Murder as a Fine Art Audiobook By Carol Carnac cover art

Murder as a Fine Art

 Preview
LIMITED TIME OFFER

3 months free
Try for $0.00
Offer ends July 31, 2025 at 11:59PM PT.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 3 months. Cancel anytime.

Murder as a Fine Art

By: Carol Carnac
Narrated by: Mark Meadows
Try for $0.00

$0.00/mo. after 3 months. Offer ends July 31, 2025 at 11:59PM PT. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $28.46

Buy for $28.46

Confirm purchase
Pay using card ending in
Switch payment method
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use, License, and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.
Cancel

When a civil servant at the newly formed Ministry of Fine Arts is found crushed beneath a monstrous marble bust after dark, it appears to be the third instance in a string of fatal accidents at the department.

Already disturbed by rumours of forgeries and irregularities in the Ministry’s dealings, Minister Humphry David is soon faced with the possibility that among his colleagues is a murderer – though how the bust could have been made an instrument of death is a masterstroke of criminal devilment.

Taking charge of the case, Inspector Julian Rivers of Scotland Yard enters a caustic world of fine art and civil service grievances to unveil a killer hiding in plain sight.

©1953 The Estate of Carol Carnac (P)2025 Soundings Crime Crime Fiction Mystery Traditional Detectives
All stars
Most relevant  
I am a fan of ECR Lorac aka Carol Carnac. Julian Rivers is not your MacDonald, however I do like them both. This one was a good read and I thoroughly enjoyed Mark Meadows as narrator.

I’m a fan of ECR Lorac

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Under any name, I love her novels. ECR Lorac is such a talented writer. Narrator was good, too.

Great author

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I very much enjoy Carol Carnac but this story was not as entertaining as others. Mark Meadows saved the book for me. I liked the back and forth banter regarding modern art vs traditional art, seems like we have the same discussions today. The problem was the characters lacked dimension, I don't recommend this if you are not interested in classic mystery, if you are it is worth a credit.

If you like Carol Carnac you will enjoy this book

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I liked the whole setting and its premise. I liked the author’s attempt to imagine the clash between the bureaucratic and the avant garde of any era. Oddly, she seems to grant that traditional art is something the civil servant might comprehend or manage while the modern is not. One must remember that this was written just after WWII. Our notions of what art is and its role in society have expanded vastly…at least until recent months (2025). It is timely to read a book that questions whether a bureaucracy can manage, showcase, or process information if that bureaucracy is unaware of the significance or meaning of that information? Carnac was herself an artist. We know nothing of her work, though. She discusses modernism very simplistically, her plot is rather contrived, depending greatly on amazing intuition, and the time frame is totally improbable, but for reasons apart from all of that, it’s a great book.

Fascinating at many levels!

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