LM

Nothing Happens to Dull Characters

Reviewed: 04-03-25

I have only an hour left and all that's happened is a milquetoast woman inherited a pub.

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Compelling mystery

Reviewed: 08-07-24

Well crafted, atmospheric mystery with great characters. I loved it! Took me a couple of chapters to really get into it, so stick with it. I would listen to this again.

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Good mystery needs editing

Reviewed: 01-12-24

Great story marred by repetitive, unnecessary chatter, a few errors, and bad narration. I lost the thread a few times because voices sounded too similar and the dialogue detracted from the story. Otherwise, I enjoyed it.

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Enjoyable Middle East caper with distracting error

Reviewed: 11-06-21

This is my favorite in the series so far -- an intriguing mystery with an even more intriguing setting and historical background. My only complaint is Heathcliff's repeated use of "I" instead of "me," a grammatical error no public school Englishman would make. Where are the editors? I'm willing to believe the author doesn't understand pronoun case, but surely one of the editors has a rudimentary grasp of grammar. It was unnecessarily distracting. Sloppy work.

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Wonderful performance

Reviewed: 11-06-21

Emilia Fox's skillful narration made this classic mystery even better than it is on the page. Great listen!

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1 person found this helpful

Boring and distasteful

Reviewed: 11-06-21

Even the amazing Richard Armitage couldn't make me listen past Chapter 8. Unsympathetic, unlikeable characters messing up their own lives drone painfully on. I couldn't stand listening to their musings and self recriminations/justifications long enough for any action to get underway after the preliminary murder. And the murderer's distorted voice was unpleasantly creepy -- not interestingly creepy. I tried skipping to the final chapter to hear the resolution but realized I didn't care enough even for that. Overall, very distasteful book I wish I could return.

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1 person found this helpful

Narration ruined it

Reviewed: 08-25-21

How hard could it be to have consistent volume?? Apparently impossible. Harriet Walter is an amazing actress, but not narrator; her reading is too low pitched and quiet, and her lisp seems more pronounced than usual. The other narrators are much louder, which makes for jarring transitions and the constant need to adjust the volume on my speakers. The male narrator is hard to understand and drops the ends of his words. The mystery has promise and the setting is intriguing; perhaps I'll read it to find out what happens. But this is one I'll be returning.

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4 people found this helpful

Horribly grim

Reviewed: 11-02-19

Well written but extremely dark story, and I guessed the murderer long before the end. You'd need to enjoy hearing about very sick, depraved killers to like this. Richard Armitage's narration is phenomenal, as always.

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Listen for the Narration!

Reviewed: 03-26-19

This is a light, pass-the-time-on-a-long-drive romance which feels abridged (might be). Sweet, occasionally funny, and basically inoffensive except for the vast amounts of money the characters waste on gambling and clothes, which is a bit hard to swallow even in fiction. However, Richard Armitage's narration elevates the story to a different plane. His gift for voices and expression infuse the characters with a charm and humor that they probably don't possess on the page.

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Grating Narration and Unrealistic Characters

Reviewed: 03-26-19

I've read and enjoyed several Betty Rowlands mysteries, but I couldn't even finish listening to this one. Melissa, the main character, is uncharacteristically feeble and a bit slow. Iris the next door neighbor is an irritating mix of bossy bohemian artist ("even the smell of meat will make me puke!") and neurotic, judgmental spinster (strippers who were assaulted "were asking for it" or "had it coming to them," yet she lusted after the married vicar -- goodness knows why). The mystery took many, many chapters to kick in and was so underwhelming that I lost track of it.

The worst part, however, was the narrator, whose reading was affected and overdone. My biggest peeve was that she over-pronounced her "sh" sounds to a jarring degree, so that "measure" sounded like "meaSHure," as though she were channeling Sean Connery. She also, weirdly, used high pitched voices for the men (though the screechiest voice was saved for Iris) and varied the volume so much that she went from almost a whisper to a shriek within the same conversation.

I don't know if the author simply took a few books to find her footing so the weak characters and plot in this one were aberrations, but the narrator is a deal breaker. No more for me.

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33 people found this helpful