• Wildfire at Midnight

  • By: Mary Stewart
  • Narrated by: Lucy Paterson
  • Length: 6 hrs and 50 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (249 ratings)

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Wildfire at Midnight  By  cover art

Wildfire at Midnight

By: Mary Stewart
Narrated by: Lucy Paterson
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Publisher's summary

The pioneer of romantic suspense, Mary Stewart leads her listeners on an unforgettable ride across the Isle of Skye in this tale perfect for fans of Agatha Christie and Barbara Pym.

Following a heartbreaking divorce, Gianetta retreats to the Isle of Skye hoping to find tranquillity in the island's savage beauty. But shortly before her arrival a girl's body is found on the craggy slopes of the looming Blue Mountain, and with the murderer still on the loose, there's nothing to stop him from setting his sights on Gianetta next....

One arrogant wing of rock thrust itself across the sun, flinging a diagonal shadow over the bay. My eye was drawn to the great lonely bulk of the mountain in the east, stooping over the valley like a hawk. Blaven. The Blue Mountain.

©1956 Mary Stewart (P)2018 Hodder & Stoughton Ltd

What listeners say about Wildfire at Midnight

Average customer ratings
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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent

As with all of Mary Stewart's books, the story is terrific, and characters are well drawn. The performance was great, right down to the tough-to-do Scottish accents. I just wish more of Ms. Stewart's books were available.

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14 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Maybe if you are an unsophisticated adolescent....

you might enjoy this story. I did, when I was 13 or 14, and it is embarrassing to admit that. This heroine's spunkiness beggars belief, as does her stupidity. And her willingness, even eagerness, to believe - based on zero evidence - that her ex-husband is a sick, twisted, serial killer is appalling. And her inability to shoot the real killer as he inexorably advances on her is disgusting.
Ugh.

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7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

So excited!

I’ve been wanting Mary Stewart books on audible for years! I couldn’t believe it when I logged in to use my last credit and saw that they now are.

This is one of my favorite stories from her, because it’s set in Scotland - in Skye. The narrator did a great job, I thought. Can’t wait to read the next one.

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Great to see this writer being re-released

Memorable for those of us who were around in the 1960’s and read Ms Stewart’s books. Her talent is on par with Agatha Christie and surpasses her as a romantic mystery writer. I’m waiting for many of her other books to come out in audio. She weaves a brilliant picture of place and yet it is timeless.

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Suspense and romance in the highlands of Scotland.

Wildfire at Midnight by Mary Stewart is an evocative mystery set on the Isle of Skye in Scotland. This audio book is excellently narrated by the talented Lucy Paterson.
To say this book is captivating, is an understatement! It’s very exciting, the Scottish scenery is fantastic and the characters are so interesting! It’s a fabulous book! I highly recommend it.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Best romantic suspense ever written

To me, this is the best romantic suspense ever written. Mary Stewart was the one who created this genre. The book itself some might find outdated, but It was a different time, a different way of thinking for some subjects. I think it’s fascinating. And honestly it is a work of art. I have never found anything written as descriptively and beautifully. She has a way of catching the most natural human responses.

I’m not thrilled with this narrator. She does the voices fine, but she makes 3 big errors while reading. I literally have this book memorized and thought it might be fun to listen to audiobook version. So I knew right away when the narrator misread, and it really irked me. She said:
1) When Gianetta and Marcia first interact in hotel, G says she had to cut off her pigtails early and earn a living. M replies “And how” -as in full agreement. But the narrator instead says “and now?” …doesn’t even fit context.
2) When Gianetta and Nicholas first interact in hotel, N calls G by her full name, and G thinks to herself that N is the only person who never shortens her name. But narrator messes up the sentence and says that N is the one who ever shortens her name. This whole point is a huge part of the story!
3) When they’re searching for Marion and Roberta, Alma Corrigan says BALDLY “They’re down there.” But narrator misreads and says BADLY.

Overall, I’ll just read the book in future. I have an original print, and it makes it that much more special to read from the yellowed pages.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Entertaining listen but weak character development

This review contains dome spoilers. The performance was a wonderfully entertaining listen with the narrator’s voices beautifully portraying the characters’ personalities in a believable manner. The story was weak, however, with suspense due to the protagonist’s own stupidity and panic. She is the weakest and least perceptive of any of Stewart’s heroines. Not until the very end does she show any sort of sense and then only briefly. Her ex husband is manipulative and emotionally abusive which is never dealt with adequately.

Slightly abusive men are a recurring character in Stewart’s work. I suppose these men are more real than others. There really are only human beings, not the stereotypical “knights in shining armor” types. This story more than most brings this out. While the abuse is acknowledged, how it is dealt with is not obvious from the text. In fact, the heroine continues to take responsibility for others’ bad behavior, and the ex husband continues to treat her badly through the end of the story. It only stops after she almost dies and with a rather lame sounding apology. Showing how both characters had grown and worked out their problems would have made this a better book.

Having said all this, I still enjoyed Stewart’s vivid descriptions of places I will never be able to visit. I like the way she writes, with sentence that are a kind of meal to themselves. As noted, the narrator was wonderful so I was glad for the slight escape into the Scottish mountains.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great mystery

Mary Stewart was an extraordinary writer and this traveling murder mystery is an exemplary example. The twists, red herrings, and suspense are grippingly fascinating.
As is often the case in Mary Stewart’s mysteries, our intrepid heroine is an ordinary woman traveling somewhere and due to her bad timing and inherent decency ends up involved in a mystery, often with murder involved, and helps solve the case. She often blunders a bit and ends up discovering the murderer while in a perilous situation. The scenery and people are written so beautifully that it is easy to get caught up in the story and see the the mountains, crevasses, choppy sea and wind blown heather and envision the characters.
The narrator was smooth and expressive although the individual voices were not all easily discerned. There were many different voices though and to her credit she was consistent with the inflections and dialects as a whole.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

A dark thriller from the 1950s

A lot darker than most of Mary Stewart's books. The murders are a bit gruesome with just a little bit of romance to lighten it up a bit. Set on the Island of Skye in Scotland in 1953. There is a serial murder on the loose who must be one of the small group at the hotel. Who can you trust and where can you hide? It reads like an Agatha Christie thriller. The narrator did a lovely job, especially with the accents.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Great Narrative

Mary Stewart is such a good storyteller. This is one of her earlier works and really give color to Great Britain in the 1950s. Enough mystery and suspense for a good story.

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1 person found this helpful