The Album

By: Mary Roberts Rinehart

Narrated by: Lucy Scott

Length: 11 hrs and 17 mins

Publisher's summary

A killer has an axe to grind in this classic whodunit from the number-one New York Times best-selling author of The Circular Staircase and mystery-writing pioneer.

Crescent Place was once a peaceful country green surrounded by five tasteful suburban houses and populated by polite, responsible citizens. But as the city enveloped it, the residents built a gate to keep the world out. With each passing year, the subdivision grew stranger and stranger - until it began to look like a time capsule of the 1890s. In these houses are a husband and wife who fight constantly, and another couple who hasn't spoken to each other in two decades. There is a widow in permanent mourning and a daughter whom the newspapers call psychotic. And there is a bedridden old woman who is about to be killed with an axe.

When her murder shatters the quiet of the little enclave, the tabloids delight in trumpeting the neighborhood's peculiarities. But as the search for the killer intensifies, the area's strangest secrets have yet to be revealed.

©1933 Mary Roberts Rinehart; copyright 1961 by Stanley M. Rinehart Jr., Frederick R. Rinehart, and Alan G. Rinehart (P)2021 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books

Totally Entertaining

A bedridden woman is brutally axed to death on Crescent Avenue, a secluded and highly respectful suburban neighborhood of five homes, and it appears that it was someone she knew, and knew well. Soon, the Crescent's deepest secrets are being unearthed, and, perhaps as a result, the body count continues to rise.

The Album is told from the point of view of Louisa Hall, one of the youngest of the Crescent at twenty-something, as she slowly learns the facts of the case from those doing the detecting. It's well-written, engaging, and completely entertaining as Rinehart's novels generally are. She is the master of the "had I but known" plot, and this is one of the best and most humorous examples. The hints and clues and red herrings of the complex plot are dropped thickly, so that by the end, the reader has all that is needed to solve the crime before the denouement. It's thoroughly engrossing, and such fun, despite the gruesome crime. While it may not be five star literature, I got that much enjoyment out it and definitely recommend it to those who enjoy mysteries written during this period.

Ms. Scott gave a solidly good performance, with recognizable voices and a pleasant voice overall.

Hard To Follow

The single voice becomes annoying, and there are so many characters that the story is impossible to follow. Ditched it with 2 hours left.