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  • Busman's Honeymoon

  • Lord Peter Wimsey, Book 13
  • By: Dorothy L Sayers
  • Narrated by: Jane McDowell
  • Length: 12 hrs and 57 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (190 ratings)
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Busman's Honeymoon cover art

Busman's Honeymoon

By: Dorothy L Sayers
Narrated by: Jane McDowell
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Summary

They plan to have a quiet country honeymoon. Then Lord Peter Wimsey and his bride, Harriet Vane, find the previous owner's body in the cellar.

Set in a country village seething with secrets and snobbery, this is Dorothy L. Sayers' last full-length detective novel.

Variously described as a love story with detective interruptions and a detective story with romantic interruptions, it lives up to both descriptions with style.

©1937 The Trustees of Anthony Fleming (deceased) (P)2015 Hodder & Stoughton

What listeners say about Busman's Honeymoon

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
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    119
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  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

What a disappointment

Would you try another book written by Dorothy L Sayers or narrated by Jane McDowell?

I've read all of D L Sayers' novels. They are superb. This narrator has managed to make them mediocre.

Who was your favorite character and why?

In this particular novel, the characters of Lord Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane are as usual outstanding

How did the narrator detract from the book?

A lacklustre narration; monotonous and strangely paced; totally unconvincing 'voices' and utterly lacking any sense of the period. So dull, in fact, that it sent me to sleep within minutes of pressing 'start', every time I tried to listen to it. And what on earth was the narrator thinking when she pronounced Lord Peter's name as Peter 'DETH BREDDON' Wimsey?

If this book were a film would you go see it?

Only if this narrator's voice featured in no way whatsoever.

Any additional comments?

I did hesitate about downloading this version, because I have Ian Carmichael's recordings of Strong Poison and Gaudy Night, the first of the Vane/Wimsey trilogy and the BBC dramatized versions of Busman's Honeymoon and The Nine Tailors and enjoy listening to all of them very much indeed. I saw that reviews of this new narrator on the Audible site were less than enthusiastic,but I decided to take a chance on listening to Busman's Honeymoon in the unabridged non-dramatized format . I really wish I hadn't bothered. The fact that almost all the Sayers Wimsey novels are now narrated by Jane McDowell sadly means I can't look forward to adding these novels to my Audible collection. I'm so disappointed.

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19 people found this helpful

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

Good story spoiled by narrator

I love the Lord Peter Wimsey books but Jane McDowell seems to have no idea about the characters she's creating. I often couldn't tell the difference between Peter's voice & Harriet's. All the non-aristocratic characters spoke with the same voice as each other. Ian Charmichael's readings, though old, were much better - ditto David Case (Whose Body - the first book I ever bought from Audible in 2006). Sadly Audible has jettisoned those.
There are also several large passages of untranslated French & my ancient 'O' level can't keep up. I don't know whether I've missed much but I need the text & a large French/English dictionary.

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18 people found this helpful

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

Sorry, wrong voice for these stories.

Where does Busman's Honeymoon rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Not very high, I found the reader's voice too light.

What did you like best about this story?

It's the one you wait for, where their story has its happy ending apart from a dead body and a hanging!

What three words best describe Jane McDowell’s performance?

Clear, pretty, wrong

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

yes

Any additional comments?

I love Dorothy L Sayers and have read all of the Lord Peter books. Unfortunately, though I love the story, I wasn't happy about the reader's voice. Very sorry M/s McDowell, you have a lovely voice, it is very clear and nice to listen too but I didn't like it for this audio book. I haven't been able to finish it.

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9 people found this helpful

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

Annoying narrator

Would you be willing to try another one of Jane McDowell’s performances?

I will try to avoid this narrator, not only is it difficult to tell which character is speaking, but she didn't appear to have read through the story before beginning her reading, which means she'll come come across something such as "he said in a deep voice" and suddenly make that character's voice sound deepeer - but only in the second part of his comments. Most annoying was her talking about a "dessert" when the author had intended "desert", which made a mockery of that part of the story. Very lazy narration - and irritating because anyone who's ever done a voice over knows that all the reader needs to do is to say "I'll do that again" and read it correctly.

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8 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Ms
  • 21-04-17

Get rid of the narrator

Love DLS stories but this narrator is dreadful. She has a nice voice but totally unable to read character. No change in accents and makes the characters sound like strangeled cats. Edward Petherbridge was excellent in the Attenbury Emeralds, perhaps M McDowell should try listening to his performance.

I have to mark down overall and performance but the story is a 5 star

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7 people found this helpful

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

Awful performance

What disappointed you about Busman's Honeymoon?

The narration. I am being entirely honest when I say my initial thought was that this was being read by a text to speech generator. My next thought was maybe I'd knocked the speed setting, but neither slower or faster produced an improvement. The voice was all wrong, seemed lifeless and I couldn't face 12 odd hours.

Who might you have cast as narrator instead of Jane McDowell?

Someone with a more refined access, less drawl and the ability to inject character into his or her voice. Given that the two main characters are highly educated, and given the historical setting of the story, someone with a "posh" accent.

Any additional comments?

Very disappointed, will be making do with the dramatisation.

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5 people found this helpful

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

Classic wrecked by narration

This love-story with detective interest is an old favourite.
Sadly, in my view, this most peculiar and inappropriate style of narration seriously detracts from the book. The narrator pauses wherever she feels like it, often after one of a series of adjectives for example, completely changing the sense of what is occurring, makes several mistakes which should certainly have been corrected, and generally ruins it. I found myself wondering for the next major irritation, rather than actually listening to the content. Anyone I believe would be distracted by the idea of sixteen men chained together, marching across a prickly dessert.....
A great pity. A proof-listener would be a good idea.

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4 people found this helpful

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

what a let down

What a let down Dorothy L Sayers must be turning in her grave. A beautifully crafted story,enlightening the listener to the joyous and sensual partnership of husband and wife within a murder mystery utterly ruined by the strident voice of Miss McDowell with hardly any difference between characters and estuary English fighting country accents and unfortunately winning. Ian Carmichael's rendition was so superior in every way. Why was Edward Petheridge not . asked, his voice is melodious. Shall not buy any other books narrated by the current voice. Christina Bacon

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3 people found this helpful

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

Recording Bad

Just like Murder must Advertise the Recording is BAD put me off the recording should be no stars

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3 people found this helpful

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

Amusing Wimsey tale, accurately but poorly read.

DLS’s stories are old favourites of mine, read and re-reread many, many, times. These Jane McDowell readings are accurate and the French well rendered but the lady, hard though she tries, has a poor command of the idiomatic. She rather breathlessly renders many phrases with incorrect emphasis. Many an old-fashioned phrase is less than perfectly interpreted. Rehearsal and editing might help. A great pleasure tinged with irritation.

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2 people found this helpful