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  • Sheer Folly

  • A Daisy Dalrymple Mystery
  • By: Carola Dunn
  • Narrated by: Lucy Rayner
  • Length: 11 hrs and 17 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (292 ratings)
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Sheer Folly cover art

Sheer Folly

By: Carola Dunn
Narrated by: Lucy Rayner
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Summary

In March of 1926, Daisy Dalrymple Fletcher and her friend and collaborator, Lady Lucy Gerald, head off for several days to a stately home reputed to have the best grotto in the country. Working on a book of architectural follies, they plan to research and photograph it.

Leaving her husband and young twins behind, Daisy is expecting a productive weekend at Appsworth Hall, with the only potential difficulty being keeping Lucy from offending the current owner, a manufacturer of plumbing products. Alas, it's not to be quite so simple.

At the home, they find themselves faced with a curious assortment of people, including the abominable, tactless Lord Rydal, who is rumored to be having an affair with one of the guests while in ardent and artless pursuit of the hand in marriage of another. When the grotto explodes with Lord Rydal in it, it's not a question of who would do it―as most who've met him would be sorely tempted―but who actually did do it.

©2009 Carola Dunn (P)2017 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

What listeners say about Sheer Folly

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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Sheer Folly

A good story let down by poor reading. The Narrator was rather flat and didn’t seem to be aware of the flow of the language.

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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Drivel;

Would you try another book written by Carola Dunn or narrated by Lucy Rayner?

Too long and tedious for a senseless story with an even sillier denouement. Don't waste your money. I'm sorry I did.

Since writing the previous sentence I have struggled through the novel again to see if it was any better second time around. It wasn't. One plus for the author.."Sheer Folly" was certainly an apt title.

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4 people found this helpful

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

Good story...shame about the narrator

As usual Dunn writes a highly entertaining tale. Sadly Rayner is a fairly dire narrator who manages to mispronounce basic English words and names in the weirdest way: e.g. "inveeaigal" for "inveigle". Makes one wonder what her first language is.

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3 people found this helpful

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

Excellent Storytelling

A lot of the story in this Daisy Dalrymple installment takes place before the actual death, it's unusual for a "murder mystery" genre book but very well done. We get a lot more of the individual characters and so are given the opportunity to become invested before the fact rather than solely after.

A book with a wonderfully happy ending.

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1 person found this helpful

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

A good story

The narrator is clear and good. One or two mispronunciations but didn’t really make any difference to my enjoyment of the book

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

A weak ending

Not as thrilling as many others in this series but I still enjoyed it. The characters are part of my family now.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Ignore spiteful reviews!

It’s a good story but finishes a bit suddenly and I’d like to see the culprit arrested! The narrator is good. Baffled by reviews otherwise which don’t even get the narrator’s name right. English clearly IS her first language and she’s by far the best narrator of these. Only quibble is the slightly shrill voices for Lucy and Daisy.

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

lots of fun

plenty of laugh out loud moments which more that made up for the mispronunciations.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

love this

I love listening to theses books 📚 there fantastic the people are fun the writing is superb 😀 👌

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

Good company while driving

The only reason why I listen to Daisy Dalrymple books is because they come free with my subscription, and they keep me company as I spend many hours driving alone.
Any other time I try to listen to the books I inevitably fall asleep, because frankly by now they are all too similar and a bit boring.

This one was a little different and at least her snappish husband couldn’t blame Daisy for getting involved in a crime.
I dislike Alec, he’s always in a bad mood, doesn’t know how to have a little fun, and he’s totally self-absorbed.
This is book 18 in the series and Alec has evolved very little, Daisy too but at least she’s always cheerful.
I only recommend this book if it comes free, and if you have listen to the previous ones and know that you shouldn’t expect too much.

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