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Crossed Skis

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Crossed Skis

By: Carol Carnac
Narrated by: David Thorpe
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About this listen

In Bloomsbury, London, Inspector Brook of Scotland Yard looks down at a dismal scene. The victim of a ruthless murder lies burnt beyond recognition, his possessions and papers destroyed by fire. But there is one strange, yet promising, lead - a lead which suggests the involvement of a skier.

Meanwhile, piercing sunshine beams down on the sparkling snow of the Austrian Alps, where a merry group of holidaymakers are heading towards Lech am Arlberg. Eight men and eight women take to the slopes, but as the CID scrambles to crack the perplexing case in Britain, the ski party is soon to become 16 suspects.

©1952 Estate of Carol Carnac (P)2020 Soundings Detective International Mystery & Crime Mystery Traditional Detectives Fiction Crime Suspense Sports
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I find David Thorpe's women's voices quite hard to listen to (harsh and squeaky), especially when he is doing a group of women talking to each other, which happens at the beginning of this book. I have other books narrated by him and he usually improves as the story progresses.
This is the first book I have listened to that is by Carol Carnac. I picked it based of other reviews. It is very interesting to listen to a book written in 1952, with things looking up but a meat ration in the UK and currency restrictions preventing you taking money out of the country. It also had a casual racism with reference to other Europeans.
Generally a fascinating book with different characters being invited to think about who was honest and who might be a murderer all through the story. They helped me work it out.
I will definitely get another book by this author - although maybe under her other pen name.

Engaging post WWII crime story

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I am so pleased able to read a Carol Carnac book, having enjoyed the ECR Lorac ones very much. I hope there are more to come.

There is a pleasing investigation side and the policemen are capable and imaginative. What makes it such a joy to hear is the attention to character, atmosphere and the details of the way life was lived. There is a skiing trip involving 16 comfortably-off people who travel across Europe by train and bus and do not even consider flying; sidelights on currency restrictions; a Europe that had a Russian Zone; a London showing the effects of bombing; even the effects of tourism. This is all just part of the fabric of the story and not, as it might be now, painstakingly researched and put in whether or not it added to the story. Carnac writes elegantly and occasionally amusingly.

I like David Thorpe's readings but it has to be said that he did struggle a bit to make the very large cast of characters distinctive in the early chapters. However, some emerge as the more important characters and those do come across well and clearly so it’s not a hardship.





A delight

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As usual, this author (AKA E.C. Lorac) evokes the settings brilliantly. The ending seemed to come a little abruptly and I would have liked more detail in the revelations but the plot was enjoyable and kept me me guessing. I don’t understand other reviewers’ issues with not being able to distinguish characters or women being shrill - Gillian is quite squeaky but that seems in character and Jane in particular has a much more serious voice. I was quite happy with the narration.

Atmospheric and interesting

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Listened to this while on a ski holiday. Narration was very good. Story was a little disappointing and didn’t seem to make too much sense to me. I also couldn’t figure out why the original murder took place. It didn’t grab my attention so I ended up using it as background listening while doing other things. An acceptable use of 7hrs, but wouldn’t get your hopes up that it’s a great murder mystery.

Background listening

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The story is passable, the narration is weak and I found myself wishing it was over

Didn't enjoy it

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