Murder in the Mill-Race

British Library Crime Classic

By: E.C.R. Lorac

Narrated by: David Thorpe

Length: 8 hrs and 25 mins

Publisher's summary

When Dr Raymond Ferens moves to a practice at Milham in the Moor in north Devon, he and his wife are enchanted with the beautiful hilltop village lying so close to moor and sky. At first they see only its charm, but soon they begin to uncover its secrets - envy, hatred and malice. Everyone says that Sister Monica, warden of a children's home, is a saint - but is she?

A few months after the Ferens' arrival her body is found drowned in the mill-race. Chief Inspector Macdonald faces one of his most difficult cases in a village determined not to betray its dark secrets to a stranger.

©1952 The Estate of E. C. R. Lorac (P)2020 Soundings

Dandy murder in Mil-race

This is an amazing murder investigation on the Devonshire moor. It has so many twists that I had trouble keeping up with them. I thoroughly enjoyed Ins. MacDonald and the people of this town. Highly recommend.

Good for passing the time

As per another review, I skipped the first four chapters feeling I hadn't missed anything. Once MacDonald comes on the scene it's an interesting story. Great narration.

great ending

Beautiful performance enhanced Lorac's Gothic tale of hypocrisy, blackmail and murder in a remote village. Recommended

Builds up slowly

I enjoy listening to David Thorpe and he adds life to this story. I am a big fan of Lorac, especially CID MacDonald. This plot is a bit slow because he doesn’t appear until mid way through. But still an enjoyable Golden Age Classic

Delightful

You can skip the first 4 chapters as that is all about the new dr and his wife moving to the village and settling into their new home. Chapter 2 does introduce characters and set the stage. The death happens I. Chapter 4. I skipped chapter 3 entirely after getting weary of furniture placement in new home.

The death of Nurse and the investigations into the villagers is riveting. It was a very enjoyable book and the narrator, David Thorpe gave an outstanding performance.

Not a fan of narration

I encourage you to listen to a sample of this narrator before buying - I wish I had :-(. Story was ok, though largely missing the enjoyable trail of clues that makes good mysteries, enabling the reader to try to guess the solution along with the detective. However a different narrator, more tuned in to the actual text, might have made the book a lot more enjoyable for me.

A True Gem!

I bought this book because David Thorpe is one of my favorite narrators and I was looking for a cozy mystery to read at night. I'm not sure this is really a 'cozy' - it's not silly and inane like most in this classification seem to be - It's fairly serious but not gruesome, violent or gritty. The characters are lovely and Mr. Thorpe's interpretation of them is amazing. The writing is beautiful, the mystery a true puzzle, one I was unable to solve. I have listened to the book twice already; it's that good.

Excellent British Mystery

I've been reading Lorac's work via Audible (hard to find in print) and this is one of the best. Every mystery writer should read her work. The characters are well drawn, the narratives within the primary story are interesting, and the pacing is right on target. While Detective MacDonald is the common character in Lorac's mysteries, he is not the primary focus - the story and characters are the focus. MacDonald does not intrude on the story, just is part of it. I really appreciated a writing strategy applied at the end where the elements of the mystery are summed up by MacDonald in a way that that invites the reader to guess at connections. That was fun. Another successful component here is the narration - one of the times I prefer an audiobook over a hardback - the dialects are incredibly well done and really carry the story along. Will look for more from this narrator. Highly recommended.

One of her best

A marked improvement over some later titles with really interesting and realistic characters against a pastoral background and a more careful treatment of the plot and basic mystery than usual.

Good classic, atmospheric mystery

I enjoyed this story. Very well written and narrated. All the voices were distinctly differentiated. The mystery wasn’t too hard to figure out but the atmosphere and descriptions of the landscape and people were very absorbing. Recommended.