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Shadow of the Serpent
- An Inspector McLevy Mystery 1
- Narrated by: David Ashton
- Length: 11 hrs and 4 mins
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Summary
London had Sherlock Holmes. The dark alleys of Edinburgh had Inspector McLevy.
Known as the father of forensics and a likely influence on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, real-life police inspector James McLevy is here reinvented by David Ashton in a thrilling mystery - the first in a series - set in dark, violent Victorian Edinburgh.
Edinburgh, 1880. Election fever grips the city. But while the rich and educated argue about politics, in the dank wynds of the docks it's a struggle just to stay alive. When a prostitute is brutally murdered, disturbing memories from 30 years ago are stirred in Inspector McLevy, who is soon lured into a murky world of politics, perversion and deception - and the shadow of the serpent.
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What listeners say about Shadow of the Serpent
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- K
- 20-02-17
Worshipping at his own literary shrine.
I both agree and disagree with previous reviewers. David Ashton loves what he's written and he's going to make sure you savour every one of his words. Thus, the narration is, without doubt, more than a little self-congratulatory. Sometimes is it annoying: he rolls certain words round in his mouth for half an hour before spitting them out and, frankly, the occasional sighing and hushed reverence he gives certain passages is nauseatingly smug.
Having said that, the novel is a good read, intriguing of plot and with plenty of dashes of light humour. The characters are interesting and have enough originality mixed with reassuring stereotypes to keep this work engaging and yet safe.
Ashton does do a great job with the accents; I love the realism of some of the gutter expressions and colloquialisms. My mum, being a Scot, and using words like 'breeks' helped make the regional expressions more amusing to my trained ear than, perhaps, a novice one but it certainly adds authentic colour.
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12 people found this helpful
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- homebeam
- 22-06-16
Masterly performance by David Ashton
What about David Ashton’s performance did you like?
I read a review which said David Ashton's performance was distracting but I thought it was brilliant. The atmosphere he created was alternatively creepy, funny and thrilling. I wan't sure in the end if the story was quite as good as the performance but I enjoyed it so much I didn't want it to stop.
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8 people found this helpful
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- Sam Grenfell
- 13-09-16
Potentially good story ruined by the narrator.
I struggled to listen as the narrators voice was not easy listening . Such a shame.
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5 people found this helpful
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- Lynne F
- 26-06-18
Overly melodramatic
The narration was so awful that I couldn’t get past it to really appreciate if it was good story or not! Very disappointing.
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4 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Jacky Thompson
- 22-06-18
Difficult to listen to
I've tried to listen to this book a number of times and really can't get in to it. I'm not sure if it is the story or the narration.
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4 people found this helpful
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- Louise
- 17-06-18
Read with passion,
if you enjoyed the radio plays this is a close as you can get without a full cast drama. Read in such a way that it almost seems the same as the radio plays
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4 people found this helpful
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- Sophie
- 02-06-18
Very enjoyable once you get used to the reader
Engaging and very entertaining, with lots of colourful descriptions of 19th Century Edinburgh, a interesting plot and some laugh out loud moments I really enjoyed this book. Be warned however, the reader - the author himself - has quite an unusually dramatic style, where sometimes his voice drops to an almost inaudible whisper which caused me to be frequently adjusting my volume levels. He is also at times extremely drawn out and slow - but I found by setting my speed to 1.5x the pace was perfect. Looking forward to more (speeded up) adventures with inspector McLevy.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Sally Alp
- 01-06-16
The most annoying narrator ever
I have had to restart this book so many times I have forgotten. Mr Ashton may have penned a brilliant book and once I got over his heavy breathing while reading and the distracting accents I did like the Scottish version of Sherlock.
But when I re- listen to a book it because I enjoyed it so much I wanted to listen to it again and several I missed first time round but I going to have to read-listen so I can understand it the second third or even fourth time.
Maybe another narrator , someone like Stephen Fry would have done justice what is a really good book.
Sorry!! :(
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3 people found this helpful
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- J
- 05-07-18
Well
I am sure that the story is good but the narration is awful. No author should read there own novels unless they are an actor
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall
- RDT
- 22-03-18
Not for me
Found the narration didn*t hold my interest and stopped me engaging with the plot. Bought as an offer - a mistake on my part.
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2 people found this helpful