Death at Wentwater Court

By: Carola Dunn

Narrated by: Bernadette Dunne

Length: 6 hrs and 38 mins

Publisher's summary

This first installment of a cozy mystery series transports listeners back to the bygone era of 1923 Britain, where unflappable flapper and fledgling journalist Daisy Dalrymple daringly embarks on her first writing assignment, and promptly stumbles across a corpse.

No stranger to sprawling country estates, wealthy Daisy Dalrymple is breaking new ground in having scandalously traded silver spoon for pen and camera to cover a story for Town and Country magazine. But her planned interviews with the inhabitants of Wentwater Court give way to interrogation after suave Lord Stephen Astwick meets a dire fate on the tranquil skating pond.

Armed with evidence that his fate was anything but accidental, Daisy joins forces with Scotland Yard to examine an esteemed collection of suspects and to see that the unlikely culprit doesn't slip through their fingers just as the unfortunate Astwick slipped through the ice.

©1994 Carola Dunn (P)2005 Blackstone Audiobooks

Wentwater Death

Sorry about this but I'm a Brit. Because of that I have a more informed opinion about some of this production than the expected audience, I suspect.

The reader does not do a good job with accents or pronunciation. Too many US versions (inqury, Fenella, Derby etc.) and some, frankly risible, accents that bear no resemblance to 'English as she is spoke'.

She's not helped by the author who seems to have a less than informed knowledge of usage and abusage of UK English in the early part of the 20th century; ("Spiffin' to hang out with you").

I won't stress the flaws in the plot or the social commentary and observation.

Nonetheless it's a very light time filler and I'd probably listen to another; but I would hope that they are read by a different reader and have a better editing process.

Fun, 20's era mystery-I love Daisy Dalrymple

I just discovered this fun series this past winter. I actually started with one of the later ones in the series and fell in love with Daisy Dalrymple! This series, set in the 20's reminds me a bit of the Jeeves and Wooster books, which I also love. The "By Jingo's," "Old Bean" and other such expressions make this a very enjoyable listen! This book is just introducing all the characters and each successive book adds more details, so you keep wanting more of Daisy's exploits. So far Blackstone Audio has agreed to do the first 4 in this series, and I hope they decide to do all of them. For a great change of pace in your listening routine, you won't go wrong with this book! Sit back, relax, and meet the irrepresible Daisy and all her chums.

Amateurish British accent

I enjoyed the book. It's a light and breezy mystery. However, the narrator sounded like a Theater Arts major attempting a British accent. It is not convincing, especially after hearing Barbara Rosenblat's spot on character portrayals in the Amelia Peabody mystery series.

Stuffy with a very disappointing ending

I bought two Daisy Dalrymple books hoping for something as good as Kerry Greenwood;s Phryne Fisher mysteries. I was quite disappointed.

The book cover would have you believe Daisy is similar to Phryne with short, bobbed, black hair. But that is hardly how she is described. And there is none of the decco air shown on the cover. Instead the characters are horribly 19th Century stuffy.

The mystery is convoluted and I found myself not really caring who the murderer was.

But without giving away the plot, I was horribly disappointed with the ending. This is NOT the way an amateur detective is supposed to behave. And it is NOT the way a Scotland Yard inspector would behave.

It was hard for me to start the second book as I couldn't trust Daisy's behavior.

Meanwhile, the narrator's breathy style is unnerving. And she has given Daisy a very little girl voice. With no feeling of being a grownup.

I'm giving up on the series.

Horrible Narration

What disappointed you about Death at Wentwater Court?

One of my pet peeves is British books read by American narrators who cannot speak with a convincing British accent. Bernadette Dunne sounded like a cross between Australian and Southern. There are plenty of excellent British narrators.

Would you ever listen to anything by Carola Dunn again?

I would like to try her first book in print or ebook format. I was unable to form an opinion on the book due to the horrible narration.

Would you be willing to try another one of Bernadette Dunne’s performances?

Perhaps, if she was not attempting a British accent.

Cozy listen!

If you love agatha raisin or her royal spyness series, get this one too! You'll love it!

pleasant leisure listening

This probably does not deserve four entire stars -though with a little more social history woven into the story, it might. As it is, it's a relaxing, nontaxing listen. I'd rate the second book in the series (The Winter Garden Mystery) similarly.

This series would appeal to fans of Anne Perry's and Laurie R King's historical mysteries, but both of those writers can entwine more social history unobtrusively into the listen - and King at her best can be a five star listen.

