Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

Offer ends May 1st, 2024 11:59PM GMT. Terms and conditions apply.
£7.99/month after 3 months. Renews automatically.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Penhallow cover art

Penhallow

By: Georgette Heyer
Narrated by: Ulli Birvé
Get this deal Try for £0.00

Pay £99p/month. After 3 months pay £7.99/month. Renews automatically. See terms for eligibility.

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £19.99

Buy Now for £19.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Listeners also enjoyed...

Footsteps in the Dark cover art
The Convenient Marriage cover art
The Black Moth cover art
False Colours cover art
The Reluctant Widow cover art
A Civil Contract cover art
The Unknown Ajax cover art
The Talisman Ring cover art
Murder at Everham Hall cover art
Death of an Author cover art
The Wintringham Mystery cover art
Heads You Lose cover art
The Devil You Know cover art
The White Priory Murders cover art
Partners of Peril (The Shadow) cover art
A Cornish Girl cover art

Summary

Hated for his cruel and vicious nature, ruling his family with an iron hand from his sickbed, tyrannical patriarch Adam Penhallow is found murdered the day before his birthday. His entire family had assembled for his birthday celebration, and every one of them had the ways and means to commit the crime. As accusations and suspicion turn in one direction and then another, the claws and backstabbing come out, and no one is exempt from the coming implosion.

©1942 Georgette Rougier (P)2015 Bolinda Publishing Pty Ltd

Critic reviews

"Georgette Heyer is second to none in her ability to make detective stories entertaining." ( The Sunday Times)
"Sharp, clear and witty." ( The New Yorker)
"Rarely have we seen humour and mystery so perfectly blended." ( The New York Times)

What listeners say about Penhallow

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 3.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    16
  • 4 Stars
    10
  • 3 Stars
    8
  • 2 Stars
    11
  • 1 Stars
    7
Performance
  • 3.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    18
  • 4 Stars
    8
  • 3 Stars
    5
  • 2 Stars
    5
  • 1 Stars
    9
Story
  • 3 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    16
  • 4 Stars
    7
  • 3 Stars
    4
  • 2 Stars
    8
  • 1 Stars
    11

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Kill Me Now

Sigh. Firstly, why oh WHY did they choose this narrator for Heyer's crime books? Her voices are like nails on a blackboard, and her pronunciation is appalling. She wrecks even the best of Heyer's whodunnits - and this is not one of them. I can only assume that Georgette Heyer was in the grip of depression when she wrote this one. Her usual light touch, witty dialogue, excellent characterisation (especially seen in very minor characters), and intricate plots, are all missing. The book is depressing, squalid, dull, without a single likeable character in it. I'm halfway through (it's long one) and so far there has been no crime. I'm losing the will to live.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

21 people found this helpful

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

Couldn't agree more!

The best thing about Ulli is her voice is so boring she successfully puts me to sleep within 10 minutes! He constant mispronunciation, however, drives me round the bend! This is by far the worst one so far, and if I'd have bought this one first I definitely wouldn't have bought the others! I wanted to give performance no stars but the site won't let me!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

13 people found this helpful

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

Great book - shame about the narrrator!

Where does Penhallow rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Really good novel (mystery not Regency) from Georgette Heyer, with a truly unexpected, unusual ending. It will have taken some courage to break so many of the established 'rules' of crime fiction. Good for her!!

Who was your favorite character and why?

They are all pretty dreadful, but that's the point of the book.

Would you be willing to try another one of Ulli Birvé’s performances?

Not knowingly! Although she's good at performing the voices, and hence the characterisation benefits, she is awful at pronunication. For instance there's a character called Charmian, but the narator pronounces it as Charmain throughout. What's even worse, she made it sound like Chow Mein! It was an irritant that never went away.

Any additional comments?

Does Audible check the merchandise it retails for quality? Does it pass on listener feedback to the recording companies? I'd love to see some evidence of Audible's quality control.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

7 people found this helpful

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

Absolutely Awful!

