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The Midnight Hour

The Brighton Mysteries, Book 6

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The Midnight Hour

By: Elly Griffiths
Narrated by: Beth Eyre
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About this listen

A twisty new murder story from the best-selling author of the Dr Ruth Galloway Mysteries. An old man lies dead, and it looks like poison, but his wife isn't the only one who had reason to kill him.

Brighton, 1965.

When theatrical impresario Bert Billington is found dead in his retirement home, no one suspects foul play. But when the post-mortem reveals that he was poisoned, suspicion falls on his wife, eccentric ex-music hall star Verity Malone.

Frustrated by the police response to Bert's death and determined to prove her innocence, Verity calls in private detective duo Emma Holmes and Sam Collins. This is their first real case, but as luck would have it, they have a friend on the inside: Max Mephisto is filming a remake of Dracula, starring Seth Bellington, Bert's son. But when they question Max, they feel he isn't telling them the whole story.

Emma and Sam must vie with the police to untangle the case and bring the killer to justice. They're sure the answers must lie in Bert's dark past and in the glamorous, occasionally deadly, days of Music Hall. But the closer they get to the truth, the more danger they find themselves in....

©2021 Elly Griffiths (P)2021 Quercus Editions Limited Historical Modern Detectives Mystery Fiction Marriage

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All stars
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Elly Griffiths writes such interesting characters. This was so evocative of the era that I felt transported when listening and refreshed afterwards, with renewed gratitude for the way attitudes have progressed since then.
I agree that having a female narrator made sense given how the focus of the books has developed and Beth Eyre has a lovely voice. At times she missed giving emphasis to the appropriate word in the sentence, as though she were reading the words beautifully but not following the meaning. Hoping that will improve and I'll give 5 stars for performance next time.

A delightful and restorative listen

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I was rather disappointed and bemused by the last book and it’s sudden jump forward in time with the women all feeling out aside. Had I realised that the author was repositioning the stories to focus on them I’d have been pleased. Dull old Edgar and dirty old Mephisto had lost their interest but as more supporting characters, they act well as a foil to the women in a hopefully revitalised series.

Back on form

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The idea for the plot was good and the story passed the time but it was really irritating overall, especially the author's preamble and the "birth of feminism" stuff ...
Also, what is a uniformed "WDC"? Brighton had strange police uniforms (was it straw or white summer helmets, I shall have to Google it) but surely a female Brighton police officer in the 60s was either a uniformed WPC or a WDC wearing civilian clothes?
Or perhaps that was a mispronounciation by the narrator - wouldn't surprise me, very much prone to swallowing noises and slushy "s" sounds, a very prim-sounding voice as though through pursed lips, intolerable unless played at 1.30 speed - a narrator much better suited to a Victorian romance than a police procedural ...

Not as good as the other Brighton stories

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another good story in the series

Well read and a great plot

would recommend to everybody

Great listen

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I enjoyed this so much. The narrator is excellent and the small touches of music, the phone calls sounding like calls add so much. So good to have Emma, Meg and Sam take centre stage . Fantastic!!

Excellent

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I really enjoyed Beth Eyre reading this story especially as it was such a female dominated tale. Beth defined all the characters so well that I always knew who was speaking.

New Reader.

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I've both read and listen to quite a number of Elly Griffiths books, from both the Brighton and the Ruth Galloway series. I should say to start with that generally I've very much enjoyed them. they're good stories with intriguing plots.
My criticism, from the point of view of a male reader, which has been building up over several books, is the authors pushing off the feminist issue, which results in virtually all of her male characters being portrayed as either ponderously incompetent or misogynist dinosaurs, whereas all the female characters are portrayed as either fiercely intelligent, independent women battling against institutional sexism, or downtrodden and oppressed by men. Clearly sexism was rife in the police forces of the 50 and 60's, although I think the way it is portrayed is both simplistic and clichéd. As far as the Ruth Galloway books are concerned, the portrayal of the hideously sexist behaviour with both the police and college environment in the 21st century is out of touch with reality and simply exposes the authors own prejudices. Both my wife and I were police officers, in East Anglia, during the period the Ruth Galloway books were set and we both agreed that anyone behaving in the way the police officers are portrayed as behaving, would have been disciplined and sacked years ago.

My other niggling issue is the lack of factual research in Elly Griffiths' books, resulting in details with are inaccurate and detract from the story. In this story for example, detective constables wearing uniform... it simply didn't happen. This is just one example of many.
These criticism are based having read and largely enjoyed several of this authors books. I do like these stories and this one was particularly well narrated, I just feel that they are not without faults.

Another good story but with some faults

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Alright. Loved the vampire movie. The murders were convincing in terms of motivation and sequence of events, but the pace of the tale is a bit plodding with too much of characters rehearsing reactions in their own heads. The ending was painfully over-explained. Pedantically I also find it annoying to hear so many 21st century phrases on the 60s dialogue but that’s a fussy point- just I was around then, so I notice! Quite good narration. The actress does her very best to keep it all moving along.

Needs a good strong edit

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the author declares at the end of "now you see them " that as always she is drawn to female characters and so begins the midnight hour . I think she made a big mistake in making Emma and Meg and Sam the feature of her next two novels. they appear less interesting and weaker characters than previously when the story included the male characters more. in the previous novels the ladies shone out and were definitely more interesting when you had the weaker male characters to compare them with. I'm just about to read or rather listen to the great deceiver so maybe they will improve. the narrator is dismal. very little characterisation and I fell asleep too often as her voice was so dull. the narrator can make or break a book....do authors actually listen to the people they employ to read their books I wonder.

disappointing overall but passed the time

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So sorry the narrator has changed - I much preferred Luke Thompson. Beth Eyre is too monotonous with too little inflection. It is in line, however, with the change in the story and I have to confess I find the enormous emphasis on conditions for women a little tedious as I wanted to listen to a crime story, not a social studies. That being said, the plot itself is very good, keeping you guessing.

Uninteresting narrator

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