I loved this episode on Poirot with David Suchet so I decided it was high time to finally listen to the book on which it was based.
I was initially puI loved this episode on Poirot with David Suchet so I decided it was high time to finally listen to the book on which it was based.
I was initially put off by it NOT being narrated by Hugh Fraser as so many of the Poirot tales are but there's a good reason for this that one soon discovers. The original tale was clearly crafted as a tale told by a woman narrator who was there and was involved in the events described. While the character of nurse Amy Leatheran is in the TV episode, her role was greatly reduced in order to give Hastings a place in the episode. As with the rest of the television series, this tale was lovingly adapted but with far fewer Art Deco references and the subplot about Poirot's larcenous Countess Vera Rossakoff was added.
In Greek Mythology, Hercules completed 12 labors, now Hercule Poirot challenges himself to complete 12 cases before retirement. S**Review in progress**
In Greek Mythology, Hercules completed 12 labors, now Hercule Poirot challenges himself to complete 12 cases before retirement. Slay the Nemean Lion made difficult by the lion's invisibility - In Hercule's modern case the lion in question is a kidnapped Pekingese lapdog Slay the Lernean Hydra but as each head is lopped off two take its place - The hydra here is a rumor that a doctor has poisoned his wife so that he could marry his nurse Capture the Golden Hind The Arcadian Deer sacred to Artemis Here Hercule takes it upon himself to locate the maid of a Russian Ballet dancer that a young English adonis has fallen in love with Capture the Erymanthian Boar a particularly savage beast - When a notoriously murderous criminal holds up in a mountain resort Hercule must locate the criminal Clean the Augean Stables - When the British PM consults Poirot to Defeat the Stymphalian Birds consumers of human flesh Capture the Cretan Bull Bring Back the Mares of Diomedes Obtain the Belt of Hippolyta Obtain the Cattle of Geryon Bring the Golden Apples of Hesperides Capture Cerberus...more
Listened to this one again. As with so many good books there are layers that the reader only gets on subsequent re-reads. In some ways, this is one ofListened to this one again. As with so many good books there are layers that the reader only gets on subsequent re-reads. In some ways, this is one of Agatha Christie's best.
In it, she meets the rich (but crippled, curmudgeonly and dying) Jason Rafeal. Christie fans will know that when he finally does die a year or so later, he asks her to once again assume the role of Nemesis, the goddess of divine retribution and revenge and we get that other wonderful book Nemesis
The version of this one that I listened to was narrated by Rosalind Ayers and she does a marvelous job. Her own voice is great for the narrative parts of the tale and her voice acting is up to snuff giving us easily recognizable voices for all of the main characters that actually add detail and depth to their on-page characters.
In this book, Christie (in the voice of Jason Rafael) gives us her own tips for estate planning. If they were more widely followed, Marple and Poroit would have had far fewer cases to solve. She advises that those with money, be generous enough with it in such a way that those around them know that they'll suffer financially when the rich ones pass away. Of course, in order to follow this philosophy we need to acknowledge our own mortality and pay things forward.
This book was first written in the early 60s and it's a bit of a time capsule. It bears many of the marks of that era. The plot clearly shows influences from Gaslight while the characters use dialogue that's xenophobic, sexist, and very class-conscious. There's even a "better living through chemistry" attitude toward anti-depressants and sleeping aids.
The Helen Hayes film version, A Caribbean Mystery (1983) attempts to clear up some of these difficulties going so far as to make the resort's medical doctor, Dr, Graham a black man though the book clearly intimates that he's white. Casting Brock Peters, the black actor that played Tom Robinson in To Kill a Mockingbird, might have been overkill. Whatever the reason, the film now has a clearly "dated drama" feel, while book just feels authentic for its period. As to the film, while Helen Hayes is a treat, so little of the intricate details of the Christie tale (including a lot of philosophizing dialogue) make it into the film. The book is far superior....more
In my opinion Book 1 (Jon’s Downright Ridiculous Shooting Case) was, in many ways, an almost perfect M/M audio-book. It was told in first person with In my opinion Book 1 (Jon’s Downright Ridiculous Shooting Case) was, in many ways, an almost perfect M/M audio-book. It was told in first person with the smart, snarky and charming psychic Jon as the storyteller.
