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Photo-Finish
- Narrated by: James Saxon
- Series: Roderick Alleyn, Book 31
- Length: 8 hrs and 30 mins
- Categories: Mystery, Thriller & Suspense, Mystery
Non-member price: $31.21
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good plot excellent reader
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Dead Water
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Tied Up in Tinsel
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Christmastime in an isolated country house and, following a flaming row in the kitchen, there’s murder inside. When a much disliked visiting servant disappears without trace after playing Santa Claus, foul play is at once suspected - and foul play it proves to be. Only suspicion falls not on the staff but on the guests, all so unimpeachably respectable that the very thought of murder in connection with any of them seems almost heresy.
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Last Ditch
- By: Ngaio Marsh
- Narrated by: James Saxon
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Rickie Alleyn, son of the famed detective Roderick Alleyn, had taken to the peaceful Channel Island village of Deep Cove to write his book. However, soon enough the tedium of provincial life threatens to send him packing - until, that is, he finds a dead stablehand, and the sleepy community's world is upturned. His father is called to take proceedings into hand, but as a darker side to island life emerges, one of illegal drugs and smuggling, Rickie goes missing.
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A spa stay turns into a homicidal holiday.... A bit snobbish and a trifle high strung, Sybil Foster prides herself on owning the finest estate in Upper Quintern and hiring the best gardener. In fact she is rapturous over the new asparagus beds when a visit from her unwelcome stepson sends her scurrying to a chic spa for a rest cure, a liaison with the spa's director...and an apparent suicide. Her autopsy holds one surprise, a secret drawer a second.
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good plot excellent reader
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Light Thickens
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Peregrine Jay, owner of the Dolphin Theatre, is putting on a magnificent production of Macbeth, the play that, superstition says, always brings bad luck. But one night the claymore swings, and the dummy's head is more than real: murder behind the scene. Luckily, Chief Superintendent Roderick Alleyn is in the audience....
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Clutch of Constables
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- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
A classic Ngaio Marsh novel which features blood-curdling murders in the confines of a riverboat, the Zodiac, cruising through Constable country. 'He looks upon the murders that he did in fact perform as tiresome and regrettable necessities', reflected Chief Superintendent Roderick Alleyn on the international crook known as 'the Jampot'.
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The elderly Emily Pride is perfectly pleased to have inherited an island, even if her starchy pragmatism is ever so faintly appalled by the Pixie Falls spring and its reported miraculous healing properties. But really, the locals' attempts to capitalize on the 'miracles' are entirely too tacky - Ye Olde Gift Shoppe, the neon signs…not on Miss Emily’s watch, thank you.
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Overall
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Performance
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Christmastime in an isolated country house and, following a flaming row in the kitchen, there’s murder inside. When a much disliked visiting servant disappears without trace after playing Santa Claus, foul play is at once suspected - and foul play it proves to be. Only suspicion falls not on the staff but on the guests, all so unimpeachably respectable that the very thought of murder in connection with any of them seems almost heresy.
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A winter weekend ends in snowbound disaster in a novel which remains a favourite among Marsh readers. It began as an entertainment: eight people, many of them enemies, gathered for a winter weekend by a host with a love for theatre. They would be the characters in a drama that he would devise. It ended in snowbound disaster. Everyone had an alibi - and most had motives as well. But Chief Detective Inspector Roderick Alleyn, when he finally arrived, knew it all hung on Thomas, the dancing footman....
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The lives of the inhabitants of Swevenings are disrupted only by a fierce competition to catch the Old Un, a monster trout known to dwell in a beautiful stream which winds past their homes. Then one of their small community is found brutally murdered; beside him is the freshly killed trout. Both died by violence - but Chief Detective Inspector Roderick Alleyn's murder investigation seems to be much more interested in the fish.... Scales of Justice was first published in 1955.
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Off with His Head
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Pagan revelry and morris dancing in the middle of a very cold winter set the scene for one of Ngaio Marsh’s most fascinating murder mysteries. When the pesky Anna Bünz arrives at Mardian to investigate the rare survival of folk dancing still practised there, she quickly antagonizes the villagers. But Mrs Bünz is not the only source of friction - two of the other enthusiasts are also spoiling for a fight.
