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  • Death at Breakfast

  • By: John Rhode
  • Narrated by: Gordon Griffin
  • Length: 9 hrs and 11 mins
  • 4.2 out of 5 stars (37 ratings)
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Death at Breakfast cover art

Death at Breakfast

By: John Rhode
Narrated by: Gordon Griffin
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Summary

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.

©1936 Estate of John Rhode (P)2018 HarperCollins Publishers

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)

What listeners say about Death at Breakfast

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

Entertaining cosy murder mystery

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.

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

Ingenious!

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.

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

Well read, but tedious

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.

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1 person found this helpful

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

Slow and Stupid

This is a slow and tedious listen. The stupidity of the Superintendant is so blatant as to become really annoying. The narrator is fine, not much he can do with this endlessly drawn out story. But we devotees of detective fiction are used to being credited with a modicum of intelligence, and there is a limit to just how much sheer wilful incapacity to perceive the blindingly obvious we can tolerate. No use even as an insomnia cure, as it gets you so aggravated.

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

Disappointing

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!

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3 people found this helpful