• Sleeping Murder

  • Miss Marple's Last Case
  • By: Agatha Christie
  • Narrated by: Stephanie Cole
  • Length: 6 hrs and 17 mins
  • 4.7 out of 5 stars (746 ratings)

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Sleeping Murder  By  cover art

Sleeping Murder

By: Agatha Christie
Narrated by: Stephanie Cole
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Publisher's summary

In Agatha Christie’s classic, Sleeping Murder, the indomitable Miss Marple turns ghost hunter and uncovers shocking evidence of a perfect crime.

Soon after Gwenda moved into her new home, odd things started to happen. Despite her best efforts to modernize the house, she only succeeded in dredging up its past. Worse, she felt an irrational sense of terror every time she climbed the stairs.

In fear, Gwenda turned to Miss Marple to exorcise her ghosts. Between them, they were to solve a “perfect” crime committed many years before.

©1976 Agatha Christie Limited (P)2002 HarperCollins Publishers Ltd

What listeners say about Sleeping Murder

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The Last Miss Marple Mystery

Gwenda and her new husband, Giles, were moving to England from New Zealand. Gwenda came first to find a house. She found one that seemed perfect to her. The only trouble was that she kept having irrational feelings about the house-a feeling of terror one day as she was on the stairs, a feeling that the dining room should lead right into the drawing room but there was no longer a door between the two rooms, etc. As time goes on, she starts to think she’s going crazy, particularly when one of her visions on the staircase is of looking through the railing and seeing a woman dead on the floor, and knowing, despite her young age, that the woman was strangled and that her name was Helen. Then she meets Miss Marple. She tells Miss Marple about her feelings, and Miss Marple believes that the feelings are not irrational or supernatural, but that Gwenda has lived in the house earlier in her life. She finds out that this is true, and that her step-mother, whose name was Helen, disappeared from that house, seemingly leaving her father for another man. But what happened to her step-mother? If she is still alive, why hasn’t she contacted anyone? If she’s not alive, did she ever leave her husband’s house? And if she didn’t, where is her body buried? Gwenda, her husband,Giles, and Miss Marple work together to solve the crime. The danger increases substantially as they get closer to the truth. I had not read this mystery although I have read many of Agatha Christie’s mysteries. I love the kind of mystery where you have to analyze particular things to come up with the truth, so different than the thrillers and espionage and serial killer mysteries that flood so much of the market today. Stephanie Cole was a great narrator for Miss Marple. In reclaiming some of those old mysteries I have to be careful because, unfortunately, several of the Miss Marples are narrated by Joan Hickson, who played Miss Marple on PBS, and I hate her interpretation of the character. But this one was excellent.

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10 people found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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Always fascinating

I've read or listened or watched the TV version of this story many times, and yet it is always fascinating. Stephanie Cole does a decent job of narrating, though she doesn't quite get the New Zealand accent she's trying for. Regardless, it's not annoying, and you are just carried along in the story of how this young woman's past has come back into her life, and how she, her husband, and the very wise and resourceful Miss Marple find the killer who has remained in hiding for so many years.

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9 people found this helpful

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One of my favorites

This is a favorite Christie that I’ve listened to numerous times. I love Stephanie Cole’s voice and narration, esp. the New Zealand accent! And her voices are so distinct that by listening you know who the killer is near the end of the book by just a few words he speaks to his last victim, whereas if you were reading you may not have yet worked out who it is - but I do not count that as a negative, rather a tribute to Cole’s skill.

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7 people found this helpful

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A Wonderful Miss Marple Story!

This is the last Miss Marple book and it's a great finale. The story holds your interest and the narrator does a great accent for the main character. An easy listen.

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5 people found this helpful

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Good Old Fashioned Murder Mystery!

What did you love best about Sleeping Murder?

I loved how just when you think the mystery was solved, there was a new direction.

Did the plot keep you on the edge of your seat? How?

Though I guessed from the begining who-done-it, the story still kept me engaged enough to listen to the whole thing. I really enjoyed the characters journey to the truth.

What about Stephanie Cole’s performance did you like?

I really like how well she switched between the accents of the characters

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

I did listen to this in one sitting.

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4 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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The narrator wasn't for me

I am a huge fan of Agatha Christie, but to be honest, I prefer Poirot to Miss Marple, especially Hugh Fraser's narration, so I might be prejudiced. This story was interesting enough, but the narrator really made me hate one of the main characters (or maybe that character was annoying), she read her dialogue in a super whiny and exasperated tone, and since it's the center character, the overall experience was dampened.

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3 people found this helpful

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Fantastic

I can listen to Agatha Christie’s books again and again and enjoy them more with each reading.

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2 people found this helpful

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Great story told by a great narrator

Another Agatha Christie story read by Stephanie Cole, and again she does a great job. She's one of those narrators who brings you into the story effortlessly. The story is one of the best Miss Marple books, and is great in and of itself.

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A superb Christie mystery, superbly narrated

As with all Miss Marple mysteries known to me, this is extremely well written -- clear, dryly and subtly humorous, and intelligent. The actual mystery, including distinctive and diverse characters, is also very well conceived. Agatha Christie fans will be expecting all that I suppose. But a real treat of this version is the first-rate narration by Stephanie Cole, who is an excellent actor -- with a unique , appropriate voice for all the characters, upper middle class and lower born alike, English native and New Zealander alike. All in all, this is a real pleasure, and I expect to be listening to it again in a few years. Purchase and enjoy!

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Great book, great performance!

As a child I started my love of mystery novels with this book I found as a paperback on my mother's bookshelf. I ended up loving it and had to listen to the audio version which was fantastic! The voice actress gave different tones and accents to each character and was really enjoyable to listen to. Ever since this book I always read agatha Christie mysteries...I have a hard time branching out to more modern authors as she is such a great writer. :)

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