Listen free for 30 days
-
Brat Farrar
- Narrated by: Carole Boyd
- Length: 7 hrs and 55 mins
- Categories: Mystery, Thriller & Suspense, Mystery
People who bought this also bought...
-
The Franchise Affair
- By: Josephine Tey
- Narrated by: Carole Boyd
- Length: 8 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Marion Sharpe and her mother seem an unlikely duo to be found on the wrong side of the law. Quiet and ordinary, they have led a peaceful and unremarkable life at their country home, The Franchise. Unremarkable that is, until the police turn up with a demure young woman on their doorstep.Not only does Betty Kane accuse them of kidnap and abuse, she can back up her claim with a detailed description of the attic room in which she was kept, right down to the crack in its round window.
-
-
Well-paced and intriguing
- By Knucklebones on 23-07-11
-
An Expert In Murder: Josephine Tey Series, Book 1
- By: Nicola Upson
- Narrated by: Sandra Duncan
- Length: 10 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It's March 1934, and Josephine Tey is travelling from Scotland to London to celebrate what should be the triumphant final week of her celebrated play, Richard of Bordeaux. However, a seemingly senseless murder puts her reputation, and even her life, under threat.
-
-
Superb!
- By Karen on 17-01-09
-
Grey Mask
- The Miss Silver Mysteries
- By: Patricia Wentworth
- Narrated by: Diana Bishop
- Length: 7 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The first of the classic mysteries featuring governess-turned-detective Miss Silver, who investigates a deadly conspiratorial ring. Charles Moray has come home to England to collect his inheritance. After four years wandering the jungles of India and South America, the hardy young man returns to the manor of his birth, where generations of Morays have lived and died. Strangely, he finds the house unlocked, and sees a light on in one of its abandoned rooms. Eavesdropping, he learns of a conspiracy to commit a fearsome crime.
-
-
Very good - get the lot!
- By Dru on 21-12-14
-
A Man Lay Dead
- By: Ngaio Marsh
- Narrated by: Philip Franks
- Length: 5 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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....
-
-
excellent as always
- By Michelle C on 05-04-17
-
The Canning Town Murder
- By: Mike Hollow
- Narrated by: Simon Mattacks
- Length: 8 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
September 1940. As the Blitz takes its nightly toll on London and Hitler prepares his invasion fleet just across the Channel in occupied France, Britain is full of talk about enemy agents. Suspicion is at an all-time high, and no one is sure who can be trusted. In Canning Town, rescue workers are unsettled when they return to a damaged street and discover a body that shouldn’t be there. When closer examination of the corpse reveals death by strangling, Detective Inspector John Jago is called upon to investigate.
-
-
Refreshingly Great
- By Mrs F J Stillgoe on 26-01-21
-
The Rendezvous and Other Stories
- By: Daphne du Maurier
- Narrated by: Edward De Souza
- Length: 9 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Each story in The Rendezvous and Other Stories by Daphne du Maurier explores a different human emotion. Narrated by Edward de Souza, this Audible Exclusive has something that will appeal to any mood....
-
-
Lost for words..."the best production I have ever listened to"
- By CaWa on 16-10-15
-
The Franchise Affair
- By: Josephine Tey
- Narrated by: Carole Boyd
- Length: 8 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Marion Sharpe and her mother seem an unlikely duo to be found on the wrong side of the law. Quiet and ordinary, they have led a peaceful and unremarkable life at their country home, The Franchise. Unremarkable that is, until the police turn up with a demure young woman on their doorstep.Not only does Betty Kane accuse them of kidnap and abuse, she can back up her claim with a detailed description of the attic room in which she was kept, right down to the crack in its round window.
-
-
Well-paced and intriguing
- By Knucklebones on 23-07-11
-
An Expert In Murder: Josephine Tey Series, Book 1
- By: Nicola Upson
- Narrated by: Sandra Duncan
- Length: 10 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It's March 1934, and Josephine Tey is travelling from Scotland to London to celebrate what should be the triumphant final week of her celebrated play, Richard of Bordeaux. However, a seemingly senseless murder puts her reputation, and even her life, under threat.
-
-
Superb!
