -- the Ryan/Ray contrast is pitch perfect.

Ryan is my favourite DI ever!!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Excellent crime thriller. Very good tight writing. Wonderful roller coaster of a ride filled with twists & turns. Colourful, flawed but very likeable characters. This is book 2. & the Series just gets better. Have already pre-ordered book 3. Can’t wait.
Excellent narrator.

Great read.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I enjoyed this second book in the series almost as much as the first one. I was a bit disappointed that the female Detective Superintendent was replaced - she showed great potential as a steadying influence on the wayward Ryan.

One editing point - the author seems to have forgotten that Ray and Dianne had a child before the twins.

The narration was again first class.

Another excellent adventure for Ray and Ryan.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.