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A touring theatre company in New Zealand forms the basis of one of Marsh’s most ambitious and innovative novels. New Zealand theatrical manager Alfred Meyer wanted to celebrate his wife’s birthday in style. The piece de résistance would be the jeroboam of champagne which would descend gently into a nest of fern and coloured lights on the table, set up on stage after the performance. But something went horribly wrong. Chief Detective Inspector Alleyn witnessed it himself.
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- By Rodney Wetherell on 01-05-2017
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Ngaio Marsh returns to her New Zealand roots to transplant the classic country house murder mystery to an upland sheep station on South Island - and produces one of her most exotic and intriguing novels. One summer evening in 1942, Flossie Rubrick, MP, one of the most formidable women in New Zealand, goes to her husband’s wool shed to rehearse a patriotic speech - and disappears.
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Please no more James Saxon
- By Megan Townsend on 14-01-2020
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Death at the Dolphin
- By: Ngaio Marsh
- Narrated by: James Saxon
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The restoration of a bombed-out London theatre ends in violent death - and one of Marsh’s most vivid and dramatic novels. When the bombed-out Dolphin Theatre is given to Peregrine Jay by a mysterious wealthy patron, he is overjoyed. And when the mysterious oil millionaire also gives him a glove that belonged to Shakespeare, Peregrine displays it in the dockside theatre and writes a successful play about it.
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Singing in the Shrouds
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On a cold February night, the police find the third corpse on the quayside in the Pool of London, her body covered with flower petals and pearls. The killer walked away singing. When the cargo ship Cape Farewell sets sail, she carries nine passengers, one of whom is known to be the murderer. Which is why Superintendent Roderick Alleyn joins the ship at Portsmouth on the most difficult assignment of his professional career....
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One of the best Marsh Novels
- By Evelyn on 13-07-2017
Publisher's Summary
The luxury mansion on New Zealand's Lake Waihoe was the ideal place for the world-famous soprano to rest after her triumphant tour. Chief Superintendent Alleyn and his wife were among the houseguests - but theirs was not a social visit.
When tragedy struck, the peace of the island was shattered. With a houseful of suspects now isolated by one of the lake's sudden storms, Alleyn was to face one of his trickiest cases....
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What listeners say about Photo-Finish
Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- L. Wittke
- 04-03-2017
Very Silly
I am usually a fan of this author but this must have been one of her last works, very silly and untenable plot. Only saving grace is her lovely use of language in dialogue.
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- Linda S.
- 15-02-2016
A Kiwi Christie
A highly enjoyable murder mystery told with flair by James Saxon, who adopts a number of comic accents that really adds to the wit of the story. Marsh writes with similar lively character observation to Agatha Christie. So if you've read all of Christie's books, I highly recommend trying these by Marsh.
5 people found this helpful
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- LH, England
- 01-04-2018
Disappointing. Spoilt by the narrator
What disappointed you about Photo-Finish?
Unfortunately I downloaded several Ngaio Marsh titles for a long flight and each time I found James Saxon's narration extremely annoying. In this one there is the added irritation where he suddenly says "End of side 7", which confirmed my suspicions that this is a very old recording made for CD (or audio cassette?) and it seems extremely dated, not in a good way, and is not easy to listen to. My mind kept wandering as I was so bored by the narration, not the story but the way it was told.
What didn’t you like about James Saxon’s performance?
I think he must have been directed to ham it up. His performance is very stylised and each of the characters sounds unlikeable. Never have I found the character of Troy Alleyn so intensely irritating as in this book - and yet I liked her when I read it. He makes her so mealy mouthed. A big pity. His New Zealand accents all sound like parodies.
You didn’t love this book--but did it have any redeeming qualities?
The story is good, it just needs updating with a new narrator. It sounds like it was recorded in the 1980s.
Any additional comments?
Ngaio Marsh deserves an update with a good narrator who can do proper New Zealand accents.
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- Jane Humm
- 24-03-2016
Troy and Allen disappointment
Disliked this performance so very much spoilt the book for me hated every moment - sorry should have returned it
2 people found this helpful
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