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Graham Brack
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A Second Death: An international thriller full of dark humour (Josef Slonský Investigations Book 5) Kindle Edition

by Graham Brack (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.6 out of 5 stars 486 ratings
Slonský is back in his most shocking case yet! Perfect for fans of Ian Rankin, Jo Nesbo and Peter Robinson.

Is a child killer on the loose in Prague…?

When the body of a young girl washes up on the banks of the River Vltava, the Czech police are troubled.Brutally murdered and with evidence of sexual abuse, it is not the sort of crime they are used to investigating.

But the strangest thing is that the girl hasn’t been reported missing.

As a newly-appointed Captain, Josef Slonský takes the lead on the case.

But with his team seriously understaffed, and increasing pressure coming from the Ministry, he is struggling to keep everything under control.

Why has no one claimed the girl? What has happened to her family?

Slonský must dig deep to find the answers to this complex mystery…

A SECOND DEATH is the fifth international crime thriller in the detective series featuring Josef Slonský: an atmospheric police procedural full of dark humour.

JOSEF SLONSKÝ INVESTIGATIONS SERIES
BOOK ONE: Lying and Dying
BOOK TWO: Slaughter and Forgetting
BOOK THREE: Death on Duty
BOOK FOUR: Field of Death
BOOK FIVE: A Second Death
BOOK SIX: Laid in Earth
BOOK SEVEN: The Murdered Molls
BOOK EIGHT: The Ladies' Lounge
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  1. Book 5 of 8
    Josef Slonský Investigations
  2. Print length
    268 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Accessibility
    Learn more
  5. Publication date
    July 15, 2019
  6. File size
    1.1 MB
  7. Page Flip
    Enabled
  8. Word Wise
    Enabled
  9. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
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There are 8 books in this series.

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Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B07SZ1BRMR
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Sapere Books
  • Accessibility ‏ : ‎ Learn more
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ July 15, 2019
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 1.1 MB
  • Simultaneous device usage ‏ : ‎ Unlimited
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 268 pages
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1913028824
  • Page Flip ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Book 5 of 8 ‏ : ‎ Josef Slonský Investigations
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.6 out of 5 stars 486 ratings

About the author

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Graham Brack

Graham Brack

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Graham Brack has been writing for as long as he can remember, but now concentrates on crime fiction. Three times shortlisted for the Crime Writers' Association's Debut Dagger prize (in 2011, 2014 and 2016) he never quite managed to win it.

Graham lives with his wife Gillian in Northamptonshire and has two children and three granddaughters, who are too young to be allowed to read Grandad's books, so he provides other stories for them.

He trained and practised as a pharmacist and has also written about football, rugby, cricket and medical law. He is an ordained priest in the Church of England.

Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars
486 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers enjoy the book's characters, describing them as great to hang around with. The plot receives positive feedback, with one customer noting its intricate structure with false leads. Customers find the book worth their time, with one mentioning that each book in the series improves upon the last.

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LikabilityPlotValue for money
3 customers mention "Likability"3 positive0 negative

Customers enjoy the characters in the book, finding them great to hang around with, and one customer notes that the policemen are witty.

"...Great characters, great plot and wonderfully wry humor make this the best." Read more

"...want to be friends with them or work with them; they great characters to hang around with! I cannot wait for the next book! I highly recommend!..." Read more

"...Each book is better then the last. I highly recommend them! Great characters - both the main players and the supporting roles!" Read more

3 customers mention "Plot"3 positive0 negative

Customers enjoy the plot of the book, with one mentioning its intricate structure with false leads, while another notes how the protagonist finds time to investigate a botched cover-up.

"...Great characters, great plot and wonderfully wry humor make this the best." Read more

"...They also find time to investigate a botched cover-up surrounding an old bank robbery. New faces come aboard as love and promotions abound." Read more

"...The plot is intricate with false leads. Characters are consistently three dimensional with Slonsky's team a stand out...." Read more

3 customers mention "Value for money"3 positive0 negative

Customers find the book worth their time, with one mentioning that each book in the series is better than the last.

"...I love the entire book, the policeman; you want to be friends with them or work with them; they great characters to hang around with!..." Read more

"I'm loving the Josef Slonsky series! Each book is better then the last. I highly recommend them!..." Read more

"Well done. Each book catches crime on all levels from the street to the highest corridors no 6 is waiting for me" Read more

