Murder on the Flying Scotsman

A Daisy Dalrymple Mystery, Book 4

By: Carola Dunn

Narrated by: Mia Chiaromonte

It is the spring of 1923 and the Honorable Daisy Dalrymple is on her way to a stately home in Scotland to research her next article for Town and Country. On board the Flying Scotsman, the famous London-to-Edinburgh train, Daisy meets an old schoolfellow, Anne Bretton. Anne, along with all of her relatives, is en route to visit the deathbed of the family scion and notorious miser, Alistair McGowan. As it currently stands, Alistair's will leaves the entire family fortune to his brother Albert, and the rest of the family is rushing to his side, each hoping to convince him to change his will in their favor.

Daisy, meanwhile, has her hands full taking care of Detective Inspector Alec Fletcher's young daughter Belinda, who ran away from home and stowed away aboard the train. She barely has time to take notice of the intricate family feud taking place all around her - that is, until Albert McGowan is found murdered on the train and Daisy is surrounded by an entire family of suspects.

©1996 Carola Dunn (P)2013 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Enjoyed story despite bleeding ears

I almost quit listening after the first 27 seconds but my investment in Daisy won out over the painful narration. It was not so bad when narrating ladies’ voices or general commentary. But the attempts at male voices, Scottish brogue and any reflection of feeling (“he said in a roar” was narrated in a happy upper-register lilt) was abysmal. Still not sorry I pushed through and look forward to more adventures with Daisy and co.

Not a Fan of This Narrator

I love this series and I noticed how staccato this narrator is not to mention how awful she is at accents. Even though I'm American, I watch a lot of British TV. Her Scottish accent leaves a lot to be desired and something I recommend she works on.

I also recommend she works on her pauses in reading. they're very... odd, unnatural, and makes it rather hard to follow the story.

I'm glad I'm a Premium member and didn't pay for this. it's going to be very difficult to want to listen to the next few stories because they have the same narrator.

Murder on the flying Scotsman : review

Carola Dunn writes a fun mystery with returning characters in new situations with interesting villains.

Daisy is a favorite female sleuth.

The narrator has good emotional delivery balanced with a pleasant voice. Worth the read!

Good story. Accents were painful!

Would you listen to Murder on the Flying Scotsman again? Why?

Probably not. The narrator's accents were really too poor to go through the story again.

How could the performance have been better?

A different narrator for starters. Let's go back to the original reader. Her accents were authentic and helped the previous storylines move forward. This performer couldn't hold a British accent to save her life. I'm guessing she is American & just couldn't get a handle on the proper accents & word pronunciations. (And being American I can say that!) Even her Scot's started veering off into an Australian accent before the story was over. I will probably work my way through the rest of the series because I have grown fond of spunky Daisy & her friends. It looks like this same narrator goes on to perform the books after this one, so I certainly hope she has taken some lessons in, not only how to read a story with the properly placed emotions, cadence & flow but, also, with the proper accents & word pronunciations. Otherwise it will be a slog to get past her performance & to the actual story. Ugh!

Any additional comments?

All I can say is, please, someone else re-record the following stories in the series. I am a big Brit fan, & it is the lovely accents I enjoy as well as the stories.

fun

a very fun and entertaining book. so many suspects, it was a little hard to keep them all straight. In the end the person who committed the murder was a suprise.

Fun

Of course when Daisey boards a train to travel for work, a murder occurs!

Even better The young daughter of Alec stows away on the train and the adventure begins!

Lovely story, Change in Narrator negatively noticeable

I have really enjoyed this series so far. Light, witty, good escapist fun.The heroine is smart, sassy, but not completely unbelievable. I don't always like how she manages to skirt the law in the end for her friends, but that's literary license and not too disturbing. I also enjoy the growing relationship between her and the detective. Delightful. However, the change in narrator is VERY noticeable, and not in a good way. I have read other reviews here and I realize, as an American, I am not as sensitive or knowledgeable about the various accents/dialects she tries to speak (and apparently fails to do so). However, even as a non-native speaker, it is still apparent she cannot distinguish various characters and voices. I should say I am writing this review after having listened to a few more books in the series with this narrator. It doesn't get better. She has a pleasant enough voice, but the first narrator on this series was just so much better suited. However, the narration is not so bad that I will stop listening to the books as I find them very nice to make a long commute shorter. So, I give this an overall 4.

Love love 💕 this series

Great books ...!!!!great Series!!!! Great Narrator!!!!!!!!!!! You have a winner!!!!!! Thankful that I am able to listen...I have cataracts and listening is much easier...

Each Book in the Series Seems Better Than the Last

These stories seem to grow warmer and more human and more enjoyable which does not mean I disliked the early ones. This narrator’s voice is more spontaneous which adds a nice contrast to Daisy’s intimidating organizational skills. Belinda is a great addition. Who couldn’t love a train called the Flying Scotsman? (Well - except for the heat and murder!)

Good Story, Not As Good Performance

This story was just as enjoyable as the first three but the reading of it by a different performer confused me at times since I was used to the usual voices of the recurring characters. A lot of the male characters sounded the same to me. I will continue to listen to the rest of the books as I do enjoy the characters and the plots!