Entertaining yarn, but narrator needs to listen to more English books from the period

Entertaining yarn, but narrator needs to listen to more English books from the period. The words "pater" and "mater" are not pronounced ""pahter" and "mahter". There were several other mispronunciations and misunderstandings of the slang of the period, but "pahter" keep reappearing and distracting me.

Dreadful narration ruins book

What would have made Death at Wentwater Court better?

A BRITISH narrator. Good heavens, what in the world were they thinking? I suppose there are some non-Brits that could do a creditable job but Bernadette Dunne is not one of them. I'm only a few chapters into the book and am finding the poor pronunciation distracting to the point of making me wonder if I am going to be able to endure this. It's extremely off-putting and so unnecessary.

Would you be willing to try another one of Bernadette Dunne’s performances?

I would keep an open mind - she could be a wonderful narrator as long the book doesn't require foreign accents.

I am so lost!

This series has been coming up frequently in my Goodreads and Audible recommendations and I finally decided to take the plunge and see if it becomes a new go-to series for me.

It’s a good story so far, I am a little more than half way done, but there are just too many characters to keep track of that I can’t help but feel a little lost. I really suck at keeping track of who is who.

I’ll finish the story, it’s short, I like the main character and I want to know whodunit, but I have a feeling that this will be yet another a case of when the murderer is revealed I will scratch my head and think: Who was that again??

It isn’t hooking me enough to bother continuing with the series once I’m done with this instalment. Is that because I’m having trouble following? Who knows, but I don’t feel like I am losing out by not moving onto book 2.

good book, terrible reader

I enjoyed this book very much, but found the narrator to be difficult to listen to. She has a repetitive inflection at the end of each sentence, and her character voices were rather dodgy. It spoiled the book for me, I'm afraid.

The narrator really can make or break a story.

This story was ruined by the truly awful accents produced by the narrator. It's such a shame because it is just the sort of story that in other circumstances I would have enjoyed. I read the other reviews and listened to a sample first and thought it would be ok, but after a while I found I was concentrating on the strange accents and wierd pronunciation. I actually think the narrator would be good reading a book set in America, but she mangled this so that it was at times hard to understand. I was disappointed to find that it is the same narrator reading all of the books in the 'Daisy Dalrymple' set and I certainly won't be downloading any more.

Wrong reader.

It needed an English person reading the story. Completely spoils the story of a young aristocrat, being read by an American.

Death At Wentwater Court

If this book wasn’t for you, who do you think might enjoy it more?

An American who doesn't care a hoot about pronunciation.

What other book might you compare Death at Wentwater Court to, and why?

All the audio books in this series. In future I think I will stick to the written word on my Kindle.

Who might you have cast as narrator instead of Bernadette Dunne?

Judith Boyd, Kim Hicks, Hugh Fraser, Ric Jerrom, Bill Wallis, Nadia May. There is an endless list who would have made a better job.

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Anger.

Any additional comments?

A good story made less believable by the narration. I know the writer now lives in America, but as these books are set here in the UK, a little more effort should have gone into pronunciation.

Not quite as bad as reviews say

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

Yes

What was one of the most memorable moments of Death at Wentwater Court?

No single event seems to spring to mind that may not spoil the story for others

How could the performance have been better?

The narration was dire. Quite a good voice, very "listenable" BUT the pronunciation was laughable, in fact my husband spent the entire book in stitches, most annoying!

If this book were a film would you go see it?

Yes

Any additional comments?

Once again - get a better narrator.

Let down by narrator

Have always liked the Daisy Dalrymple books but my goodness, this audio was badly let down by the narrator's ghastly American pronunciation and mangled English. This detracted from the story with every wince-making murder of the English language of the period.

Good story

Loved the story but why have an American read a English story? The accents are totally wrong and do spoil the story.

Death at Wentwater Court

If you could sum up Death at Wentwater Court in three words, what would they be?

Lighthearted, Sweet, Well-written

What did you like best about this story?

The story is set in the Twenties and has no bad language. Lovely!

Who might you have cast as narrator instead of Bernadette Dunne?

Anyone with a "Posh" English accent as Daisy is of aristocratic birth.

Poor narration

It is impossible to really tell how good or otherwise this story is because the phrasing of the narration often obscures the meaning of the text. And why is this story, which is set in an English aristocratic country house, told by someone whose pronunciation is clearly not English?
Very irritating.

Poor Delivery

A good story, the first in the series but spoilt by a Reader with an American accent who cannot pronounce English words correctly. Her characterization of some parts was exaggerated and unbelievable and their accents were not consistent. Her attempt in portraying a retired country Policeman was frankly, embarrassing.
Overall a very disappointing purchase , the reader did not do justice to the book. I shall stick to book shops and libraries in the future!