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Death at Breakfast

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About this listen

A classic winter’s crime novel by one of the most highly regarded exponents of the genre.

Victor Harleston awoke with uncharacteristic optimism. Today he would be rich at last. Half an hour later, he gulped down his breakfast coffee and pitched to the floor, gasping and twitching. When the doctor arrived, he recognised instantly that it was a fatal case of poisoning and called in Scotland Yard.

Despite an almost complete absence of clues, the circumstances were so suspicious that Inspector Hanslet soon referred the evidence to his friend and mentor, Dr Lancelot Priestley, whose deductions revealed a diabolically ingenious murder that would require equally fiendish ingenuity to solve.

 Cosy Crime Crime Thrillers Detective Fiction Genre Fiction Medical Mystery Thriller & Suspense Traditional Detectives Thriller

Critic reviews

‘One always embarks on a John Rhode book with a great feeling of security. One knows that there will be a sound plot, a well-knit process of reasoning and a solidly satisfying solution with no loose ends or careless errors of fact.’
DOROTHY L. SAYERS in THE SUNDAY TIMES

‘Death at Breakfast is full of John Rhode’s specialties: a new and excellently ingenious method of murder, a good story, and a strong chain of deduction.’
DAILY TELEGRAPH

‘John Rhode well deserves his reputation as a constructor of almost flawless detective story plots. To read any of his tales is a very agreeable intellectual exercise.’
DAILY MAIL
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The bumbling police officers were a little irritating at times - making heavy weather of the glaringly obvious. lt's not likely that Scotland Yard would entertain such keystone cops. The narration was faultless with each character portrayed very well indeed.Overall, l found this an easygoing and enjoyable audiobook and will probably listen to another title by the author in the future.

Entertaining cosy murder mystery

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Short on characterisation, but long on ingenuity. This is an excellent Golden Age mystery. As with other John Rhode books, it's fairly easy to work out whodunnit, but it's worth sticking with the story for the solution.

Ingenious!

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Excellent story and plot, and excellent narration. Looking forward to the next in the series.

Highly recommended.

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Started with an interesting set up but way too long and repetitious. Surely no policeman could ever be quite so dense as to miss the true interpretation of the facts, which became blindingly obvious once all the suspects had appeared.

Well read, but tedious

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It’s nicely read but that’s the only positive. The police are made to look stupid. The plot was so obvious I found myself getting annoyed with the police for not seeing it and as for the assumptions made .... aaarrrgghh!

Disappointing

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