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Death of an Old Girl

Pollard & Toye Investigations, Book 1

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Death of an Old Girl

By: Elizabeth Lemarchand
Narrated by: Colette Redgrave
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About this listen

A classic cosy mystery from a master of the genre! Perfect for fans of Agatha Christie, M C Beaton, Sophie Hannah and Faith Martin.

Shockwaves are sent through the sleepy village of Trill when a woman’s body is discovered in a local school. Beatrice Baynes - interfering, overbearing and spiteful - was not well liked. But no one expects a body to be found on their doorstep.... And how did the annual festival at Meldon School turn from a lighthearted celebration to a gruesome crime scene? 

With the local constabulary completely stumped, Scotland Yard’s Chief Detective Inspector Pollard and Detective Sergeant Toye are called in to investigate. But the further Pollard and Toye delve into their inquiries, the more complicated the case becomes....

Death of an Old Girl is the first cosy village mystery in the Pollard & Toye crime series: an intriguing police procedural set in rural England. 

©1967 Elizabeth Lemarchand (P)2019 W. F. Howes Ltd Cosy Crime Detective Mystery Traditional Detectives Village Fiction

Critic reviews

"This is a real genuine police-detective story, and a first-class one at that...altogether I would call this a hundred-per-cent winner." (The Guardian)
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I enjoyed the story, and the character voices were fine, but the constant mangling of words was incredibly irritating. Added letters, missing letters, silent letters spoken and unstressed syllables stressed all gave the impression of a narrator unfamiliar with the book's fairly standard vocabulary. Professional narrators should check words they are unfamiliar with to do the author's work justice. Does no-one do an audible equivalent of proofreading before the audio book is published?
I have checked and unfortunately it's the same narrator for the next in the series, so it's not going to be added to my library.

Irritating mispronunciations

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Annoyed by the style and vocabulary, was suddenly prompted to check the original publication date, 1967! This altered my whole perception and I settled down to ebjoy a genuine "period" piece. Basic detection with none of the accoutrements of modern "coppering". I hope you can take as much pleasure as I, someone for whom life of 50+ years ago remains very familiar.

Written Concurrently NOT A Retro Tale!

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A beguiling mystery spoilt by a reading that was much too fast, frequently wrongly punctuated and with too many mis-pronounced words

Disappointing reading

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Wasn’t sure at first , however I soon became caught up with the mystery .
Some pronunciation was a little ‘ off ‘ so wonder if English isn’t the narrator’s first language ?
The plot was interesting and the detection unhurried and ‘ real ‘ .
I enjoyed the background story of the characters too .
Definitely will read next in series .

Intriguing

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A good story with a nice twist. Good characters. A nice easy listen with minimal bad language… a rarity these days!

An enjoyable lightweight listen

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