My Name is Markham

The Chronicles of St Mary's

By: Jodi Taylor

Narrated by: Piers Wehner

Length: 1 hr and 32 mins

Publisher's summary

Best-selling author Jodi Taylor returns with a brand-new Chronicles of St Mary's short story.

Like a smaller and much scruffier Greta Garbo - finally - Markham speaks!

It's Christmas and time for the first (and almost certainly last) St Mary's Annual Children's Christmas Party - attendance compulsory, by order of Dr Bairstow. Discovered practising his illegal reindeer dance and poo-dropping routine, our hero, along with fellow disaster magnets Peterson and Maxwell, is dispatched to Anglo-Saxon England to discover the truth about Alfred and the cakes. In his own words, our hero reveals Major Guthrie's six-point guide to a successful assignment and the Security Section's true opinion of the History Department. And of historians in general. And of one historian in particular.

And, just to be clear, it is time travel, for God's sake. Forget all that pretentious 'investigating major historical events in contemporary time' rubbish. This is history without the capital H. Because this is the way the Security Section rolls!

©2016 Jodi Taylor (P)2016 Audible, Ltd

loved it

lost track of how many times I've listened to this. like so many of her short stories this one was a lot of fun. I just love to being there for the ride.

Oh my

A jaunt into the past by the St. Mary's crew; a really nice close encounter with a major historic figure; chaos and calamity with a happy ending – it must be Christmas! Well, it was when it was released, and it was in the story, at least.

By now, the crew of St. Mary's are dear old friends, and it's tremendous to get inside Markham's head for this go-round. (If Ms. Taylor ever gets bored, she could start from the beginning of the story and flip POV's – [book:Just One Damned Thing After Another] through Dr Bairstow's eyes, for example… Oo. That would be fun.

And this is fun. More fun than should be lawful. Chaotic, hilarious, moving, exciting – my lord, I love these books.

I was a little sad going into this because it wasn't narrated by Ms. Taylor's usual St. Mary's narrator, Zara Ramm – but she's Max, so that would be silly, so they got Piers Wehner. And … Someone, please, I'm begging you, find him many, many more books to read to me. I was going to say "books like this", but nobody does it like Jodi Taylor, and Jodi Taylor mostly uses Max's point of view, so he won't have much work there – but this man needs more books that let him be funny. More books, period. He's terrific. He was thoroughly in character, giving a little laugh here and there, putting in exactly the right pauses and inflections. Whoever is doing the casting for Jodi Taylor's audiobooks must absolutely love her, because every single book has been nearly perfect at worst. Although I've got every one of Jodi Taylor's books, I've never read a word she's written, just because of this. And I've loved every word.

not really 8.5

really funny, entertaining. performance fine. story included a character who did not survive book 8.

Markham!

This was a terrific addition to the series! It was great hearing it from Markham 's POV. Alfred and the cakes! Rudolph the Rednosed reindeer and Markhams poo distribution system. 😄 Narration was terrific! #hysterical #timetravel
#Tagsgiving #Sweepstakes

So much fun!

This was such a fun story. The narration was perfect. Loved it start to finish!

That was outstanding but too short.

I LOVE THIS SERIES. Jodi Taylor has done a magnificent job with this series. I hope it never ends. Markham is really good always but especially here. Piers Wehner's did a really fine job on this book. Thank you all for all the wonderful work you do.

Markham Is NOT Markham Without Zara Ramm!!!

I never write reviews however I was in SHOCK to hear some stranger reading/ Replacing the Markham I've come to know and love. I didn't return the book because the money went to a good cause. However I still feel so strongly about this, also sorta disappointed and cheated that they have not at least given us, the option to purchase and hear 'My Name Is Markham' read by our beloved Zara Ramm!!! For those of you who were as heartbroken as I, over this unexpected switch in narrators you CAN hear Zara Ramm reading 'My Name Is Markham' in the compilation of short stories book: 'The Long and the Short of it' where Zara Ramm narrates ALL the short stories. This is how I currently get my Markham - Zara, fix. However it would be really nice to have the option to purchase just 'My Name Is Markham' read by Zara Ramm on its own, even though it is a shorter, short, I would buy it again if they would offer it. Markham has become my favourite character in the St Mary's and I think we all want to hear more Markham stories BUT ONLY IF READ BY ZARA RAMM, Please! Markham just isn't Markham without Zara Ramm!

Missing Zara Ramm

If you could sum up My Name is Markham in three words, what would they be?

Not. The. Best.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Markham, but really, he's the only character.

Did the narration match the pace of the story?

Not really - I am used to Markham being a bit more lively.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

I did, but it's so short, it would be difficult not to.

Any additional comments?

Since I have all the other St Mary's books in audible format, it was a given I was going to purchase this one too, but I have to admit to being a bit disappointed in it. Frankly, if this was my first "experience" of St Mary's, I wouldn't be looking another one.
It's not that the book or narration is bad, per se, it's just that the others are so very, very good. I can understand the selection of Piers Wehner to narrate, after all, Markham is a man and it appears the intention is Markham speaks! in his own voice!, and Mr Wehner certainly has a very nice voice ... but Zara Ramm has already given Markham a *very* distinctive voice - amusing, interesting and not the slightest bit boring. The accent she has chosen for Markham is understandable and unmistakable. Even without Max saying so, you always know when he enters the conversation.
Mr Wehner gives him little emotion, except at the end when Markham is whining, (and for goodness sake, what was *that* all about? Markham does. not. whine.) and it gets a bit droning on to be honest.
I have just now finished listening, and sadly, I can't really review the plot of this short story, because I don't remember it. It was raining, Arthur didn't burn the cakes and something about a dog in heat. (?) I think. I'm knitting a mindless project while listening, so I'm certainly not distracted, but I found myself drifting off into my own thoughts.The other books have had me laughing out loud at Markham's antics and quips, I would so love to hear what Ms Ramm would do with this. I have a feeling it could be very funny indeed.
I rated it four stars overall, so as to not "downgrade" it, but really, three stars is more in line with my opinion. It's average.
Buy the book, it's supporting a good cause, and it's not a bad book as such, just not as good as the previous ones.(And if Audible or whoever decides these things released a Zara Ramm version, I'd buy it in a heartbeat)

Markham’s Christmas Story

This St Mary’s short story is different in that it is spoken from the point of view of Mr Markham and his Security Department view of events. As usual, the gang takes a quick trip around Christmas and in this case it is to 9th Century England to investigate the tale of King Albert and the burning of the cakes. Inevitably our characters become enmeshed in events and become part of the tale itself. Back at St Mary’s, a Christmas party is being given for 12 children and their parents with a surprise performance by Markham as the back-end of a dancing, pooping donkey that just might save the day.

I laughed my bloody arse off!!

I love Markum and to hear a story from his point of view is purely hilarious!
I almost choked on my food I was laughing so hard, so I would not recommend eating or drinking while listening to this book 😂