- By Karen on 17-01-09
-
Grey Mask
- The Miss Silver Mysteries
- By: Patricia Wentworth
- Narrated by: Diana Bishop
- Length: 7 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The first of the classic mysteries featuring governess-turned-detective Miss Silver, who investigates a deadly conspiratorial ring. Charles Moray has come home to England to collect his inheritance. After four years wandering the jungles of India and South America, the hardy young man returns to the manor of his birth, where generations of Morays have lived and died. Strangely, he finds the house unlocked, and sees a light on in one of its abandoned rooms. Eavesdropping, he learns of a conspiracy to commit a fearsome crime.
-
-
Very good - get the lot!
- By Dru on 21-12-14
-
A Man Lay Dead
- By: Ngaio Marsh
- Narrated by: Philip Franks
- Length: 5 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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....
-
-
excellent as always
- By Michelle C on 05-04-17
-
The Canning Town Murder
- By: Mike Hollow
- Narrated by: Simon Mattacks
- Length: 8 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
September 1940. As the Blitz takes its nightly toll on London and Hitler prepares his invasion fleet just across the Channel in occupied France, Britain is full of talk about enemy agents. Suspicion is at an all-time high, and no one is sure who can be trusted. In Canning Town, rescue workers are unsettled when they return to a damaged street and discover a body that shouldn’t be there. When closer examination of the corpse reveals death by strangling, Detective Inspector John Jago is called upon to investigate.
-
-
Refreshingly Great
- By Mrs F J Stillgoe on 26-01-21
-
The Rendezvous and Other Stories
- By: Daphne du Maurier
- Narrated by: Edward De Souza
- Length: 9 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Each story in The Rendezvous and Other Stories by Daphne du Maurier explores a different human emotion. Narrated by Edward de Souza, this Audible Exclusive has something that will appeal to any mood....
-
-
Lost for words..."the best production I have ever listened to"
- By CaWa on 16-10-15
-
The Crime at Black Dudley
- An Albert Campion Mystery
- By: Margery Allingham
- Narrated by: David Thorpe
- Length: 7 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When George Abbershaw is invited to Black Dudley Manor for the weekend, he has only one thing on his mind - proposing to Meggie Oliphant. Unfortunately for George, things don't quite go according to plan. A harmless game turns decidedly deadly and suspicions of murder take precedence over matrimony. Trapped in a remote country house with a murderer, George can see no way out. But Albert Campion can.
-
-
Campion's first appearance...
- By FictionFan on 27-01-17
-
The Scapegoat
- By: Daphne du Maurier
- Narrated by: Paul Shelley
- Length: 13 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Daphne du Maurier's The Scapegoat is a classic tale of stolen identity. As dark as it is witty, it introduces listeners to the gloomy and despondent character of John the Englishman. When by chance, John comes face to face with his French doppelgänger, Jean, his bewilderment is quickly replaced with envy. Realising that Jean is in possession of everything he lacks but has always desired, he assumes the identity of his look-a-like, leaving his old, tedious life behind.
-
-
Brilliant and gripping
- By Cat on 09-05-16
-
The Making of a Marchioness
- By: Frances Hodgson-Burnett
- Narrated by: Lucy Scott
- Length: 8 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Frances Hodgson Burnett published The Making of a Marchioness in 1901. She had written Little Lord Fauntleroy 15 years before and would write The Secret Garden in 10 years' time; it is these two books for which she is best known. Yet Marchioness was one of Nancy Mitford's favourite books, was considered 'the best novel Mrs Hodgson Burnett wrote' by Marghanita Laski, and is taught on a university course in America together with novels such as Pride and Prejudice, Jane Eyre, and Daisy Miller.
-
-
A demonstration of Edwardian Manners
- By Laurence on 29-10-11
-
A Dark-Adapted Eye
- By: Barbara Vine
- Narrated by: Harriet Walter
- Length: 11 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Like most families, they had their secrets...and they hid them under a genteelly respectable veneer. No onlooker would guess that prim Vera Hillyard and her beautiful, adored younger sister, Eden, were locked in a dark and bitter combat over one of those secrets. England in the '50s was not kind to women who erred, so they had to use every means necessary to keep the truth hidden behind closed doors - even murder.
-
-
Compelling exposure of a family’s secrets
- By Kirstine on 06-07-15
-
The Riddle Of The Sands
- By: Erskine Childers
- Narrated by: Anton Lesser
- Length: 10 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Riddle of the Sands is set during the long suspicious years leading up to the First World War and is a classic of spy fiction.
