Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

  • The Vanishing Box

  • The Brighton Mysteries, Book 4
  • By: Elly Griffiths
  • Narrated by: Luke Thompson
  • Length: 8 hrs and 11 mins
  • 4.6 out of 5 stars (424 ratings)
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.
The Vanishing Box cover art

The Vanishing Box

By: Elly Griffiths
Narrated by: Luke Thompson
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 £15.99

Buy Now for £15.99

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...

A Long Time Dead cover art
Beneath the Abbey Wall cover art
The Ghost of Lily Painter cover art
Grimm Up North cover art
The Body in the Marsh cover art
The Accidental Alchemist cover art
Murder in Tuscany cover art
Murder on the Lusitania cover art
The Infirmary: A DCI Ryan Mystery (Multicast Drama) cover art
Mystery on Hidden Lane: An Utterly Gripping Cozy Mystery Novel cover art
The Landscape of Death cover art
Detective Sebastian Clifford, Books 1-3 cover art
The Cornish Wedding Murder cover art
Game Over cover art
Farthing cover art
The Four Last Things cover art

Summary

The fourth Brighton Mysteries story from the author of the best-selling Dr Ruth Galloway series - a must-read for fans of Bryant and May.

What do a murdered Brighton flower seller, the death of Cleopatra, and a nude tableau show have in common? Listen to the most dangerous case yet for Stephens and Mephisto and find out.

Christmas 1953. Max Mephisto, and his daughter, Ruby, are headlining Brighton Hippodrome, an achievement only slightly marred by the less-than-savoury support act: a tableau show of naked 'living statues'. This might appear to have nothing in common with DI Edgar Stephens's investigation into the death of a quiet flower seller, but if there's one thing the old comrades have learned it's that, in Brighton, the line between art and life - and death - is all too easily blurred....

©2017 Elly Griffiths (P)2017 Quercus Editions Limited

Critic reviews

"Mixes cosiness and sharpness in a way that recalls the best of Agatha Christie." ( Sunday Express on Smoke and Mirrors)

What listeners say about The Vanishing Box

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    300
  • 4 Stars
    98
  • 3 Stars
    18
  • 2 Stars
    5
  • 1 Stars
    3
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    306
  • 4 Stars
    64
  • 3 Stars
    14
  • 2 Stars
    2
  • 1 Stars
    1
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    268
  • 4 Stars
    88
  • 3 Stars
    23
  • 2 Stars
    4
  • 1 Stars
    2

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

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

Wonderful period detail

I love this series of books, and this one did not disappoint. Good story with great period details. Love the theatrical background, landladies and boarding houses. The characters are interesting and likeable. It is set in the winter and Elly even manages to make you feel cold. You can read this on it’s own but I recommend you read the series in order.

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

5 people found this helpful

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

Good ‘old fashioned’ murder mystery

I love the murder mysteries by this author. Hope there is more Stephens and Mephisto.

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

4 people found this helpful

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

Slow and disappointing

Dull story so slow I gave up in the end pity sounded promising for me it just never got going

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

Audio producer/ director needs to do their job!

Elly Griffiths’ writing is of a consistently high standard and never fails to entertain. If you liked books 1-3 in this series you’ll like this one too. I enjoyed listening and the narrator did a good job but he was let down because nobody put him right over how to pronounce a few common words such as anti-Macassar(ch8), coital (ch11) or Tyrollean ( ch 24) and surely ‘thorough draft’ ( ch 4) should’ve been ‘through draft’? Such errors, whilst relatively trivial when compared to the horrors of the Ukrainian war, Brexit or Boris Johnson do stand out and spoil an otherwise excellent listening experience.

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

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

Thrilling, cinematic and poignant!

One of the best in this series.
It's Christmas in Brighton but the atmosphere is oppressively gloomy, filmic descriptions of the faded seaside glamour envelopes & submerges you into 1950's Britain. Still recovering from war, tired of "making do & mend" this is the era of the matriarchal seaside landlady & her hotchpotch of tenants, ranging from glamorous showgirls to ancient lonely veterans. A new racier post war attitude is emerging & decent citizens think it threatens to morally bankrupt society. Amongst all this a naked girl is found murdered. Exciting stuff!

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

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

Another excellent adventure

The stories get more mature with each book. I didn't guess the perpetrator at all.

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

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

Brighton Mysteries murder

Love this story, mixing crime, love,passion and adventure! Well read and well written! Looking forward to the next one.

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

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

Elegant, accurate capture of life in the fifties, with a terrific plot.

Set in the age of Variety Theatre, and revolving around the kind of acts that were around at the time, a murder plot with twists and turns to keep the listener guessing until the final reveal.
Exceptional acting performance by the narrator, providing voices that fitted the characters perfectly.

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

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

Didn’t want it to end!

I just love the main characters in this series. Love the plots that also include the theatre folk which give it all an unusual setting. Great read (note to self - I must make them last longer 😁).

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

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

Great listen

What a great listen just loved all the characters and how like Thompson brought them all to life.

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!