Narrator David Thorpe performs this mystery with vigor. His high-spirited narration plunges listeners into the 1580s, when plays were high entertainment for all levels of society. In this tangled tale, a group of actors performs a play about a murder that has recently occurred, a performance that sets them up as subsequent targets for the murderers. Listeners are privy to the raucous actors and playwrights who have a hand in the play, which is successful, despite all odds and obstacles. Thorpe assigns each character a different tone and accent, successfully differentiating them. As Thorpe brings the play-within-a-play to a new audience, listeners will delight in the language and wit of late-sixteenth-century England.
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2014
Duration: 9 hrs
Publisher: ISIS Audio Books
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
Novelist Benet Archdale and housemaid Carol Stratford are two young, single parents who have no reason to know each other. They become tangled in a nightmarish spiral of kidnap, fraud, family violence and death. Ruth Rendell creates psychological suspense in thrillers that are compulsively readable or, in this case, listenable. British actress Imelda Staunton's reading is perfectly paced, and the characters are well defined. You'll have a hard time turning it off.
Pub Date: N/A
Duration: 9 hrs
Publisher: BBC Audiobooks America/ Chivers
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
Emerson and Peabody are at it again! Uncovering antiquities takes a back-seat as the romantic archaeologists track down the master criminal who is stealing Egypt's ancient treasures. With the help of their precocious son, Ramses, the intrepid pair unravel this mystery in crowded bazaars, desert camps and the heart of the Black Pyramid. Barbara Rosenblat's reading fully measures up to the tale. She is a master of timing and nuance. Rosenblat's power for character interpretation has grown with each book in this amusing series. This is the best one yet.
Pub Date: N/A
Duration: 12 hrs
Publisher: Recorded Books Inc.
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
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