Top reviews from the United States

  • Kindle Customer
    5.0 out of 5 stars Great series
    Reviewed in the United States on July 30, 2022
    Format: KindleVerified Purchase
    Who would have thought post communist Prague would make such a delightful setting for a Detective series? Great characters, great plot and wonderfully wry humor make this the best.
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  • Website's Mom
    4.0 out of 5 stars Awful crime, good story
    Reviewed in the United States on August 3, 2021
    Format: KindleVerified Purchase
    Captain Slonsky and the rest of his expanded team investigate the abduction and murder of a child. They also find time to investigate a botched cover-up surrounding an old bank robbery. New faces come aboard as love and promotions abound.
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  • Carolintallahassee
    5.0 out of 5 stars Hitchcock Would be Proud! Witty! Best Detective Slonsk'y!
    Reviewed in the United States on July 28, 2019
    Format: KindleVerified Purchase
    I love this book; the policemen are witty, intelligent, very likable! It was hard dealing with the abuse of the child, the best way this new author I have found, and am very impressed with; deal with it is in the Hitchconian way! You never see it while it is happening, you have a witness to it. Therefore, this is much easier to deal with the ugliness; the writer gives us humor to offset it, and it works!
    I love the lead Detective, he is a hoot! The two young people are like what our parents, or grandparents would have been like; their morals are in place! I love the entire book, the policeman; you want to be friends with them or work with them; they great characters to hang around with! I cannot wait for the next book!
    I highly recommend! Thank you Netgalley!
    carolintallahassee.com
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  • Magpie
    5.0 out of 5 stars Slonsky triumphs!
    Reviewed in the United States on July 25, 2019
    Format: KindleVerified Purchase
    Once again the author presents a snapshot of Czech police with all the internal wrangling! The plot is intricate with false leads. Characters are consistently three dimensional with Slonsky's team a stand out. The European sense of humour is also pervasive. Highly recommended!
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  • Jody w
    5.0 out of 5 stars Another winner
    Reviewed in the United States on November 2, 2019
    Format: KindleVerified Purchase
    I'm loving the Josef Slonsky series! Each book is better then the last. I highly recommend them! Great characters - both the main players and the supporting roles!
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  • booklover
    4.0 out of 5 stars Riveting Addition To Crime Fiction Series
    Reviewed in the United States on July 15, 2019
    Format: Kindle
    Many thanks to the author / Sapere Books / Netgalley for the advanced digital copy of this crime fiction. Opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.

    For readers who haven't read any of the previous 4 book in this series, you're about to meet a most unique character in the form of Lt (although he was recently promoted to Captain) Josef Slonsky. He's lazy, but has a brilliant mind. He meets with his proteges and colleagues usually over beer and sausages where they discuss whatever case they happen to be working on.

    His sense of humor runs to the sarcastic side and not everyone understands .. not even his wife of 40 years. A strong stubborn streak does him well. He doesn't exactly cross a line, but he comes close enough to cause all sorts of problems.

    The body of a young girl is found on the banks of the River Vitava. Josef and his team are called out to investigate the murder and abuse of this child. There is no identification present and checking with Missing Persons, there are no young girls as reported missing. So who is this child?

    When the medical examiner takes fingerprints he is very surprised that this girl was reported missing 7 years ago, presumed dead. So where has she been all this time?

    This book will appeal to anyone who enjoys a classic mystery story with undertones of black comedy. Although 5th in a series, this one reads well as a stand alone, but I highly recommend starting at the beginning.

    This is well-written with finely drawn characters and suspense that will keep the reader riveted to the pages. I look foward to the next in this series.
    One person found this helpful
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  • Marilyn
    5.0 out of 5 stars Worth your time
    Reviewed in the United States on January 31, 2021
    Format: KindleVerified Purchase
    Well done. Each book catches crime on all levels from the street to the highest corridors no 6 is waiting for me
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  • Cloggie Downunder
    5.0 out of 5 stars A very entertaining dose of Prague crime
    Reviewed in the United States on July 15, 2019
    Format: Kindle
    “‘Have you ever thought of being shot, sir? Officers who are shot on duty always excite great public sympathy.’
    ‘Do you see a possible flaw in that plan, Slonský?’
    ‘Not seriously shot, sir. Not fatally. Just … winged a bit.’
    ‘Winged?’
    ‘Flesh wound. Top of the thigh is good. Big muscle, bleeds a lot, not a lot of chance of hitting anything important underneath. It would make for dramatic pictures.’”

    A Second Death is the fifth book in the Josef Slonský Investigations series by British author, Graham Brack. While his rank may have been elevated to Captain, Josef Slonský has never been one to confine himself to a desk in an office and he's not about to start that now. The report of a young girl's body on the bank of the River Vltava sees him quickly on the scene. It’s a pretty girl of about ten lacking any identification, and showing, much to the team’s dismay, signs of ongoing molestation.

    She doesn’t fit the description of any missing children on their files, but her DNA soon has the team examining the case of a missing toddler from seven years previous, to the north in near Most. It becomes apparent that the local police did a very poor job at the time, but Slonský is determined to rectify this unsatisfactory situation, and bring some closure for the heart-broken parents.

    With his team somewhat depleted by various promotions, transfers and secondments, Slonský will have to be clever if he is to avoid accepting the uninspiring candidates that Human Resources has lined up for the vacancies. Luckily, he has a promising young man in mind, and manages a rather ingenious work-around to avoid actually breaking any rules to install him in the job. HR are insisting Slonský bears in mind the “equality and diversity” aspects, but he feels if he can just have Ivo Krob, they can “Send me a Vietnamese lesbian if it helps with your quotas” and he won’t object.