Jon isn’t the stereotypical psychic. He doesn’t communicate with dead people or read cards or crystals. Instead he sees people’s auras. The colors in their “meridians” reveal their current emotions and the emotional impact of the past experiences that helped to shape their personality. e.g. committing murder leaves a permanent mark one’s psyche. This also makes Jon a near perfect lie detector. It also makes him anathema to anything that uses electricity. He’s fried more laptops, microwaves, and cell phones than he can recall, and has resorted to driving a HumVee because it’s engine is shielded against EMPs (Electromagnetic pulses)
In book one Jon explains a lot about what his life is like, and is paired up with Dominic Avili a hulking ex-military policeman of Tongan ancestry who looks even more intimidating due to scars he received while protecting someone. This burly teddy-bear of a man with an over-protective streak is the perfect foil to Jon’s vulnerability and penchant for attracting people who want him dead. The book’s primary focus was Jon’s transition from lone wolf to a happily partnered out gay man.
The book was masterfully narrated by the late Kenneth Obi who perfectly captured Jon’s Tennessee Blue-tick accent (Think Jack Daniels & Coke.) Obi gave distinctive voices to the dozen or so other main characters in that book, as well.
Book 2, Jon’s Crazy Head-Boppin’ Mystery was narrated by Lloyd Thomas who took up the reins after Obi’s 2020 death. In that book Jon and Dominic deepened their involvement and become room-mates as well as work partners. The book continues in the world-building, and focuses on a mystery where women are being assaulted. The two MCs do a lot of negotiating about their developing relationship. Jon is terrified of alienating Dominic from over-exposure. We get to see a side of M/M relationships that one doesn’t often see in more superficial romance novels, the accommodation/adjustment phase.
Both men bear the scars of their pasts, for Jon that includes divorced parents, being “kicked out” of his family home at 17, and a college boyfriend who couldn’t deal with the side effects of Jon’s psychic abilities. Despite Donovan’s physical scars, he’s had relatively healthy supportive life to date and his struggle to get closer to Jon while allowing Jon the time he needs to trust others (and to trust himself) is something I’d like to see more of in M/M fiction. Happiness isn’t just a switch that we can flick.
Thomas did an Great job narrating this story. After all, Obi’s performance in the first novel was a near impossible act to follow. This second novel was also more difficult to adapt to audio because it follows the more traditional format of switching between the perspectives of the two main characters.
The numerous characters are voiced by Thomas in a professional manner. I did miss Jon’s Tennessee accent. It was so great in the first book but entirely missing here. (Maybe just the Coke without the Jack Daniels?) This might have been due to the introduction of a new character with a strong Texas accent. It might be more than Thomas was willing to take on to get the Tennessee and Texas accents to flow easily.
Instead he made masterful use of some of the book’s idiosyncrasies to add some audio flavor. Several bits of dialogue are actually phone calls, some private and some on speaker. Still others are heard through a microphone in another room. The audiobook recording makes those sound as one would expect them to; not just continue in the standard “narrator voice.” Thomas does make a few “vocal typos” (e.g.. calling Dominic’s father “Kane” although it’s clearly written Kanye) but those are easily forgivable and unless you’ve read the books, you’ll probably not notice.
Now, on to Jon’s Spooky Corpse Conundrum... The agency is sending the boys out of town this time, and Jon runs into the father who abandoned him and his family when he was seven years old. The first novel was about a charming pair of guys falling in love. The second was about managing a relationship past the honeymoon stage. This one is about healing old family wounds and dealing with perceived familial wrongs.
The main characters in this series are portrayed distinctively. They emphasize dialogue and working through their differences. When it comes to relationships, all too many M/M authors appear to undervalue believability, even in fiction. Too many M/M books verge on the harlequin, with simple, cookie-cutter narratives that appear to be filler to bring the reader to “the feelings” and the happy ending.
The books in this series are full of “feel-good” moments throughout, not just at the happy ending. And it’s done without the reader feeling “talked down to,” or taken for granted. Some people, (particularly those people NOT raised in a comfortable middle class, mid-western home like I was) may find being surrounded by so many well meaning, likable people like we are in this book a bit too sweet. However, I believe the author does a good job of breaking through that sweetness with an intriguing mystery.
All three of these books share another unusual trait. While these all have standard “whodunnit” aspects to them, the villains aren’t simple two dimensional constructs. Because of Jon’s ability to see the emotions that underpin the culprit’s behavior, the author gives us a more understanding perspective of the culprit’s behavior. People in real life are very rarely entirely “evil.” They can be venal and selfish and insufficiently mindful of others, but there is generally some justification (at least in their own eyes) for what they do. Here that justification is brought to the front. It’s kind of nice to see that in fictional characters.
In book three, Lloyd Thomas returns to narrate, but he doesn’t seem to be working as hard as he did in the previous books. The book was again told from the alternating perspectives of Dominic and Jon, but several times Thomas sometimes “slipped” and used the wrong voice for a time. It wasn’t too often, and never lasted for an entire chapter, but more than once I thought… “That section should have been re-recorded.” There were also a number silly “voice typos” as well. One can misspeak and say “amiable” when they mean “amenable” and a few of those may slip through. However, when one is narrating a police drama style book, pronouncing “arraignment” as “arrangement” is just bit slip-shod.
That said, This is still a title that I’ve added to my wish list as I’ll undoubtedly re-listen to this one periodically.
Oddly, I've not historically been a fan of M/M Police/ Partner books. I've never really been able to figure out why. I love police procedural shows onOddly, I've not historically been a fan of M/M Police/ Partner books. I've never really been able to figure out why. I love police procedural shows on TV. And I love more traditional mysteries particularly Poirot and Marple.
I think that maybe what's been missing in my past forays into this area were fully realized, three dimensional characters that were able to maintain snarky dialogue whilst solving the mystery AND charming me.
When I started listening to book 1 in this series I was a bit dubious in that the Audible samples of other books narrated by Kenneth Obi had been very poorly chosen. John Bane, the character he portrays in that first book Jon's Downright Ridiculous Shooting Case is a smart & charming southern boy that I sort of fell for. Additionally the book was ideal for an audio book in that it was one guy telling the story from his point of view. The other character dialogue didn't need to be all that realistic sounding as it was understood to be Jon's version of their voices.
Also the story was devoid of my worst pet peeve, a plot that depends on a misunderstanding between the male characters for its drama. Instead we got a book where the guys talked to each other (a LOT) about their fears and agreed that the only way relationships work is when people communicate.
Unfortunately book 2 had a major hurdle to overcome. Narrator Kenneth Obi died and was unavailable to narrate the book. Lloyd Thomas stepped in. He'd narrated several other books but as far as I can tell they were big budget, full cast audio0books.
Here he had to carry the weight on his own. Also the book was no longer all told from Jon's POV. Half the chapters were told by Donovan. He did a great job.
While I missed the original Jon as I'd come to know him, this Jon was at least as good as what other voice actors might do. There were very distinctive voices for the major characters and he managed them regardless of which character had the POV bit in his teeth at the moment. I've not heard many books where that's the case and it worked surprisingly well here. He also uses some simple sound effects such as making the dialogue that we get as phone calls (on speaker) actually sound that way in the audio-book. It worked well.
Some of my favorite parts? The boyz banter over Bar B Que. It kinda gives you a look at what it might be like to date a lie detector. The scenes in which Jon is a bit "drunk" from the Psi enhancing drugs he's taken. I love me a good drunk scene and to have both characters speaking in their own distinctive voices during that scene worked really well.
There was also a smart bit of story telling by the author at one point... there's a bunch of information about a case that the team joins already in progress. To have us getting that in the form of a briefing while en route to the scene worked really well. We got the details we needed without having to slow down the story presenting these details in some other format.
I really like these characters. Others have criticized them as being a rip off of the Psy Cop series in which a psychic works for the police. I've not read that series but I'm guessing the parallels of that series main character being a psychic named Victor Bayne and this series having a police consultant who's a psychic name Jon Bane is too much of a parallel for long-time lovers of the other series to dismiss. As far as I'm concerned, the name is an homage and the feel of the stories and their intent is very different.
That said, I understand that BOTH series are worth you checking out for yourself. Though this series concentration on these two magnificent main characters and their relationship makes this one the more appealing to me....more
Jonathan Bane is a southern boy with a Tennessee, blue-tick accent, thicker than molasses. He's a psychic who works for a PI/Psychic firm. He's not yoJonathan Bane is a southern boy with a Tennessee, blue-tick accent, thicker than molasses. He's a psychic who works for a PI/Psychic firm. He's not your typical psychic. He gets no messages from the dead. Instead he can read people's auras. That makes him a better than average lie detector, something that the local police have no problem making use of. He's also a pretty talkative guy with not much of a filter so it makes him perfect as the book's sole POV and narrator.
Problem is that there's something about Jon's "gifts" that make him anathema to anything electronic. He's fried more cell phones and laptops by accident than he'd care to admit. And brushing up against an electronic door lock may get him trapped for hours. Even his car needed to be EMP proofed. Another problem is that many of the folks he's helped put behind bars would like to see him dead and Jon can't exactly call 911 when things go down.
Enter Donovan Havili, an ex-Army ranger who's just been hired by the firm to keep Jonathan alive, and to open doors and make calls, and... and... Donovan's a big guy of Tongan heritage and a born protector. He's a big man whose been physically scarred by his past and looks a bit scary. Most guys can't see past that. Jon can hardly see it over the bright "mahalo/no sweat/teddybear" aura.
While the two are both immediately attracted by the other, neither has had happy romantic life, and are wary that their partnership may not last. Seeing the two gradually realize that they may just be perfect for each other makes this one of the sweetest tales I've encountered in a while.
This book is told from a single character's POV (Jon) so it makes an ideal candidate to be an audio-book. Kenneth Obi does a very credible Tennessee native accent as the main character and gives the dialogue from the multiple other characters great personal voices of their own that add depth and nuance to tale. The women's voices are believable and the accents clearly clue you into background and race and attitude even beyond what's on the printed page.
I should point out that Jon is a product of the American south so he's about 30 years behind on some aspects of political correctness, e.g. the way he spouts some stereotypes about Asian men. Though he is open and honest and generally a good hearted guy so I didn't let it bother me. He is said to be thirty-something so he also made me feel a bit ancient when Donovan had to explain the concept of a mechanical wristwatch to him. He is clearly a product of the "wired generation." I still recall the first digital watch I ever got. It certainly wasn't my first watch.
This book is a pure pleasure to listen to. I listened to a borrowed copy that I got via HOOPLA, but I'm already adding it to my wish list, as I'm certain this will soon be on my frequent re-play list. Oddly it's NOT available on Audible, though is available through other sources....more
Jeff Lyndsey created an interesting character when he created Dexter Morgan. and the first book, Darkly Dreaming Dexter was a brilliant invention. TheJeff Lyndsey created an interesting character when he created Dexter Morgan. and the first book, Darkly Dreaming Dexter was a brilliant invention. The alliteration was fun and the characters & situations interesting enough that the HBO series was born. However the way that the series went varied almost immediately from the books and the talented team brought in to create the series did an amazing job of making something that was already great into something that was brilliant.
Problem is that the author is hard pressed to keep up with the amazing team of series writers and the other books seem considerably less interesting that the TV seasons. One aspect of the books that doesn't appear in the TV series is the homicidal nature of the children and while I do find that interesting, it's not enough on its own.
Still, the books are interesting and I will probably continue to read them but don't feel the same compulsion as I did to watch the series to its ultimate end.
I'd like to note that I obtained the copy of this that I read through my local (St. Petersburg, FL) library's digital library program. While the selection is much more limited than through their HOOPLA program, at least these titles play nicely with my Kindle Fire. ...more
One of Christie's more convoluted plots. The beginning seems positively languid while the ending seems rushed. Still, that's nitpicking. Even at her wOne of Christie's more convoluted plots. The beginning seems positively languid while the ending seems rushed. Still, that's nitpicking. Even at her worst she's among the best of storytellers. ...more
Read this during the wait for my new computer to arrive. Getting disconnected from the internet is a great impetus to go old-school and return to sourRead this during the wait for my new computer to arrive. Getting disconnected from the internet is a great impetus to go old-school and return to sources.
The copy that I got from the library included the tale "Murder in the Mews" The Incredible Theft, The Triangle at Rhodes and Dead Man's Mirror.
As with most of the Poirot stories I've watched and rewatched the lovingly adapted (and embellished) versions with David Suchet and it was fun to see the originals in this book. Most of them have been improved in the TV adaptations but that's due in part to the sturdy and well constructed stories that are their basis.
Now as to specifics but be forewarned there may be some minor spoilers. (view spoiler)[ Isn't anyone else a bit bothered that the title of Murder in the Mews is a bit misleading? (hide spoiler)] Dead Man's Mirror - In the TV show we get to meet Sir Gervais The prequel like scenes added to the TV adaptation show him as a far different character than the one described in the book. I liked both but am not sure which one I preferred. The Incredible Theft - I think I prefer the original story but it's clearly not long enough to make an episode of so it's understandable that all the fol-de-rol was added for the TV adaptation. Triangle at Rhodes - The story was quite good on its own but the pre-WWII Mussolini stuff made the TV adaptation was a definite plus.
Having read this and seen a few adaptations I decided to try listening to the audio-book version while dozing off. It's actually a great way to revisiHaving read this and seen a few adaptations I decided to try listening to the audio-book version while dozing off. It's actually a great way to revisit the sleepy village of St. Mary Mead.
This one has entered my constant audio re-reread queue....more
Loved the BBC adaptation. In some ways it was better than the text. I guess that's what happens when so many talented people are involved in reproduciLoved the BBC adaptation. In some ways it was better than the text. I guess that's what happens when so many talented people are involved in reproducing something they love....more
Loading...
