The Legendary Detectives: 9 Classic Novelettes Starring the World's Greatest Super-Sleuths

By: Jean Marie Stine - editor, J. L. "Frankie" Hill - editor

Narrated by: Addison Barnes

Length: 8 hrs and 18 mins

Publisher's summary

There are hours of listening pleasure in The Legendary Detectives: 9 Classic Novelettes Starring the World's Greatest Super-Sleuths. You'll find gathered together a clutch of classic mysteries starring nine of the world's most famous fictional sleuths: The Thinking Machine, the Old Man in the Corner, Max Carrados, Morris Klaw, Sanders of the River, Reggie Fortune, Father Brown, Craig Kennedy, and, of course, the greatest and most famous of them all - Sherlock Holmes.

The authors represented are equally legendary for their contributions to detective history: Edgar Wallace, Baroness Orczy, Jacques Futrelle, Arthur B. Reeve, Sax Rohmer, G. K. Chesterton, H. C. Bailey, Ernest Bramah, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Once the top-selling detective characters of mystery's Golden Age, the adventures of these legendary detectives have for the most part sadly lapsed out of prominence - yet, their names still echo as legends among mystery fans! This exclusive anthology edited by Jean Marie Stine and J. L. "Frankie" Hill brings a sampler of their adventures back for modern mystery fans.

©2002 Jean Marie Stine (P)2018 Page Turner

Marvelous storytelling!

I am so satisfied am enthralled with this epic tale!! I feel like I am listening to a blend of sherlock holmes and the pink panther. If you love mystery and old school crime get this book. You will not regret it!

CLASSIC!

JEAN MARIE STINE AND J.L. FRANKIE HILL bring the audio book reader THE LEGENDARY DETECTIVES. This contains nine super detectives,some famous,some that have faded into detective fiction neverland. With such detectives as The Thinking Machine,Max Carradose, among some of the past detectives of yesteryear. Included are yes, Father Brown and Sherlock Holmes. Some of these detectives in the audiobook may not be around today but they are still legends in their own right.

I love the "old" detectives. And THE LEGENDARY DETECTIVES bring back some of the really good detectives of yesteryear. It was great to revisit some of the goldie oldie detectives that I read and loved many many moons ago. The narration by Addison Barnes we pretty good considering the number of characters that were presented here. THE LEGENDARY DETECTIVES is definetely a keeper and on my re read list in the future.

I received this audiobook free in exchange for an honest review.

A Great Intro to GAD Stories

<strong>The Legendary Detectives</strong>, edited by Jean Marie Stine and J.L. "Frankie" Hill gives listeners nine stories from the Golden Age of Detection, written mostly by British authors, but also by Americans too. All were well- known in their day, though only some are commonly read today. These stories serve as a good introduction to readers who may want to look up the authors for further reading. Each story begins with a brief biography of the author and the methods of detection used in her or his works.

"The Fenchurch Street Mystery" by Baroness Orcsy. <em>Detective: The Old Man in the Corner</em> -- Journalist Polly Burton listens to the Old Man in the Corner as he relates his solution to a mystery that has eluded the police.

"The Long Barrow" by H.C. Bailey. <em>Detective: Reggie Fortune</em> -- Isabelle Woodhall approaches Mr. Fortune because someone has been following her, and she finds the bodies of dead animals wherever she goes.

"The Scarlet Thread" by Jacques Futrelle. <em>Detective: The Thinking Machine</em> -- Reporter Hutchinson Hatch recounts a situation to The Thinking Machine in which broker Weldon Henley keeps finding the gas lights in his home blown out, but with the gas still going, almost murdering him.

"The Magic of Fear" by Edgar Wallace. <em>Detective: Sanders of the River</em> -- A British ship going to Africa encounters local magic that reveals evil.

"The Ghost at Massingham Mansions" by Ernest Bramah. <em>Detective: Max Carrados</em> -- Lewis Carlisle has been hired to investigate a ghost and invites his friend, the blind detective Max Carrados, to join him.

"The Eye of Apollo" by G. K. Chesterton. <em>Detective: Father Brown</em> -- Pauline Stacy fell to her death after writing a will giving her fortune to a cult leader, who was on top of the roof at the time of her death. Father Brown gets to the bottom of the case.

"The Ghouls" by Arthur B. Reeve. <em>Detective: Craig Kennedy</em> -- Detective Craig Kennedy gets involved in a case where Montague Phelps dies with a high life insurance under suspicious circumstances. Kennedy uses the greatest science available at his time to solve the case.

"The Ivory Statue" by Sax Rohmer. <em>Detective: Moris Klaw</em> -- Detective Moris Klaw investigates the disappearance of a sculpture made of an ancient Egyptian girdle full of valuable gems.

"The Adventure of the Lion's Mane" by Arthur Conan Doyle. <em>Detective: Sherlock Holmes</em> -- Sherlock Holmes narrates this story in which the detective reaches a man on the beach whose dying words are "the lion's mane."

Addison Barnes performs the audio edition of this anthology. She does a strong job of handling the works of both British and American writers and ably uses the accents of British, American, African, and French speakers. Her male voices come across especially convincingly.

The nine stories in <strong>The Legendary Detectives</strong> have interest both in themselves and for their historical context. The science used in some of the stories may seem strange to us now, but it was accepted as legitimate by researchers of the times when the stories were written. I especially found ridiculous the methods used by Sax Rohmer's Moris Klaw, who sleeps where the crime took place and is given a mental image of the action that took place there. However, the introduction states that scientists believed in such so- called science when the story was written. I recommend this collection for those interested in the Golden Age of Detection and give it five stars.

<strong>Disclaimer:</strong> I received this book for free for review purposes, but that had no influence on the content of my review.

Decent Shorts from the Age of Great Detective

I am a big fan of the great detectives/mystery narratives; however, I am also not much of a fan for short stories that don’e have enough time to develop a more interesting storyline. It seems the later tempered my enjoyment of these works. Still, it was a tremendous opportunity to encounter some of the characters that did not survive into the current age … and now I may understand the reason to some extent … some just didn’t age very well. The generally average narration was just not able to pull many of these up as the narrator obvious struggled to differentiate the character voices. Over all it was a nice escape if you don’t have unrealistic expectations based on reputation.

- The Fenchurch Street Mystery (49m) **
- The Long Barrow (60m) ***
- The Mystery Of The Scarlet Thread (77m) **
- The Magic of Fear (40m) **
- The Ghost at Massingham Mansions (71m) ***
- The Eye of Apollo (44m) ****
- The Ghouls (55m) ***
- The Ivory Statue (50m) ***
- The Adventure of the Lion's Mane (51m) ***

I was given this free advance review/listener copy (ARC) audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

#TheLegendaryDetectives #AudibleGiveawaysGoodRdsGrp

Quick recap of legends

This collection represents some of the best if the best older detective mysteries from some legendary authors. I enjoyed hearing the highlights of these stories. It was interesting knowing where present day mysteries evolved from. I voluntarily listened to a free copy of this and am giving an honest review. The narrator did a great job with voices and expressions bringing it to life.

Poor audio quality

Did not finish. Audio quality was too poor too follow the story narrator accents did not help either