Seven Keys to Baldpate

By: Earl Derr Biggers, George M. Cohan

Narrated by: John Rubinstein, Joe Barrett, Gabrielle de Cuir, Justine Eyre, John Lee, Stefan Rudnicki, full cast

Length: 11 hrs and 46 mins

Publisher's summary

The famous author William Magee is in need of a place free from interruptions to write his next book, and so he heads to a summer mountain resort in the dead of winter in New York City. The Baldpate Inn happens to be closed for the season…but it is certainly not deserted.

Magee was given a key to the Baldpate Inn so he might write in solitude, but he soon discovers that he is not the only person with a key. In fact, he is only one of seven! And the other guests, including a young woman who catches Magee’s eye, are all there on a mission to find a mysterious package with a large sum of money.

So, instead of the peace and quietude he sought, Magee is dropped smack dab in the middle of a dangerous battle of wits. Before the week is out, there will be gunfire, bribery, fights in the snow…and hidden truths will be revealed. Featuring a range of clever characters and witty repartee, Seven Keys to Baldpate is a fast-paced thriller that will keep you guessing until the very end.

George M. Cohan adapted Earl Derr Biggers’s Seven Keys to Baldpate for the theater in 1913, and Skyboat Media is pleased to present a dramatized reading of Cohan’s play in this original audiobook compilation.

In George M. Cohan’s theatrical adaptation, novelist Billy Magee makes a bet with a wealthy friend that he can write a ten-thousand-word story within twenty-four hours. Just as in the novel, he retires to the Baldpate Inn in the dead of winter and locks himself in, believing he possesses the only key. But there appear to be seven keys to Baldpate, as he is besieged by visitors and drawn into their hijinks, including a plot to steal a large sum of money from the hotel safe. But the arrival of these guests is hardly a coincidence…and they may have a secret agenda of their own.

Public Domain (P)2022 Blackstone Publishing

Boring

No matter how long I listened the book didn’t get better. It simply is not a book for me.

A Clever Novel and a Clever Play

I like mysteries and it came in a nice double dose this time: a novel and then the play version. The novel is dated (yes, it is over 100 years old!) as is the play. I enjoyed the crisp story-telling by Tony-winner John Rubinstein (I listen to his decades of narrating Jonathan Kellerman's series) and I felt he was the perfect choice for the New York writer who gets stranded in the snow-bound cabin. Then, it was fun to listen to a full cast reading of George M Cohan's adaptation of the play, and to see how Cohan crafted it into the huge Broadway hit play that it was at that time. A very fun listen all around, I thought. My pre-teens enjoyed the play with the sound effects and the accents, on a long road trip. Light weight mystery, but very well produced. Fun stuff.