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  • A Man Lay Dead

  • By: Ngaio Marsh
  • Narrated by: Philip Franks
  • Length: 5 hrs and 18 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (342 ratings)
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A Man Lay Dead cover art

A Man Lay Dead

By: Ngaio Marsh
Narrated by: Philip Franks
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Summary

Wealthy Sir Hubert Handesley's original and lively weekend house parties are deservedly famous. To amuse his guests, he has devised a new form of the fashionable Murder Game, in which a guest is secretly selected to commit a 'murder' in the dark, and everyone assembles to solve the crime. But when the lights go up this time, there is a real corpse....

©1934 Ngaio Marsh (P)2015 Hachette Audio

What listeners say about A Man Lay Dead

Average customer ratings
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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

excellent as always

wonderful narration, excellent story. What more could you want from old school classic detection fiction.

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16 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Entertaining Characters!

Philip Franks is brilliant as the narrator & the Russian/Polish side story was really entertaining. Loved it.

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

A classic!

Good plot on the whole. Well read and entertaining. Ending is ridiculous and implausible. But still for all that a good easy listen up to that point. Writen in the Agatha Christie country house murder mystery style.

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Enjoyed narration but slow to get going

Edited from a review given when I was in danger of giving up on this book and I am now glad I didn't!

Having noticed that these stories have been televised and being a lover of murder mysteries, I expected to really love this book. I like Agatha Christie and cosy Murder mystery type books very much. But unfortunately I didn’t enjoy this to begin with. I doubted I would finish it as I found myself choosing other books before this one and only listening if I have nothing else available. I feel it lacked pace, lacked any engaging plot, felt dated and the characters were not likeable at all.

On the positive side, I enjoyed the narrator, his accents, his pace, different voices and felt he brought the story to life. I have seen him on television doing totally different characters which he does well here and his voice was lovely to listen to.

However, I didn’t really like any of the characters enough to really engage with them or care if any of them were the murderer, or even murdered. The victim seemed to be the most interesting person there so I was sorry he was dispatched quite early!! I thought the story would align with another character having started with him, but he seemed sidelined when Detective Alleyn arrived.

It might be that it is inevitably dated (originally published in 1934) and a pinch of salt is needed, like any book of it’s time. But I found at least three of the women to be extremely annoying, simpering, fainting or nagging at their husbands. The upstairs/downstairs nature of the household feels cliche although I understand that it may well be that the cliche has formed since this was first written!

I liked Inspector Alleyn but until around 4/5 of the way through, he kept everything to himself. He came across as cold and prevented me as a reader in engaging in the mystery myself. I felt he lacked a second in command, like Poirot’s Hastings or Sherlock’s Watson which would give us an opportunity to hear what he is thinking. His investigation took a very methodical approach that you would expect from the police but I found it quite dull. And then with around a fifth of the book left, he took two characters into his confidence, the action moved to a different place and warm humour suddenly made an appearance. It was a bit like meeting a teacher outside of school, suddenly seeing more of his real character. I wish there had been a little more of that earlier in the book as it would have endeared me to him sooner. I am suddenly interested in who did it and would consider another in the series.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Surprising A good listen

This is my first Ngaio Marsh listen, it will not be my last Phillip Franks was an excellent Narrator.
The story kept me listening with all its twisted and turns. Written with wit as well as a who done it. A good listen.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Alleyn catches his man!

I loved it, and it had me guessing right until the big reveal l! Phillip Franks did a wonderful job narrating, I could imagine all of the parts with ease. It was thoroughly enjoyable!

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

A truly brilliant narration by Philip Franks

For 20ties 30ties escapist comfort reading you can't beat Ngaio Marsh. They are well written and there is much in the attitudes of the main characters to help overcome any squeamishness at the inequality and snobbery of the background.

Philips Franks is one of the few truly brilliant narrators. Wonderful at all the voices and accents, and he is able to make the female characters sound female and not like a man being camp.. I wish he'd narrated more of the early Marsh's.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Enjoyable

Kind of old school detectives, but I do very much like it and would read another.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Enjoyable light listening

Not her best story, but entertaining none the less. Excellent narration and presentation, easy listening.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Good story well read

Great narrator and pleasing presentation of a Ngaio Marsh classic. The Russian sub plot doesn’t really add anything but all very enjoyable

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