-
-
Great writing, great narration, great fun
- By Barry on 13-04-13
-
Crossed Skis
- By: Carol Carnac
- Narrated by: David Thorpe
- Length: 7 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Bloomsbury, London, Inspector Brook of Scotland Yard looks down at a dismal scene. The victim of a ruthless murder lies burnt beyond recognition, his possessions and papers destroyed by fire. But there is one strange, yet promising, lead - a lead which suggests the involvement of a skier. Meanwhile, piercing sunshine beams down on the sparkling snow of the Austrian Alps, where a merry group of holidaymakers are heading towards Lech am Arlberg.
-
-
Terrible narrator.
- By Aurora on 26-01-21
-
The Body on the Beach
- By: Simon Brett
- Narrated by: Simon Brett
- Length: 7 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Very little disturbs the ordered calm of Fethering, a pleasingly self-contained retirement town on England's southern coast. Which is precisely why Carole Seddon, who has outlived both her husband and her career at the Home Office, has chosen to reside there. So the last thing Carole expects to encounter in Fethering is a new neighbour with but one name and an obviously colourful past.
-
-
A great read
- By Ms on 15-05-19
-
Masked Ball at Broxley Manor
- A Royal Spyness Novella
- By: Rhys Bowen
- Narrated by: Katherine Kellgren
- Length: 1 hr and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At the end of her first unsuccessful season out in society, Lady Georgiana has all but given up on attracting a suitable man - until she receives an invitation to a masked Halloween ball at Broxley Manor. Georgie is uncertain why she was invited, until she learns that the royal family intends to marry her off to a foreign prince, one reputed to be mad.
-
-
Only wish that it lasted longer...
- By Majsan on 29-01-15
-
Rebecca's Tale
- By: Sally Beauman
- Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson, Robert Powell
- Length: 18 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
April 1951. It is twenty years since the death of Rebecca, the beautiful first wife of Maxim de Winter. It is twenty years since the inquest, which famously - and controversially - passed a verdict of suicide. Twenty years since Manderley, the de Winters' ancient family seat, was razed to the ground. But Rebecca's tale is just beginning... This is Sally Beauman's companion to Daphne du Maurier's classic tale, Rebecca.
-
-
Excellent sequel to Rebecca
- By Chickie747 on 26-08-15
-
Caught in the Light
- By: Robert Goddard
- Narrated by: Michael Kitchen
- Length: 11 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On assignment in Vienna, photographer Ian Jarrett falls suddenly and desperately in love with a woman he meets by pure chance, Marian Esguard. Back in England, he separates from his wife and goes to meet Marian at an agreed rendezvous, only to hear her tell him on the telephone that she will not, after all, be coming. Then she vanishes from his life as mysteriously as she entered it. Who and where is the woman he met and fell in love with in Vienna?
-
-
Intriguing and engaging
- By P. Miller on 23-12-12
-
Buddenbrooks
- The Decline of a Family
- By: Thomas Mann
- Narrated by: David Rintoul
- Length: 26 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
First published in 1900, when Thomas Mann was 25, Buddenbrooks is a minutely imagined chronicle of four generations of a North German mercantile family - a work so true to life that it scandalized the author’s former neighbours in his native Lübeck.
-
-
Five Star
- By Hugh M. Clarke on 01-04-17
-
The Spoilt Kill
- By: Mary Kelly
- Narrated by: David Thorpe
- Length: 8 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
1950s Staffordshire. Within the clay tanks at the pottery company Shentall's, a body has been found. Amid cries of industrial espionage and sabotage of this leader of the pottery industry, there is a case of bitter murder to solve for Inspector Hedley Nicholson. Kelly's mystery won the CWA Gold Dagger Award in 1961 for its impeccable sense of place and detail, and for the emotional weight of its central crime. The novel is part of a shift from the cosiness of crime novels before to mysteries characterised by their psychological interest and affecting realism. An influential classic.
