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The Mystery of the Blue Train

 by Agatha Christie (read by Hugh Fraser) published 1928

An "Agatha Christie Centenary Celebration" Read

 

 

  

 

Not much to say about this one

When an heiress about to divorce her husband is murdered, Poirot investigates. 

I enjoyed this one. It didn't have some of the ridiculousness of her earlier stories. Still, all in all, I just don't have much to say about this one. 

 

Three and one-quarter stars.  Moving on.

 

No Highway

 

by Nevil Shute (read by Ben Elliot)

What a Honey of a story.

 

Every time I read a Nevil Shute story, I wonder why no one writes stories like this any more.

Theodore Honey is metallurgical engineer on the cutting edge of studies of metal fatigue and stress in airplanes and in particular of a particular airplane design that has just come on line. The wings fall of the plane after so many hours of flying. Honey, really the wrong man for the job, is sent off to the wilds of Canada to find and examine the plane that just went down. When it turns out that the plane taking him to Canada is one should have been grounded, all hell breaks loose.

Nerve

 

by Dick Francis (read by Tony Britton)

 

 

 

 

Art Matthews blew his brains out in the middle of the winner's enclosure. Jockey Rob Finn investigates why.

This is another one of those early Dick Francis novels that suck me in, not just because of how good the writing is but because of its age. It is not just a mystery story, it is a time capsule as well -- and I love it. It's the little details -- the description of clothing, especially the Carnaby Street look that was just emerging -- sideburns and longish hair were novelties and hence noteworthy details. Jockeys wore suits to work before changing into riding gear.  The women's lib movement was still a few years away  and women's roles were quite different -- and not questioned.  Stereotypes were common and there were still great divides among the classes. 

Three and three-quarter stars for this one. It's a dandy little mystery.

The Masqueraders

 

By Georgette Heyer (read by Ruth Sillers)

A favorite comfort read for over 55 years

 

Set just after the Jacobite Rising of 1745, The Masqueraders is a rollicking romantic comedy along Shakespearean lines. After almost 30 years abroad, the banished black sheep of the family now heir to the family title returns home to claim it. He brings along his two children to witness his triumphant return. Well, actually, he sends them along ahead of his arrival, which is actually an issue because both father and son, were involved in the Rebellion -- on the wrong side --and there the story begins.

This has long been one of my favorite books. I don't care if the plot is unbelievable. The book is fun; you aren't supposed to take it seriously. Heyer's writing is a pleasure to read. She has a way with characters, especially the secondary characters, that can have you laughing out loud and she knows how to write a romance. Yes, there is a certain amount of formula to her writing and certain social prejudices that today we find unacceptable -- but if you are going to read books written in the middle of the 20th century, you are going to find that a lot of what was written then is unacceptable today -- so get over it. We can't change the past and we shouldn't erase it.

This is a four and a half star Heyer!

No Wind of Blame

 By Georgette Heyer (read by Ulli Birve)

Killed by the narrator

The characters in this are priceless  -- Mrs. Carter and her daughter Vicky are the absolute definition of "drama queens" and Heyer has written them beautifully. She has a flair for this kind of comedic secondary character. 

However, the narrator is terrible. Among her other faults, she has a two beat pause between pause between every close quotation mark and "he said." It drove me up a wall plus her pronunciation of certain words is like she has never seen the words before.  I can't belief that the standard British pronunciation of inventory is inVENToree  -- just to name a few of her jarringly odd pronunciations. I don't want to say they are wrong because in years of listening to British narrators, I have learned that  there are pronunciation differences between American and British English.

Unfortunately, when the re-recorded the Heyer mysteries, Bolinda, the publisher used the same woman to record all of them.  After listening to two I refuse to buy anymore. The only thing good about the Bolinda editions of the mysteries are the covers.

Great Courses: The Great Trials of World History

 

by Douglas O. Linder

More history than jurisprudence

This one was disappointing because within the time frame of each lecture he spent more time setting up the events that lead to the trial giving his less time to spend on why the trial was important enough to be included in this series of lectures.

Three stars -- not a complete waste of time but not stellar

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