Seven Dead

By: J. Jefferson Farjeon

Narrated by: David Thorpe

Amateur thief Ted Lyte has chosen an isolated house by the coast for his first robbery. But Haven House is no ordinary country home. While hunting for silverware to steal, Ted stumbles upon a locked room containing seven dead bodies. Detective Inspector Kendall takes on the case with the help of passing yachtsman Thomas Hazeldean. The search for the house's absent owners takes Hazeldean across the Channel to Boulogne, where he finds more than one motive to stay and investigate.

©1939 Estate of J. Jefferson Farjeon (P)2020 Soundings

A Wicket Good Read

Wow… I mean, what a story! J. Jefferson Farjeon is by far the most underrated—or maybe just unjustly unknown—author I’ve ever come across. This man was a genius. His plots are fun, creative, captivating, witty, and genuinely puzzling. Seven Dead had me hooked from the very beginning, and if you had asked me at the start where the plot was going, I never in a million years would have guessed where it ended up.

Dorothy L. Sayers said something along the lines of, “When you read a Farjeon book, you know there’s going to be a boy and a girl,” and she had it exactly right (in the best way). You never know where this man is going to take you—and I am so here for it.

Take me away, J. Jefferson Farjeon!

Frustrating

Started very well but then sank into several hours of the most tedious romantic subplot imaginable. Then it came back to life for a couple of hours and then the drippy couple returned and I gave up. Be warned.