The Norfolk Mysteries cover art

The Norfolk Mysteries

County Guides to Murder, Book 1

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The Norfolk Mysteries

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.

©2013 Ian Sansom (P)2013 HarperCollins Publishers Limited Crime Thrillers Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Military Mystery Thriller & Suspense War & Military Thriller War Suspense

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Critic reviews

‘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  

Would you listen to The Norfolk Mysteries again? Why?

I will definitely listen again, to work out how the book seemed to be over before it really started when I listened the first time. The 8 or so hours of reading seemed to all happen at the same pace so the ending wasn't climactic or anticlimactic as it was all the same level.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Norfolk Mysteries?

The sex scene. I was expecting a cosy mystery!

What does Mike Grady bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?

I don't know because I haven't read the book.

Any additional comments?

I decided to try this on a whim and because a 'murder in a vicarage' and the cover made it appear as if it would be a bit Agatha Christie like. Instead the murder was in the church and the book started with a lot of the main character's back history and it was all quite modern and realistic. Not at all a cosy mystery.Good, but not what I was after.

Completely Unexpected

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the secondary character Swanton Morley is extremely annoying. whilst this is intentional on the part of the author I found the book difficult to listen to and had to give up halfway through

not my favourite listen

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I enjoyed this book, full of period detail. not the sort of book I usually go for and it made a nice change.
I liked the characters, the story was a little long but gentle and amusing in places.

A change!

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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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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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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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A story that keeps you listening and an unusual central character. The narrator was expressive and captured characters perfectly.

A most unusual story

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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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I've never returned a book before but I did for this one. Narrator is fine but 6 chapters I and nothing as happened, all the characters ate awful, annoying people who I was hoping would all get murdered. As that was unlikely to happen, I just retuned it

Dreadful

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