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Death of an Author

By: E. C. R. Lorac
Narrated by: Simon Mattacks
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Summary

Vivian Lestrange - celebrated author of the popular mystery novel The Charterhouse Case and total recluse - has apparently dropped off the face of the Earth. Reported missing by his secretary Eleanor, whom Inspector Bond suspects to be the author herself looking for publicity, it appears that crime is afoot when Lestrange's housekeeper is also found to have disappeared. Bond and Warner of Scotland Yard set to work to investigate a murder with no body and a potentially fictional victim, as E. C. R. Lorac spins a twisting tale full of wry humour and red herrings, poking some fun at her contemporary reviewers who long suspected the Lorac pseudonym to belong to a man (since a woman could apparently not have written mysteries the way that she did).

©1935 The Estate of E. C. R. Lorac (P)2023 Soundings
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What listeners say about Death of an Author

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Excellent

I thought I had solved this half way through from one throwaway sentence but of course I hadn’t. Great story.

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A really good story

Really interesting story with excellent narration. Easy to listen too and keeps the listener guessing o the end.

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1 person found this helpful

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so intriguing!

What an interesting story! Great plot, Lorac's best, to my mind. Good reading, different characters well realised and distinguished, and the reader's voice not intruding. I enjoyed it hugely.

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5 people found this helpful

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Very clever!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, a really intriguing plot and very well performed; I’ll be recommending it to friends.

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2 people found this helpful

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Simon Mattacks superb again!

I have started to do my new book searches by narrator. I have thrown in the towel half way through many books now because I want to punch the narrator... apart from this being a great story with adorable characters, Somon Mattacks is brilliant again.

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5 people found this helpful

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Well read but very tedious

I must agree with other reviewers that Simon Mattacks is a good reader, but to me his talents seem wasted on this very tedious novel. The almost total absence of any action, combined with endless conversations full of speculation but not a lot in the way of progress on the case, was enough to send one to sleep. Contemporary views on the difference between male and female writers were quite interesting for a while, but that horse was flogged to death.
My conclusion is that, like so many of the British Library crime series, the best thing about this book is its cover.

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3 people found this helpful