Gaudy Night Audiobook By Dorothy L. Sayers cover art

Gaudy Night

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When Harriet Vane attends her Oxford reunion, known as the 'Gaudy', the prim academic setting is haunted by a rash of bizarre pranks: scrawled obscenities, burnt effigies and poison-pen letters - including one that says, 'Ask your boyfriend with the title if he likes arsenic in his soup.' Some of the notes threaten murder, and one of them involves a long Latin quotation, which makes Harriet suspect that the perpetrator is probably a member of the Senior Common Room. But which of the apparently rational, respectable dons could be committing such crazed acts?

When a desperate undergraduate, at her wits' end after receiving a series of particularly savage letters, attempts to drown herself, Harriet decides that it is time to ask Lord Peter Wimsey for help. And when the mystery is finally solved, she is faced with an agonising decision: should she, after five years of rejecting his proposals, finally agree to marry Lord Peter?

Also included on this release is a bonus interview with top crime novelists P. D. James and Jill Paton Walsh about Gaudy Night, conducted by Henny Fordham.

©2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd Classics
Excellent Acting • Interesting Twists • Enjoyable Performance • Clever Story • Good Dramatization
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Disappointing, despite Ian Carmichael! At only 2 hours and 19 mins, definitely not worth a credit!

Too short for 1 credit!

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This is short but packs quite a few interesting twists and is equal in quality to other Wimsey stories. I am glad I listened to it

Strong Clever Story

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I knew when I ordered this. The roles are handled by good actors, but they are speaking a radio script. I thought that I could appreciate an abbreviated version of my old favorite. I recognize that the original book is very long. But I was not able to enjoy this abridged version as much as I hoped. In some cases I missed scenes or events; in other cases I missed the wealth of detail about the setting.

A favorite book, but this is a radio play

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I felt like a play was happening inside my mind with all the sound effects and the many additional people speaking. This was so much fun to listen to!

Fantastic

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A major disappointment. I have read everything she wrote multiple times it was f
Difficult to dispose of.

Very good book; poorly presented.

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Very disappointing. I thought I was buying a narration of the book. As dramatizations go, it's well-done -- excellent acting, and it captures plot and principal characters well. Some secondary characters are quite difficult to distinguish. It loses a very great deal by discarding Sayers' excellent prose. There is little left of literary merit, in my opinion. If you want dumbed-down Sayers, this is for you.

Dramatisation, not Narration

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This is so choppy it’s hard to follow. It’s often very difficult to know which character is speaking. I much prefer the unabridged reading of the novel, which I thought was what I was buying. I should have read the details better than I did. I like the original story, so I gave this 4 stars. But this abridged “dramatization” isn’t remotely as good.

Very much abridged! So disappointing.

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Not only is it abridged, some of the best parts are taken out, and they've just.... changed it. I'm really upset and disappointed. DO NOT BUY THIS.

Abridged: DOES NOT TELL YOU ON THE BLURB

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This is not the book, this is a play. Well done but not the book. I should have known because it is so short. I see now that there are other dramatisations like this from this series, but they are presumably not the book itself.

Totally agree with the prior reviewer

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I'm extremely disappointed in myself for not looking at the reviews and assuming that this story would be a narration of Dorothy Sayers' entire novel. This is NOT the book but rather a significantly abridged dramatization. So typical of modern humanity where many folk only have sound bite attention spans, making these dramatizations profitable.

Dramatization, Abridged

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