The Norfolk Mysteries cover art

The Norfolk Mysteries

County Guides to Murder, Book 1

Preview

£0.00 for first 30 days

Try for £0.00
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.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

The Norfolk Mysteries

By: Ian Sansom
Narrated by: Mike Grady
Try for £0.00

£7.99/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
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 first book in The County Guides to Murder Series.

The County Guides to Murder are a series of detective novels set in 1930s England.

The books are an odyssey through England and its history.

In each county, the protagonists – Stephen Sefton, a veteran of the Spanish Civil War, and his employer, the People's Professor, Swanton Morley – solve a murder.

The first book is set in Norfolk. The murder is in the vicarage.

There are 39 books – and 39 murders – to follow.

©2013 Ian Sansom (P)2013 HarperCollins Publishers Limited
Crime Thrillers Fiction Historical Military Mystery War & Military Thriller War Suspense
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Listeners also enjoyed...

The Wintringham Mystery cover art
Detective Tom Janssen Hidden Norfolk, Books 1-3 cover art
A Man Lay Dead cover art
The Blitz Detective cover art
Sherlock Holmes and the Seven Deadly Sins Murders cover art
The Late Breakfasters cover art
The Real Life of Sebastian Knight cover art
The Belting Inheritance cover art
Trouble in Nuala cover art
The Mysterious Affair at Styles cover art
Murder at Hawthorn Cottage cover art
The Crime at Black Dudley cover art

Critic reviews

‘A delightful, idiosyncratic mystery set in the Thirties … There is a touch of Sherlock Holmes and a dash of Lord Peter Wimsey, but the total is put together with a charm that is teasingly precious … Beautifully crafted by Sansom, Professor Morely promises to become a little gem of English crime writing; sample him now’ Daily Mail

‘Sansom is both celebrating and sending up the golden age of detective novels when, in the 1930s, Dorothy L Sayers and Agatha Christie were the queens of crime … A brilliant first outing that leaves you looking forward to the next maniacal mystery tour’ Mark Sanderson, Evening Standard

What listeners say about The Norfolk Mysteries

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 3.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    25
  • 4 Stars
    21
  • 3 Stars
    20
  • 2 Stars
    11
  • 1 Stars
    1
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    36
  • 4 Stars
    18
  • 3 Stars
    15
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    1
Story
  • 3.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    16
  • 4 Stars
    24
  • 3 Stars
    20
  • 2 Stars
    7
  • 1 Stars
    4

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Completely Unexpected

Would you listen to The Norfolk Mysteries again? Why?

I will definitely listen again, to work out how the book seemed to be over before it really started when I listened the first time. The 8 or so hours of reading seemed to all happen at the same pace so the ending wasn't climactic or anticlimactic as it was all the same level.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Norfolk Mysteries?

The sex scene. I was expecting a cosy mystery!

What does Mike Grady bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?

I don't know because I haven't read the book.

Any additional comments?

I decided to try this on a whim and because a 'murder in a vicarage' and the cover made it appear as if it would be a bit Agatha Christie like. Instead the murder was in the church and the book started with a lot of the main character's back history and it was all quite modern and realistic. Not at all a cosy mystery.Good, but not what I was after.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A change!

I enjoyed this book, full of period detail. not the sort of book I usually go for and it made a nice change.
I liked the characters, the story was a little long but gentle and amusing in places.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Good setting awful character

Love the setting, story wasn’t great, the 2nd character is very annoying, hung on to the end but if it hadn’t been set in Norfolk I wouldn’t have made it past halfway

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Performanc distracting found this listen hard work

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

to read yes, this audio presentation no.

What did you like best about this story?

the main story well crafted mystery

Did the narration match the pace of the story?

the narration was distracting embellishing an over worked caricature and the accents were distracting with caricatures merging

Could you see The Norfolk Mysteries being made into a movie or a TV series? Who would the stars be?

Sylester Mc Coy

Any additional comments?

The main Caricature of the the professor was over worked to be insentric, this is the first book so would try the next to see if the author steeled in to his creation. The performance on the other hand was a distraction.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

So irritating

An excellent audio-narration but the characters are so irritating. Yes, Morley is expected to get on our nerves, which might be a smart literary device, but gets very wearing. WIll try the second volume, but more in hope than expectation. Don't expect a standard whodunnit.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

I rather enjoyed it!

I can appreciate this won’t be for everyone but I loved it! A strange mix of history, crime and local gossip this is a hard book to categorise, it’s best just to enjoy it for the experience.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A most unusual story

A story that keeps you listening and an unusual central character. The narrator was expressive and captured characters perfectly.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

An Irritating Main Character

The story was very well narrated but I found the plot a bit thin and the main character (Swanton Morley) very irritating. I made it to the end and if you like a good old fashioned mystery this might appeal.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Dreadful

I've never returned a book before but I did for this one. Narrator is fine but 6 chapters I and nothing as happened, all the characters ate awful, annoying people who I was hoping would all get murdered. As that was unlikely to happen, I just retuned it

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful