Carpe Jugulum
by Terry Pratchett (Doubleday, 1998)
audiobook read by Nigel Planer (Isis, 2000)
A perfectly respectable Discworld novel. The vampires pose a serious threat; Agnes Nitt evinces personality(ies). Still, there are rather more characters than focus, and thus a nagging sense of Pratchett extemporising a skyscraper and pulling it into place at the pointy end.
The French Powder Mystery
by Ellery Queen (Frederick A. Stokes, 1930)
audiobook read by Robert Fass (Blackstone, 2013)
More of the same. Ellery pontificates upon every detail in a manner contrived to suggest great intelligence (while painstakingly running through deductions). The investigation plays out blow-by-mundane-blow with much repetition, asking little of the reader save incredulity at the culprit’s day job.
A Book for Kids
by C.J. Dennis (Angus & Robertson, 1921)
audiobook read by Colin Friels (ABC Audio, 2016)
Supposedly unabridged, this audiobook in fact omits the stories, leaving only Dennis’s verse—short, rather dated bush ballads, their rhyme too simple for adults, the language too sophisticated for children. Colin Friels revisits his Play School days but fights a losing battle.
To the Dark Tower
by Victor Kelleher (Julia MacRae, 1992)
audiobook read by Francis Greenslade (Bolinda, 2007)
A suitably atmospheric, at times unsettling MG reworking of Robert Browning’s narrative poem ‘Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came’. Engrossing at the outset, the story sags in the middle but redeems itself with a measured, rather downbeat ending to the quest.
Gently in the Sun
by Alan Hunter (Cassell, 1959)
audiobook read by Andrew Wincott (Magna, 2013)
Atmospheric prose, unaccountable as a murder investigation. Gently dons an Hawaiian shirt and tries to solve the case through mystic osmosis. The only progress comes when people approach him of their own accord to volunteer information. Even then he gets it wrong.
Seven Dead
by J. Jefferson Farjeon (Collins, 1939)
audiobook read by David Thorpe (Soundings, 2020)
A Golden Age mystery with vim. The scenario is striking but the biggest drawcard is Detective Inspector Kendall (straight-talking, sarcastic, almost manically bonhomous), who even when absent for a long stretch mid-book is ably deputised by a good-natured and loquacious civilian offsider.
Sunday’s Fun Day, Charlie Brown
by Charles M. Schulz (Titan Comics, 2021)
[Reproducing the same title published by Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1968]
![Book cover: “Sunday’s Fun Day, Charlie Brown” by Charles M. Schulz (Titan Comics, 2021) [Reproducing the same title published by Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1968]](https://www.derelictspacesheep.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Schulz_Sundays-Fun-Day-Charlie-Brown.jpg)
A small-scale paperback volume collecting Sunday strips (approximately 59% of those published) from 1962-1965. The winnowing results in a strong mix, but Titan Comics have opted for black-and-white facsimiles instead of the colour reproductions that would make this anything but an also-ran.
Father Brown, Series 1
by G.K. Chesterton; dramatised by John Scotney (BBC Radio 4, 1984-1985)
Straightforward radio adaptations of seven Father Brown short stories. Andrew Sachs is soft-spoken and preoccupied in the lead role—which works as characterisation, but then ill-considered fluctuations in the recording volume see him drowned out by louder voices, crosstalk and sound effects.
The Moving Finger
by Agatha Christie (Dodd, Mead and Company, 1942)
audiobook read by Joan Hickson (Lamplight, 2015)
Joan Hickson (TV’s Miss Marple) would seem the perfect audiobook narrator… except that Miss Marple is absent for the first three-quarters and barely present for the remainder, the viewpoint character being a young man. Instead we’re given banal set-up plus egregious instalove.
The Kraken Wakes
by John Wyndham (Michael Joseph, 1953)
audiobook read by John Sackville (Audible, 2022)
A literary apocalyptic novel more Wells than Lovecraft (and superior to both). Wyndham’s narrative carries the ring of truth—through myriad details and logistics but also in its portrayal of humanity’s collective flaws. Phyllis Watson plays second fiddle yet outshines her husband.