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The Norfolk Mystery

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The Norfolk Mystery

By: Ian Sansom
Narrated by: Mike Grady
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About this listen

The first book in The County Guides to Murder Series.

The County Guides to Murder are a series of detective novels set in 1930s England.

The books are an odyssey through England and its history.

In each county, the protagonists – Stephen Sefton, a veteran of the Spanish Civil War, and his employer, the People's Professor, Swanton Morley – solve a murder.

The first book is set in Norfolk. The murder is in the vicarage.

There are 39 books – and 39 murders – to follow.

 Crime Thrillers Fiction Historical Mystery Suspense Thriller & Suspense Traditional Detectives Crime Thriller Murder Military War

Critic reviews

Praise for ‘The Norfolk Mystery’:

‘A delightful, idiosyncratic mystery set in the Thirties … There is a touch of Sherlock Holmes and a dash of Lord Peter Wimsey, but the total is put together with a charm that is teasingly precious … Beautifully crafted by Sansom, Professor Morely promises to become a little gem of English crime writing; sample him now’ Daily Mail

‘Sansom is both celebrating and sending up the golden age of detective novels when, in the 1930s, Dorothy L Sayers and Agatha Christie were the queens of crime … A brilliant first outing that leaves you looking forward to the next maniacal mystery tour’ Mark Sanderson, Evening Standard
All stars
Most relevant
An excellent audio-narration but the characters are so irritating. Yes, Morley is expected to get on our nerves, which might be a smart literary device, but gets very wearing. WIll try the second volume, but more in hope than expectation. Don't expect a standard whodunnit.

So irritating

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Love the setting, story wasn’t great, the 2nd character is very annoying, hung on to the end but if it hadn’t been set in Norfolk I wouldn’t have made it past halfway

Good setting awful character

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Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

to read yes, this audio presentation no.

What did you like best about this story?

the main story well crafted mystery

Did the narration match the pace of the story?

the narration was distracting embellishing an over worked caricature and the accents were distracting with caricatures merging

Could you see The Norfolk Mysteries being made into a movie or a TV series? Who would the stars be?

Sylester Mc Coy

Any additional comments?

The main Caricature of the the professor was over worked to be insentric, this is the first book so would try the next to see if the author steeled in to his creation. The performance on the other hand was a distraction.

Performanc distracting found this listen hard work

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I can appreciate this won’t be for everyone but I loved it! A strange mix of history, crime and local gossip this is a hard book to categorise, it’s best just to enjoy it for the experience.

I rather enjoyed it!

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The story was very well narrated but I found the plot a bit thin and the main character (Swanton Morley) very irritating. I made it to the end and if you like a good old fashioned mystery this might appeal.

An Irritating Main Character

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