Laura

I have always loved the 1940's movie of Laura with Gene Tierney and Dana Andrews and several years ago it prompted me to read the original novel, which is a bit dated but still quite a good read. This is a very creditable audio version. The novel is told from several different points of view and it works well with the multiple readers. My only small criticisms are that Laura's voice is a bit more girlish than the one I hear in my head when I read the novel and Shelby didn't have any trace of a Southern accent. But Waldo Lydecker and Mark McPherson are perfect. I recommend this. I'm already on my second listen.

This story is long. As with most murder mysteries, it is a temptation to want to race through and get to the conclusion. Be patient and wallow in the character descriptions and insights that are outstanding.

Beautiful, trusting, intelligent

Dinner scene between Mark and Waldo.

Yes it was. However, I used it as an incentive to take my morning walk while listening. For that reason, I keprt my listen to about an hour each day.

I purchased the book because I always enjoyed the movie and thought I would just relive that experience. It was, however, much more with twists and turns not in the movie.It kept my interest, even though I knew the basic story plot.

Yes. The characters are all classic. This is what mystery drama shoud be.

The performance was excellent. The range of characters portrayed make this reader an actors actor. Bravo!

Don't reveal the ending

This is a rare case of the movie being much better than the book (Sideways is another). The writing is sadly dated -- stilted, artificial dialogue, annoyingly precious and two-dimensional characters. The narrators, all good readers, do their best with the material, but they couldn't save it. I actually couldn't finish this book.