The Daughters of Cain

By: Colin Dexter

Narrated by: Frederick Davidson

Length: 9 hrs and 36 mins

Publisher's summary

Little progress had been made by the Thames Valley Police since the discovery of a corpse in a North Oxford flat. The victim had been killed by a single stab wound to the stomach. The police had no weapon, no suspect, no motive, but within days of taking over the investigation, Chief Inspector Morse and Detective Sergeant Lewis uncover startling new information about the life and death of the victim, Dr. Felix McClure, late of Wolsey College, Oxford.

The trail leads directly to a staircase in Wolsey College and in particular to a former "scout" there, one Edward Brooks, who disappears following the theft of a knife from the Pitt Rivers Museum. Then another body is discovered, and suddenly Morse finds himself with too many suspects and yet no solution. Then he receives a letter, a letter containing a declaration of love.

©1994 Colin Dexter (P)1995 Blackstone Audiobooks

Critic reviews

"Colin Dexter's Inspector Morse has become a favorite of mystery fans in both hemispheres. In each book, Dexter shows a new facet of the complex Morse. In this latest work, Morse must solve two related murders, a problem complicated by a plethora of suspects and by his attraction to one of the possible killers." (Amazon.com)

Heavy breathing

Great story but it is unpleasant to hear every breath and smacking of the lips of the narrator. I have listened to free audiobooks that are of better quality.

good story terrible reading performance

The Morse stories are a lot of fun. Unfortunately Frederick Davidson has the most affected reading style which really interferes with the listening experience.

Inspector Morse from early days

What made the experience of listening to The Daughters of Cain the most enjoyable?

Reuniting with the gruff overeducated Morse and his long-suffering, always paying for drinks assistant Lewis was like greeting old friends.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Daughters of Cain?

Morse's "love affair" with a young punk prostitute.

What aspect of Frederick Davidson???s performance would you have changed?

he is spot-on

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

NA

Any additional comments?

NA

Delightful interpretation has aged well.

Frederick Davidson’s skillful narration made a long whodunit continually engaging and satisfying. While some “vintage” recordings (those approaching three decades, for instance) might suffer from an inevitable staleness, never did my mind wander.

Love Morris, hate narrator.

While the story was true Morris, the narrator ruined the story and the listening experience. This was not one of Audibles best.

Good story but hard to understand narrator

This was my first Inspector Morse mystery although I’m familiar with the mystery genre. I liked the story and characters. At times, the narrator was hard to understand, as he used various accents or tried to sound “gruff” it just sounded garbled. I checked out the ebook to catch the parts I missed in the audible version. But I’m going to get another Morse mystery.

Narrator is spot on

First, one must keep in mind that one can love a story, be thoroughly enamored with the characters and their presentation and still intensely dislike a character.
Morse himself is one of those characters. Remember he, as a person, is extraordinarily complex and very nearly a “real person” to the reader.
However, Morse is very much a product of the shifting morès of the eras he lived through! Born is the ‘30’s to parents that can only be defined as “a sinner” and “a saint”.
He endured, never a truly tragic youth, but rather one marked by horrible tragedies (and a war).
He was quite young when thrust through an ever shifting moral standard, identity constantly being rearranged, privilege being extended and retracted (again because of manically rearranging moral and social rules) and almost settling into a career rooted in the very basest of human character, with all the horror, beauty, and relativity entailed.
So if his internal narrative is alternating arrogant, elite, opinionated, and disgusted it should represent his entire (and frequently disillusioned) character.
Don’t be disappointed.
Be curious of the constantly elusive final definition of E. Morse. The narrator is exceptionally gifted as a voice actor, and unveils the complex and often confounding character of everyone Morse must contend with. Including himself.

Like Morse? You'll enjoy this. Great narrator

great story and characters. Narrator top notch. no feeble monotone voice thank you for that

not educated

I would rather listen to a Sally Rigby novel (who I adore)The telling of this story makes me feel stupid

A different Morse

I had previously met Inspector Morse only on the BBC TV adaptations of Colin Dexter's books. The full book reveals a much more complex character. Don't be put off by the voice of the reader: you will soon acclimate to him, and then realize that he is, in fact, just the right reader for these books.

Just make sure that you have a l-o-n-g car journey ahead of you, because you won't want to stop until the book is over.