The Stately Home Murder

By: Catherine Aird

Narrated by: Robin Bailey

There's been a murder at the Manor!

At this stately home, now open for public tours, visitors revel in the lush atmosphere created by its three hundred rooms, its exceptional display of fine china, its chilling dungeon with historic suits of armor on display, evoking the spirits of knights from a forgotten age. Young Michael's sister, a visitor to the mansion with their mum, presses her for an explanation of "what's a chastity belt?" while Michael fools around with one of the suits of armor. He lifts the visor and stares inside, only to find a face staring back at him! A dead human body has been stashed inside the armor after having been done in by a savage blow to the back of the head. Detective Inspector C.D. Sloan and his wisecracking sidekick Crosby are called in to figure out whodunit and why.

Mystery fans will relish this delightful entry in Catherine Aird's highly esteemed classic series starring Sloan, of the Berebury Criminal Investigations Dept. in Calleshire, England, and his amiable but not very able assistant, Crosby. The two are introduced in The Religious Body, the first of 18 C.D. Sloan mysteries. Aird's work is among the very best of the British police procedural genre, particularly noteworthy for the delightful sense of humor woven throughout.

The Stately Home Murder was originally published as The Complete Steel.

©1973 Catherine Aird (P)2000 Chivers Audio Books

Terrible narrator!

Narrator is good sometimes but lapses into periods of talking too fast & slurring words. I actually got a refund on this book because of this problem. First time I’ve had this problem in many years with Audible. Outstanding customer service to resolve the problem.

4

This old book is a lot better than I thought it would be. Murder at the
Castle. What could be sillier? It turned into an excellent who done it.
Follow the story, listen carefully, relax and enjoy the quick, quiet humor.

Fun mystery.

Narrator was exactly right for this book. I enjoyed the droll humor in the dialogue.

Pay your money, find a body!

I truly enjoyed the story! I was in the dictionary a bit , but I didn’t mind that. I didn’t know that there was so much to learn about castles. I didn’t guess the ending.

Interesting story

Loved The narration by Robin Bailey! This is the first book by Catherine Aird I've listened to, I found it quite enjoyable ! Also loved the quirky British humor, Mr. Bailey expressed that so well, made me chuckle! Will look for more books in this series!

A Little Too Prim and Proper

I'm a big fan of English mysteries and cozy mysteries, but I had a hard time focusing on this one, although I did finish it. I didn't get vested in the characters, and by the end I really could care less who the murderer was. I may try another in the series before giving up.

Fun. Easy. Worth it.

Some times you want to paddle the rapids and exercise your brain. Other times you want to float in simple the inner tube and let the gentle river take you away. This book is the inner tube. It is a great weekend getaway.

good book

very satisfying listen. that is all I have to say however I have to say more because I am required to say more stupid policy.

Nice Cozt

My first introduction to DI Sloan and his side kick Crosby and I quickly read another 4 books by Catherine Aird. As some reviewers mentioned, I sometimes found it difficult to understand the narrator especially when he was doing the Lord of the Manor accent. But also thought that it was probably very authentic as well. If you could tolerate the narrator and some sentences being chopped off in what appear to be a mumble or jumble of words then you may enjoy this mystery :-). I truly got quite a few chuckles.

Worth listening to

I wonder why you can’t easily see your own rating in the library on this app to remind you whether the author and reader are good or not.