What could Georgette Heyer have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

Not in the same league as her Regency novels

How did the narrator detract from the book?

No personality

You didn’t love this book--but did it have any redeeming qualities?

None

Any additional comments?

The book was dreadful. The story was never interesting - though I persisted to the end in the hope that it would have something that redeemed it. The narrator is so totally without personality that, even if the book had been interesting, she would have spoiled it. I will never read another Georgette Heyer non-Regency novel and I will never listen to another audiobook narrated by Ulli Birve.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

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

Atypical Heyer but still a masterpiece of Detective fiction

I have now read all of the Georgette Heyer novels. Both the Regency and the Detective stories. This, is not like either of them. It's a long story of a very dysfunctional family, The murder does not take place immediately, but for one to understand why the murder takes place, one has to spend some time with this family. This novel allows you to spend that 'quality' time until you yourself wish to commit the crime!

Another departure from the typical Heyer murder/mystery fare is, our involvement in the actual crime! We know who, why, where, when and how! But ironically, that does not spell the end of the novel. Not even remotely. There's more…

I have read some of the previous reviews of this book, and in some instances it is claimed that the book is not one of Ms Heyer's better ones. However I would say that it is not one of Georgette Heyer's typical stories, it has far more depth to the story, there is far more going on in the foreground and in the background. You are allowed to see the daily lives of these people, and you also get drawn into the pettiness of the challenges they each face & the perfectly innocuous methods used to overcome each challenging situation.

Everything about this family is atypical. This is a lengthy novel because of it! But I think that it would have been a more laborious book to read than to listen to! With the exception of pronouncing the name of the cat incorrectly (I assume), the narrator does a really good job of presenting all of the characters to us and making the flow of the novel really seamlessly good. I think that the narration was really well done and helped to make this potentially long and drawn out novel a joy to listen to.

So, no it's not your usual Georgette Heyer novel, but it is still a masterpiece. Definitely worth listening to. Plus, you have to if you have listened or read all of her previous novels. You owe it to yourself, you know it makes sense.

Enjoy!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

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

Georgette's Cornish family saga

A rather silly story but quite enjoyable spoilt but the weired pronunciation by the narrator.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

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

Don’t judge Georgette Heyer by this book.

Georgette Heyer wrote fabulous regency romances and gripping 1930s detective fiction. This is closer to the latter, but what is missing is her wonderful humour. This is a dour and downright unpleasant tale. I felt so when I first read it, and I still think so after listening to the audio book.
Ulli Birve is an acquired taste. When I first listened to one of her recordings I had to do so at 1.5x speed to get past her … delivery… style. However, she has done most of GH’s detective stories, and I now find her performance more in keeping with the genre.
But if this is your first attempt at a Heyer, please don’t be put off! Try “The Unfinished Clue” - a real corker!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

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

An unexpected disappointment

This Daphne du Maurier imitation by Georgette Heyer doesn't quite come off. The main problem, as I see it, is that one approaches it expecting one thing, and find another. As a book by an unknown author it might, at least, be less disappointing.
The reader is also a disappointment, in that her delivery is very close to the standard 'text-to-speech' that is now provided with most books as standard.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

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

A story of brutality.

A family brought up in a atmosphere of "Divide and Rule", resulting in disharmony and hatred.
It has the gamit of characters, from the cowards, bullies, weaklings hypochondriac and just down right perverse and nasty.
The person who eventually takes the blame for the murder, is not the one responsible. However greed and a wish to be on top or escape the cesspit, stops any need to peruse the truth.
I didn't find it pleasant to listen too, which is why I gave it two stars.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

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

Do Not Blame the Narrator

Based on Heyer's previous books, this gripping story was quite different & at times difficult to listen to. The tension within the storyline was palpable. We expected a 'happy ever after' ending and were disappointed. Ulli Birví's excellent narrative was the main reason I listened to the end. I definitely would not have finished the book.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!