Great story - love to see it dramatised

Sadly the narrator is only competent and not great, and as well as the odd weird mispronunciation there were some irritating Americanisms which were out of place. Also, some of the accents used for these public school & Oxford-educated men sounded totally wrong. That said, it was a good story and would be wonderful to see as a TV drama. On screen you would be able to have even more of the period detail, which would add to the atmosphere.

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seriously don't waste your time

Has great potential, but is the character American or English? When is it really set - it had such potential. I was bitterly disappointed and after 2hrs could stand it no more - skipped to the last 20 minutes and left dissatisfied.

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a good whodunit

a story with several twists and murders set just before WW2. the reader has a very pleasant voice and, unlike a lot of people, can do upper class English accents. unfortunately she's not a good reader, there are odd pauses so the story doesn't flow as easily as it should.

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1 person found this helpful

Obviously written by an American

It’s a good story, with an adequate narrator, but the Americanisms are irritating and unnecessary, surely a little research by an author fascinated by the great English Agatha Christie isn’t too much to hope for

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I'm battling on

But the fact that it's obviously written for an American audience, is really getting annoying.
Sidewalks and meatloaf, and gotten this and gotten that.
I'll keep trying.

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Not English I am afraid

The storyline was harmless and enjoyable but the unfamiliarity with English as it is spoken here jarred and meant I could not become lost in the narrative.

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Jarring narration

I am sure this could have been a great story, but the narration was emotionless and had some strange voice choices and accents. At t times it felt no preparation had been done for narration with incorrect pronunciation, gaps in text at inappropriate moments. Sorry but the jarring narration intruded badly.

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Really enjoyed this but the Americanisms are very jarring.

Really good story and I couldn’t stop listening to it. I really liked the characters and the narrator was excellent.

However, the constant use of Americanisms in a quintessentially English-based book was extremely jarring. I’m not sure if the writer has written it for an American audience or it’s just an oversight, but it really interrupted the flow of the story to an English ear.

Examples of this:

Ass instead of arse

Meatloaf

Elevator instead of lift

Thermos instead of flask

Check instead of tick

Couch instead of settee/sofa

Doozy - whatever that is!

Purse instead of bag

Blocks instead of buildings

Constant use of spot instead of place/space

Just absolutely littered with them and it puts me off starting the second book, if I’m honest, despite the excellent story.

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Easy listen

I enjoyed the plot and the narrative. Not something that keeps you guessing with plot twists, but a good easy listen.

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English proof reader required

If this book wasn’t for you, who do you think might enjoy it more?

I found the character in this book so naive and stupid it was beyond belief.
The narratives male voices need working on but otherwise she performed well.
I also think that if this book was proof read it should be done by an English person, not American, we do not travel by 'blocks' and certainly we did not in the pre war days, just one of the fopars made.

Would you ever listen to anything by Kate Parker again?

No

Did the narration match the pace of the story?

Narrator was good, just needs to work on male voices a bit more, but other wise very well done

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from Deadly Scandal?

All of them

Any additional comments?

Americans writing about period English people need to do more home work

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4 people found this helpful