Gallows Court

Rachel Savernake, Book 1

By: Martin Edwards

Narrated by: Sheila Mitchell

Length: 12 hrs and 56 mins

Publisher's summary

London, 1930. A headless corpse; an apparent suicide in a locked room; a man burned alive during an illusionist's show in front of thousands of people. Scotland Yard is baffled by the sequence of ghastly murders unfolding across the city, and at the centre of it all is mysterious heiress Rachel Savernake. Daughter of a grand judge, Rachel is as glamorous as she is elusive.

Jacob Flint, a tenacious young journalist eager to cover the gruesome crimes, is drawn into Rachel's glittering world of wealth and power. But as the body count continues to rise, Jacob is convinced Rachel is harbouring a dark secret, and he soon becomes part of a dangerous game that could leave him dancing at the end of the hangman's rope if he pursues the truth.

©2018 Martin Edwards (P)2019 W. F. Howes Ltd

Light Noir

I’m glad I listened. It’s not a perfect story nor is the narrator ideal, but it’s a cut above many others.

Mr. Edwards creates a mystery that’s a mix reminiscent of Dashiell Hammett, Dorothy L. Sayers, and Josephine Tey. The suspension is a little drawn out, but a pleasant twist occurs just before it reaches tedium level. The drawn out pace does create a feeling of predictability in the character development, but the cast is many and varied which helps ease the repetition. The narrator performs decently, but listeners should definitely sample the work before buying because one or two portrayals could be annoying to some.

I would recommend this book to a hardboiled/noir fan who wants a lighter read or a cozy mystery fan looking for a little edge.

It was ok

Not sure if it was the narration, if the story was too long, but my mind wandered and I didn't care to go back an pick up what I missed. Probably would buy the next in the series if it was offered in an audible sale, otherwise HO HUM.,

COULDN'T GET INTO IT

Somewhat irritating narration. Couldn't find the storyline. Uninvolving narrative. Tried a few times but gave up.

Slow and Weird

Story pace too slow, narrator too slow and not good at voices, story turns into a bunch of nonsense. Characters inconsistently drawn.

Unbearable

I could not finish listening to this audiobook, the narrator’s choice of accents and her intonation were truly awful.. Wherever the emphasis should have been in the sentence, she chose to put it somewhere else, changing the meaning of dialogues and narration, and making nonsense out of what might have been decent if not brilliant writing. It became so irritating and frustrating that I gave up. The story itself has glimmers of real interest, but could have used an editor to help with continuity and the many quite repetitive passages. I think the two main characters might have been quite sympathetic if the narrator had not bungled their portrayal. Do not recommend.