• A Man Lay Dead

  • By: Ngaio Marsh
  • Narrated by: Philip Franks
  • Length: 5 hrs and 18 mins
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (639 ratings)

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A Man Lay Dead  By  cover art

A Man Lay Dead

By: Ngaio Marsh
Narrated by: Philip Franks
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Publisher's summary

Wealthy Sir Hubert Handesley's original and lively weekend house parties are deservedly famous. To amuse his guests, he has devised a new form of the fashionable Murder Game, in which a guest is secretly selected to commit a 'murder' in the dark, and everyone assembles to solve the crime. But when the lights go up this time, there is a real corpse....

©1934 Ngaio Marsh (P)2015 Hachette Audio

What listeners say about A Man Lay Dead

Average customer ratings
Overall
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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Great narration

This is the first Inspector Alleyn Mystery. The story isn’t of the same caliber as the later stories, but worth a read if you want to learn how it all began.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A very good story

The voices of the characters are great. The story is both entertaining and intellectual. The story is a bit on the long side.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

The beginning

First of the Alleyn novels a bit clunky but entertaining. Good to know where it all began.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Splendid!

I love listening to Philip Franks, especially when he pronounces Alleyn's name correctly. Not Ngaio Marsh's best but worth a listen anytime.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

The first Alleyn novel

Highly entertaining and intelligent. Marsh was still working up to her full powers, but this is nonetheless excellent. Narration is brilliantly done.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Ngaio Marsh deserves more recognition

Can recommend. Excellent narrator and absolutely typical (in the best way) golden age murder mystery.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Clever Story

Well plotted story and as expected well written. Characters not especially endearing and the Russian part of plot was a bit peculiar. still a pleasure to listen to.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

classic detective story, done well

if you read Ngaio Marah, you know own what you are getting: a solid mystery (logic pizzzle) with a teeny bit of character development for the detective thrown.in over many novels. I love these books and two classic British detective genre. there is a very good reason Marsh ranks up there with Christie and Sayers.

here, the narrator/voice performer does am excellent job with the different characters.

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Uninteresting

I found it difficult to keep track with this book. I didn't really see the point of the Russian spy part of the plot. Skipping that would have made it a little better. Also the narrator could have been more animated. It was like he was reading stereo instructions.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Page turner.

Page turner. Suspenseful great audio book. I love the twists, turns and details of the select stars like Marsh.

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2 people found this helpful