The Talented Mr. Varg
A Detective Varg Novel, Book 2
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Narrated by:
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David Rintoul
About this listen
In the second installment in the best-selling Detective Varg Novels, Ulf and his team investigate a notorious lothario - a wolf of a man whose bad reputation may, much to his chagrin, be all bark and no bite.
The Department of Sensitive Crimes, renowned for taking on the most obscure and irrelevant cases, led by Ulf Varg, their best detective, is always prepared to take on an investigation, no matter how complex. So when Ulf is approached by the girlfriend of Trig Oloffson, who claims her beau (the infamous bad boy of Swedish letters) is being blackmailed, Ulf is determined to help. It turns out that this wild bear of a man may be more of a teddy. And while Swedes are notoriously tolerant, finding out that their beloved rough-and-tumble ink slinger is more likely to use a pen than a sword...well, there are limits. Even for the Swedish.
The case requires all of Ulf's concentration, but he finds himself distracted by his brother's questionable politics and meteoric rise within the Moderate Extremist Party and by his own constant attraction to his married co-worker Anna. When Ulf is then tasked with looking into a group of dealers exporting wolves that seem decidedly domestic, it will require all of his team's investigative instincts and dogged persistence to put these matters to bed.
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- Unabridged
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The first audiobook which appeared in Georges Simenon's famous Maigret series, in a gripping new translation by David Bellos.Inevitably Maigret was a hostile presence in the Majestic. He constituted a kind of foreign body that the hotel's atmosphere could not assimilate. Not that he looked like a cartoon policeman. He didn't have a moustache and he didn't wear heavy boots. His clothes were well cut and made of fairly light worsted. He shaved every day and looked after his hands. But his frame was proletarian. He was a big, bony man.
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Long live Maigret
- By Adeliese Baumann on 11-19-14
By: Georges Simenon, and others
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Standing by the Wall
- The Collected Slough House Novellas
- By: Mick Herron
- Narrated by: Gerard Doyle
- Length: 8 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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Espionage. Blackmail. Revenge. Cunning. Slapstick. State secrets dating back to the fall of the Berlin Wall. All this and more in a tight package of five novellas by Mick Herron, CWA Gold Dagger-winning author of Slow Horses.
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More Please
- By Katy on 01-27-23
By: Mick Herron
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The Cracked Spine
- Scottish Bookshop Mystery, Book 1
- By: Paige Shelton
- Narrated by: Carrington MacDuffie
- Length: 7 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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In need of a good adventure, Delaney Nichols takes the leap and moves to Edinburgh, Scotland, to start a job at The Cracked Spine. She doesn't know much about what she's gotten herself into other than that the work sounds exciting and that her new boss, Edwin MacAlister, has given her the opportunity of a lifetime.
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A bit unbelievable
- By Beatrice on 04-01-16
By: Paige Shelton
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What listeners say about The Talented Mr. Varg
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- S. Cremona
- 12-19-21
Another Entertaining Adventure
“The Talented Mr. Varg” from Alexander McCall Smith’s “The Department of Sensitive Crimes” is another well written and entertaining adventure in people with a “good feel” under current. As I continue to read books from Alexander McCall Smith I continue to grow in a liking and comfort with the stories and characters. Very enjoyable entertainment and now I am on to reading “The Man in the Silver Saab” another “Department of Sensitive Crimes” adventure. The narrator, David Rintoul did a great job! Experienced as an Audio book.
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- GW
- 08-10-21
Brilliant story and beautiful narration
Absolutely engaging and hilarious book by Alexander McCall Smith., with a brilliant cast of characters! David Rintoul is our favorite reader. Such a beautiful voice and we are always a captive audience to his narrations!
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1 person found this helpful
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- A. Bohn
- 08-02-20
Another supiorley charming series from AMcS
I almost always give Alexander McCall Smith 5 star ratings. He's so charming and feel-good, but with intelligence. No, it's true he doesn't ascribe to any high literary dictates in his series books, but those are his books that I absolutely love.
Although I liked the first Detective Varg book, it got off to a slow start. (I don't remember, but it's possible I only gave it four stars!) This second full novel in the series was easier to warm up to and I enjoyed it immensely.
In this book, the honorable Detective Varg is shown to be lightly flawed, human--and we still want the very best for him in his mostly methodical and gentle life. But we hope he doesn't get all he wants at once because we wouldn't want his human successes to jump the boundaries of verisimilitude--or the novels to end.
McCall Smith paces the story with daubs of curry, perfectly spaced amongst the satisfyingly filling basmati, such that we are willing to read at the pace of Detective Varg's life (which at this time of self-isolation, is likely to be progressing at a rate far more exciting than our own lives). We read lightly and savor the delightfully pungent, often humorous situations that periodically arise from the characters' very human choices and misperceptions.
Good job A. McCall Smith! Please sir, may we have some more?
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3 people found this helpful
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- GS
- 12-15-23
Mr Varg
I'm new to this series and am enjoying it very much. Like books that make me laugh out loud!
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1 person found this helpful
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- Frank King
- 09-09-23
Fun interesting character
Loved the book.it hooks you. A little bit different from his other series . Perfect description of refined detective
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