Audio perfection

An absolutely excellent reading of an Agatha Christie mystery. Emilia Fox is superb at clear characterisation and the pace is spot on. The audio quality was consistent and clear throughout, with no noticible changes of pace or style.

I had not read this book before so the audio version was a delight, with Christie providing a 'subtle'plot. :-> Plenty of characters, some intersting locations and more red herrings than a Finish dinner party. Audio perfection!

7 persone l'hanno trovata utile

Enid Blyton for Adults!

Be ware this is one of Christie's early work and very unlike her more mature offerings.
Very 'boys' own' and Woosteresque with a bit of jolly hockey sticks thrown in.
I was going to give it two stars but the fantastic ending brought it up to three.
I won't be listening to Emelia Fox again, she just played up comedy aspects and it was irritating.

6 persone l'hanno trovata utile

Emilia Fox was excellent!

I had my doubts as to how well Emilia Fox would read this. But she was excellent.

The story was gripping and fun. She really made the characters come to life and added humour to those characters.

Very good.

6 persone l'hanno trovata utile

Dreadful narration

Story ok but awful awful narration , probably would've been better done by a male actor

5 persone l'hanno trovata utile

Not a good Christie story, and not well read!

Would you ever listen to anything by Agatha Christie again?

I have listened to nearly all the Agatha Christie books available onAudible, and this one is nothing like as interesting as most of the others - it seems more like a Famous Five mystery than a whodunnit for adults, and Emilia Fox's reading of it only exaggerates the feeling that you're listening to a very dated children's story.

Would you be willing to try another one of Emilia Fox’s performances?

I have heard other performances by Emilia Fox which are much better.

5 persone l'hanno trovata utile

Another car journey made interesting

I really enjoyed listening to this as I drove to and from my brother's house. It's a light hearted Agatha Christie with a strong female lead. I thought I knew who had done it, changed my mind, and then found out I was right all along. The very end was a bit of a surprise, though. It is read clearly and with expression

2 persone l'hanno trovata utile

Alarum clocks!

Good story, narration was poor. Emilia Fox's narrations always sound the same. as another reviewer suggests, perhaps a male narrator would have been better, as most of the characters are male.
what I found truly irritating was "alarum clocks"!

1 persona l'ha trovata utile

terrible narrator

Good story as always with Agatha Christie but the narration was terrible. I only stuck with it because I wanted to find out what happened.

1 persona l'ha trovata utile

excellent

thoroughly enjoyed the audio book. very similar to the film with lots more details added

1 persona l'ha trovata utile

Potboiler for the US market

Mildly entertaining story of intrigue amongst the idle class of Home Counties England just before the Depression, intended to appeal to US readers (Americanisms like “sidewalk”, “wire” would have been esoteric before broadcast media.)
I don’t find it in me to identify with anyone but Superintendent Battle- even he’s not at his best- perhaps I’m not meant to - I cannot understand a world in which it’s shameful to work, to be intelligent, to read, to drive safely, to earn a living, to have attended the “wrong school” or originate from anywhere outside those few English counties.
The best thing about Agatha Christie is that there’s no forensic detail to disturb sleep, no need to identify with characters all that much, it’s like playing “Cluedo”. Sometimes she wrote reasonable novels- this isn’t one.

1 persona l'ha trovata utile