    Of course, musical chairs in the higher ranks are not unusual, but the rumour that a certain ex-SWAT chief may get the Director of Police job will ruffle quite a few feathers, and Slonský finds he has to get a little creative when some handy information comes his way. And always in the back of his mind is the question of his not-quite-ex-wife, Věra Slonská, who seems interested in resurrecting their marriage: Slonský isn’t sure…

    Slonský’s conversations with his superiors, colleagues and associates (in particular Desk Sergeant Mucha and journalist Valentin) are always a rich source of dry (and sometimes, black) humour so, as usual, best not read in the Quiet Carriage on public transport to avoid disturbing other commuters with inevitable snickers, chuckles and laughing-out-loud. Readers may also find it difficult to refrain from reading out the many choice bits to those around them.

    Fans will, by now, be very glad to again encounter the regular cast, most of whom develop just a bit more with each episode. The changing dynamics and new recruits (inventively acquired) keep this series from stagnating, although some elements remain unvarying, one being Slonský’s firm belief in the consumption of fine Czech beer to lubricate his fine Czech brain. This instalment features an excellent twist at the climax, as well as a few surprises that will have the reader eagerly anticipating Slonský #6, and hopeful of further doses of our favourite Prague detective. Yes, more please!!
    This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Sapere Books.
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Top reviews from other countries

  • Felicity Wills
    5.0 out of 5 stars Another brilliant episode
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 19, 2023
    Format: KindleVerified Purchase
    I am sad to have reached book 5 in the Slonsky series, now there is only one left. The story starts with the awful discovery of the body of a child. Soon Slonsky is on the trail of the people who put her in the river. However, he hands a lot of responsibility over to Navratil, and this gives Slonsky the chance to do some manoeuvring and manipulating to try to ensure the wrong man doesn’t get the right job. He is at his best when plotting against the bad apples in the Czech police force. Particularly the ones in positions of power.
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  • T
    5.0 out of 5 stars Graham Brack is in good company with Adler-Olsen, Nesbo, Blunt, Rankin and Kepler.
    Reviewed in Canada on October 3, 2020
    Format: KindleVerified Purchase
    From the first book, I was hooked. There is nothing more satisfying than to find a writer that invites you into the story and builds, through his telling of it, a relationship with the characters. Each character is well developed and human in description, evoking emotion from me, the reader. I laugh, get frustrated and offended; I feel. That is a talent.
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  • Mandrek Larl
    4.0 out of 5 stars Book 5 from Graham Brack and Josef Slonsky and it's another belter…
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 23, 2025
    Format: KindleVerified Purchase
    Our in-house debate on the merits of Graham Brack's historical creation Master Mercurius versus his contemporary creation Josef Slonsky continues, and while the Memsahib favours the former for me it's Slonsky that edges his counterpart by a whisker, but that's to take nothing away from Graham Brack's other truly wonderful creation.

    In this, the fifth instalment of the Slonksy saga, Slonsky investigates the backstory to a child whose body is found in the river. However nothing is ever straightforward in Slonsky's world, identified by DNA this body of a ten year old is that of child who went missing aged three. But with his recent promotion to Captain, his department short-handed, the HR department making life difficult and the threat of a new police commissioner Slonsky has plenty on his hands that has nothing to dop with a suspicious death and largely hands the investigation over to Navratil. Fortunately though for us none of these challenges can tame Slonsky's acerbic wit, or dampen his cynicism and his insolent attitude towards authority which continues to fire on all cylinders despite his new responsibilities, and when the chips are down Slonsky comes to the aid of his team to get their murderer.

    Perhaps lacking some of the pure comic moments of Graham Brack's other books, "A Second Death" with its balanced, well-paced, and above all enjoyably entertaining style is another cracker, from anyone else would be a five star book, but against the bar-setting "Field of Death" this can only be four stars. But that's not going to stop me from reading book six, "Laid in Earth".
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  • cocobiskits
    5.0 out of 5 stars Comfortably horrific
    Reviewed in Canada on July 19, 2019
    Format: KindleVerified Purchase
    Once again Slonsky solves crime and arranges the pieces on the police chessboard. Of course no game of chess is complete without an unexpected play at the end. Slonsky and his team are comfortable to read about and yet they have to uncover the sad horror of wretched lives. A gripping read which leaves the reader looking forward to the next one.
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  • Mr. A.J. PENDLEBURY
    5.0 out of 5 stars Promotion suits Slonsky..another wonderful book.
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 27, 2019
    Format: KindleVerified Purchase
    Anyone who may have been worried that promotion would dilute or weaken Slonsky's native cunning or wit need have no fear . It is in this book as strong as ever . There is less of the more obvious slobby behaviour but the author has developed the characters of all the familiar surrounding characters.

    The subject matter is truly grim ,but Brack manages the balancing act of light and shade with real skill . As ever the Czech settings are so wonderfully drawn . There is no sign at all of any flagging of ideas ;in fact this book ends with a real challenge for future books in the series. Very strongly recommended for all lovers of good crime fiction writing .
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