Murder Has a Motive

By: Francis Duncan

Narrated by: John Curless

Length: 9 hrs and 44 mins

Publisher's summary

Amateur sleuth Mordecai Tremaine must solve a small-town mystery before the next victim takes their final bow.

When Mordecai Tremaine emerges from the train station, murder is the last thing on his mind. But he has never been able to resist anything in the nature of a mystery - and a mystery is precisely what awaits him in the village of Dalmering. Rehearsals for the local amateur dramatic production are in progress. When the star of the show is found dead, the spotlight falls on Mordecai, whose reputation in the field of crime-solving precedes him. With a murderer waiting in the wings, it is up to Mordecai to derail the killer's performance - before the curtain closes on another victim.

Author bio: Francis Duncan was the author of more than 20 crime novels published between 1937 and 1959.

©2018 Francis Duncan (P)2018 Recorded Books

Oh dear....not what I’d hoped for

I read a previous book involving the amateur sleuth, old Mordecai Tremaine,recently and with a couple of caveats, found it quite enjoyable. This one, not so much. :-(

Mordecai Tremaine is a retired single gentleman who loves solving mysteries and thinking/reading about romance. He tends to have a way of looking at a situation similarly to Miss Marple (and I think Mordecai’s stories are from around the same time period). But this one just didn’t do it for me.

Partly, I just had trouble with the flatness of the whole story. Books written in the “classic era” of British mysteries tend to have a different structure, and conversation is more formal and stilted than the way we speak now, etc. So one makes allowances for that in reading them (indeed, that’s usually part of their charm). But this one? Not sure if a different narrator would have helped—this one certainly didn’t improve anything (I had to adjust the speed to faster, became his reading dragged so much).

So if you are a fan of the “between the wars” British mysteries, by all means read this, just to round out your experience. But if you want entertainment, sadly I doubt you will find it here. Just my opinion, of course. And just FYI, I would definitely listen to another Mordecai Tremaine book, since, based on the other that I read, I find him an interesting character.

curb the descriptions of emotions

there may be a good mystery here but it's hidden under excessive exaggerated descriptions of emotional responses and environmental atmospheres which end up seeming more like the author attempting to ensure that the readers catch on to those aspects of the story.

Classic who dunit

Classic who dunit. Would be enjoyed by Agatha Christie fans. Well read. I Love the series.

Less of a novel than an outline of one.

Less of a novel than an outline of one. Large sections are merely the narrator describing the scene and feelings of characters without actually having those characters speak for themselves. Rarely does the reader get to learn for themself the personalities of a character, because characters rarely get to speak.

BORING!

Whatever else I expect from a mystery, I don't expect to be bored. Disappointing!! Don't waste your time.