-
-
Not what I expected
- By Sonjia on 03-01-21
Summary
A stranger enters the inner sanctum of the Ashby family posing as Patrick Ashby, the heir to the family’s sizeable fortune. The stranger, Brat Farrar, has been carefully coached on Patrick’s mannerisms, appearance and every significant detail of Patrick’s early life, up to his 13th year when he disappeared and was thought to have drowned himself. It seems as if Brat is going to pull off this most incredible deception until old secrets emerge that threaten to jeopardise the imposter’s plan and his very life.
More from the same
What listeners say about Brat Farrar
Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Seagull
- 04-02-15
Couldn't stop listening
At last! What a joy to find the real Josephine Tey books on Audible. And Bratt Farrar is one of her best. In theory, one ought to thoroughly dislike a young man who sets out to deceive, but Bratt is such a sympathetic character that the listener can't help but be drawn into his story, and that of the family who welcome him 'home'. Even though I had read the book and knew the outcome, it was a real pleasure to hear it read aloud, and Carole Boyd makes an excellent job of it. Please, Audible, do let's have all of Josephine Tey's books made available.
18 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Barbara
- 16-04-17
The dishes will have to wait
Any additional comments?
Do you remember the last summer you were a "kid", before you became supposedly a grown up, when you felt as though you were on the verge of your life really beginning? That's the feeling this book evokes. A young man, torn between undreamed-of opportunity and a moral awakening is at such a turning point in his life in this wonderful old-fashioned adventure story. It has everything such a story should contain and more besides: a morally ambiguous hero, painfully establishing his own values in extraordinary circumstances, a fearless heroine, a villain hiding in plain sight, a kindly family lawyer, little sisters providing comic relief, an angry killer, a kindly mother figure whose integrity discomforts the hero more than any threat or attack could. "How on earth" you find yourself asking, "is this possibly going to be sorted out?" And you find yourself really caring. Dishes are left unwashed, housework undone, you are late in to work because you have to sit in the car those few extra minutes just to get to the end of the chapter. Read this book and make your excuses.
9 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Jill Besterman
- 14-11-16
A favourite book, beautifully read
Any additional comments?
I have loved this book since I first read it in my teens and that was a long time ago! I was delighted to find this audio version, read by the excellent Carole Boyd. My pleasure in following the ramifications in the Ashby family when their nephew/brother, thought to have killed himself when young, turns up again just before he is due to come into his inheritance was undimmed.
8 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Sarah Gamp
- 13-08-18
Great old fashioned yarn
I know I’m biased as I love anything by Josephine Tey and Brat Farrar certainly doesn’t disappoint. This book is a real treat.
4 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Cawley
- 18-11-17
One of my favourite stories
Great story, especially if you enjoy horses, a nostalgic era and the countryside, a truly English story. Excellent narration. Thoroughly recommended.
4 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- stellenbosch
- 13-07-20
Guessed
Great story but found it too easy to guess. Probably because I’m used to modern crime novels’ twists.
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
- Somerset Anne
- 09-05-19
One of my all time favourite novels
An excellent story beautifully written. It bears re-reading time and time again. Josephine Tey was a master.
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Katharine
- 08-02-19
Intriguing mystery
Really strong audio version of a favourite book. The narrator was excellent and really brought the characters to life.
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Mr Chops
- 19-09-20
A thoroughbred
I was hoping for a mystery, thriller. To really enjoy this book you should be into the world of show horses and the entitled, privileged people who inhabit it. The narrator does a brilliant job of conveying the type of humour that only inherited wealth can produce. The characters people all care more about breeding and horses than each other or anything else. Personally I much prefer my horses and people without breeding.
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Simon Jude
- 12-05-20
Hidden Gem
This is a great story, interestingly structured with nicely (and amusingly) drawn characters. Tey fleshes out even the 'walk on' parts very well. The only weakness , such as it is, is the over hasty dash to the finish line. Josephine Tey is/was a marvellous talent. (More audio versions of her work needed - get onto it Audible.)
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Catherine
- 23-10-11
Great all around
I'm a big Josephine Tey fan, and I'm picky about narrators. This was my first Carole Boyd listen, and now I'm hooked. She's just great. Enough variations in voicing to keep the characters identifiable, but no stagey acting to distract from Tey's precise and wonderful story. If you like British mysteries and good narrators, you can't go wrong here.
94 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Lucy
- 25-06-16
Perfect Narration
Any additional comments?
