A good narrator makes a huge difference

Having being disappointed with the first book, mainly by the poor performance of the narrator, I gave this one a chance because I have listened to other books read by James Saxon and found him really good. He certainly did a good job here. He brings out Alleyns character really well, from being slightly pompous, to having a sarcastic -if slightly off putting to his peers- sense of humour and wonderfully tetchy. The author has improved on his characteristics from the first book, and you learn more about his methods. Nigel is in the story again and comes across as an excited puppy please to see it's owner. I'm not quite sure why they are friends after the first book, and it isn't really explored here.
The plot is quite clever and fits the time it is set in really well. The actors are portrayed as luvvies and the narrator seems to have a lot of fun in showing that. Some of the characters merge a bit which is a shame. I think perhaps there was just one or two more people than needed. It's paced reasonably well, although there are parts where I wanted to say "just get on with it". If you are a fan of old school detective stories ( poirot, marple, wimsey, temple etc) then this will be a good fit for you. That said, being a fan, it's easy to work out in this story who done it!. Will probably listen to more, but not those who have the same narrator as the first book. As they are separate stories, that won't be an issue.

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entertaining old school who dun it!

Early Inspector Alleyn story . very entertaining with a simple story that has enough twists and turns to keep you engaged. The narrator had a fantastic range of voices . Highly recommended.

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Gave up

Listened untill chapter 9.Didnt really enjoy the story, made worse by the dreadful narrator

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1 person found this helpful

Good Listen

Evocative of the time it was written. I enjoyed this book. Narration did slip with character voices occasionally but still good overall.

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Very enjoyable golden age crime novel

I really enjoyed this novel, it was an interesting murder to solve and I actually laughed out loud at some of the funnier bits. Overall a very good fun listen 😁

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Bad narrator

The story is good but if there were a Philip franks version we would prefer it the current narrator (James Saxon) is not good

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Great story but poor narration

I love the Ngaio Marsh books hence the 3 stars, but I am struggling with the narrator as his voice goes through so many hammy accents (at times for the same character) . Particularly poor are most female parts who are almost pantomime performances.

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4 people found this helpful

Very hammy!

The love scenes were excruciating and Alleyn calls his mates "old sausage". It hasn't aged well and neither is it classy. This was the first Alleyn book I have listened to, and it will be the last b

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1 person found this helpful

A great mystery

This is a real bonus for anyone who likes a whodunnit. The story is very well written and the narrator does a first class job.

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6 people found this helpful

I had to get the printed book

The story is promising. It really reminds me of one of Poirot's adventures but that is not a problem and I will edit this review once I finish reading the book.

Unfortunately, the narrator seems to have chosen one single tone of voice for Alleyn: most of his lines are spoken in a jaded sigh. This is producing two effects:

1) as Mr. Saxon also delivers the lines of the many posh suspects and fancy actors in sighs AND sighs as he reads the text in between - is he bored? - I could no longer guess who was speaking and when the dialogue was over. During the interrogation scenes, Alleyn, Nigel, Miss Vaughan, Mr. Saint and Mr. Gardener all sounded the same at times.

2) Alleyn comes off as a detached, offhanded snob, uninterested and contemptuous as he delivers latin quotes, except for a few bouts of manic excitement à la Sherlock Holmes, when he verges on crudeness.

I am new to Ngaio Marsh's mysteries and I would like a chance to enjoy getting to know her detective. Maybe he is as Mr. Saxon portrays him and then, I guess I will not read many more of his adventures. But the first volume was narrated quite differently and I liked that version of Alleyn.

Anyway, I will try to read the printed book with Mr. Saxon's voice in the background. Maybe if I can follow the dialogues, it will be less aggravating. But most likely, I will just read this one on paper and hope that Mr. Saxon gets better at making different lively voices instead of the pretentious monotone that dominates here.

It is too bad: if I understand correctly, every other book is narrated by the first narrator who was great, and Mr. Saxon does the rest. I look forward to hearing the former once again, and I also wish the latter the best and hope I will have a better time with his next narration of Detective Alleyn's investigations.

Right now, it's not all that.

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