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The Paddington Mystery

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The Paddington Mystery

By: John Rhode
Narrated by: Gordon Griffin
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About this listen

A special release of the very first crime novel by John Rhode, introducing Dr Priestley, the genius detective who would go on to appear in more than 70 bestselling crime novels during the Golden Age.

When Harold Merefield returned home in the early hours of a winter morning from a festive little party at that popular nightclub, the ‘Naxos’, he was startled by a gruesome discovery. On his bed was a corpse.

There was nothing to show the identity of the dead man or the cause of his death. At the inquest, the jury found a verdict of ‘Death from Natural Causes’ – perhaps they were right, but yet . . . ?

Harold determined to investigate the matter for himself and sought the help of Professor Priestley, who, by the simple but unusual method of logical reasoning, succeeded in throwing light upon what proved to be a very curious affair indeed.

This Detective Club classic is introduced by crime writing historian and expert Tony Medawar, who looks at how John Rhode, who also wrote as Miles Burton and as Cecil Waye, became one of the best-selling and most popular British authors of the Golden Age.

 Crime Crime Fiction Detective Fiction Historical Fiction International Mystery & Crime Mystery Police Procedural Traditional Detectives

Critic reviews

‘One always embarks on a John Rhode book with a great feeling of security. One knows that there will be a sound plot, a well-knit process of reasoning and a solidly satisfying solution with no loose ends or careless errors of fact.’
DOROTHY L. SAYERS in THE SUNDAY TIMES

‘He must hold the record for the invention of ingenious ways of taking life.’
SUNDAY TIMES

‘John Rhode never lets you down. A carefully worked out plot, precise detection, with no logical flaws or jumping to conclusions, and enough of character and atmosphere to carry the thing along.’
FRANCIS ILES in the DAILY TELEGRAPH

‘Any murder planned by Mr Rhode is bound to be ingenious.’ OBSERVER

‘John Rhode well deserves his reputation as a constructor of almost flawless detective story plots. To read any of his tales is a very agreeable intellectual exercise.’
DAILY MAIL
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The automatic star rating system wouldn’t let me give it 1star. I couldn’t get into it and therefore returned it.

Not the star ratings I would choose

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I enjoyed the writing and the verbal delivery, but the solution to the mystery was blindingly obvious.

Entertaining but predictable

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'Read by Gordon Griffin.' Three chapters are read by somebody else. Who and why? It somewhat spoils the continuity. Gordon Griffin (assuming it was he who read most of the book) was preferable.

Fine story, but who's the other reader?

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Struggled to finish hardly describes it. Not recommended. I usually enjoy dated Ktimis but this was a flop.

very transparent plot, boring.

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Fairly predictable story, which would be okay if anything actually happened in it. Instead it's just a logical problem dealt with from the armchair of Dr Priestly with a bit of befuddled questioning by the main character and Priestly's unbelievably wet daughter.

Dull

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