Josephine Tey is dated - this is a bucolic England of the imagination circa 1920s, 30s - but, she has a sharp edge, and is such an elegant writer - and excellent story teller. All of which explains why, even now, her books are a pleasure. This is exceptionally well narrated by Carole Boyd - an excellent match with the material. BRAT FARRAR is a classic of its kind from the Golden Age of British mysteries - Allingham, Christie, Sayers. If you like those, you'll be happy you spent the credit on this. It's very well done.
55 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Jane
- 06-06-15
I rarely read/listen to a book twice. ❤️❤️
‘Brat Farrar’ was, surprisingly to me, even better the second time around. The writing, the story, the narration enraptured me once again. And that combination of excellence turned ‘characters’ into people and ‘plot’ into real life experiences. The novel is filled with charming, complex, and also conflicted people and a fascinating storyline that keeps you unsure and guessing until the end.
61 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Mim A. Houk
- 22-11-11
A dearly-loved, favorite to read and reread.
This story takes the classic change-of-identity plot and turns it on its head. Set on a horse farm in the English Midlands, Brat Farrar takes full advantage of the beautiful scenery and a family of wonderfully individual characters, with a tragic mystery in its past and a warm and human faith in a future. Sounds sappy, but it carries the reader along, revealing the hidden facts and surprising us all in the process. Simply a lovely, lovely book which makes this reader, at least, wish I had been part of the Ashby family.
59 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Kathy
- 21-11-11
Another riveting story by Josephine Tey
As expected, Josephine Tey delivers a compelling, absorbing tale that draws one in and doesn't let go. After reading her "Daughter of Time," I knew to expect the highest quality of literate writing and at the same time a delicious, entertaining read. Once again, I was in her power for the whole time of listening to the book. The reader and the production were excellent.
58 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- RueRue
- 18-11-16
Very British, very entertaining
A perfect example of a British mystery. A bit more somber than an Agatha Christie, less of mystery than a character-driven narrative. There is a lot about horses, raising and riding, which was not interesting me but was the backdrop for the milieu in which the story takes place. The narrator was excellent.
31 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Rabid Reader
- 10-10-13
A Clever Classic
Lovely narration, but even in print this would have been an absolute pleasure to read. A cosy crime, that all of a sudden isn't all that "cosy" anymore. Wonderful character descriptions and a time and place you want to be transported to. Great!
24 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Kathy
- 13-11-16
Best book in years
Loved it. Fascinating plot. Engaging characters. I listen to dozens of books each year and this was by far the best in years. Looking forward to more by the same author.
10 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- John
- 19-06-17
Clarity of Mind
Perhaps because of her more modest output—eight novels, compared to Sayers’ twelve, Marsh’s thirty-two and Christie’s seventy-three—most of us don’t include Josephine Tey in the charmed inner circle of writers from the Golden Age of English Mystery. But she deserves a niche.
Her work stands apart from those other masters in more than mere tonnage. In the case of Brat Farrar, the very shape of the story came as something new. And I learned a lot about horses, too.
In many mysteries, you can almost sense the first big break and the final red herring. Admittedly, that’s part of the enjoyment; just as a song can sound incomplete without a bridge, a mystery without the chapter where all the leads have gone cold might disappoint.
But in Brat Farrar those cozy expectations are turned on their collective head. I can’t say any more without spoiling the story, so I’ll leave it to Peter Hitchens to sum up Tey’s virtues:
“Josephine Tey’s clarity of mind, and her loathing of fakes and of propaganda, are like pure, cold spring water in a weary land. Her story-telling ability is apparently effortless, and therefore you may be sure it was the fruit of great hard work. (As Ernest Hemingway said, ‘if it reads easy, that is because it was writ hard’.) But what she loves above all is to show that things are very often not what they seem to be, that we are too easily fooled, that ready acceptance of conventional wisdom is not just dangerous, but a result of laziness, incuriosity and of a resistance to reason.”
And, as if that wasn’t enough, our reader here, Carole Boyd, is simply superb. Her performance is as effortless as the prose she’s reading, and as spot-on as if she’d written the words herself.
4 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Greg
- 13-11-16
One of the best audible books ever
Loved the story, loved the presentation. This is the first thing I've read by Tey and plan to listen/read the rest. After I finished the book I listened a second time- I've never done that before.
19 people found this helpful