crime – Page 24

Naxos Audiobooks: 3 FREE Sherlock Holmes short stories

Aural Noir: Online Audio

Naxos Audiobooks, in partnership with AudioFile Magazine, is offering three unabridged Sherlock Holmes short stories FREE for download until December 29th, 2009! The first of these had already been made available, but the other two are definitely new to my collection (and SFFaudio). Narrator David Timson has a really terrific voice for Sherlock Holmes narration. Have a listen to Timson talk about Doyle and Holmes |MP3|. He’ll make you want to get the rest of the Sherlock Holmes short stories and the four Sherlock Holmes novels he narrated for Naxos.

The Adventure of Silver Blaze
By Sir Arthur Conan Doyle; Read by David Timson
1 |MP3| – Approx. 60 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Naxos Audiobooks
Published: 2009
One of the most famous images of Sherlock Holmes, Sidney Paget’s drawing of Holmes, complete with Deerstalker and Inverness cape, leaning eagerly forward to a an attentive Watson in a railway carriage as they hurtle towards their next adventure comes from ‘The Silver Blaze.’

The Adventure of the Stock-Broker’s Clerk
By Sir Arthur Conan Doyle; Read by David Timson
1 |MP3| – Approx. 41 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Naxos Audiobooks
Published: 2009
In Stock-Broker’s Clerk, the intrepid pair travel by train to Birmingham, and it is nostalgic to think that despite it being 1889, when Holmes and Watson alighted at New Street station they would have been greeted by cobbled streets, eighteenth-century houses and a town still largely undeveloped.

The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans
By Sir Arthur Conan Doyle; Read by David Timson
1 |MP3| – Approx. 71 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Naxos Audiobooks
Published: 2009
Trains feature consistently throughout the canon, incidentally and as a main component of the story as in ‘The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans’. It is popular amongst railway enthusiasts, as a significant part of the investigation takes place among the subterranean tunnels of the London Underground system.

[via AudioFile]

Posted by Jesse Willis

BBC + RR.cc: McLevy: a 19th century detective series based on a real detective

Aural Noir: Online Audio

Paul Bishop, who runs the addictive Bish’s Beat blog, writes about an unfamiliar audio drama series that sounds right up our dark alley!

Sez Paul:

“McLevy!

THESE TOP NOTCH AUDIO DRAMAS FROM BBC 4 SURROUNDING INSPECTOR MCLEVY, A TACITURN, VICTORIAN, EDINBURGH SLEUTH, HIS GIRLFRIEND BROTHEL OWNER JEAN BRASH, AND HIS SIDEKICK CONSTABLE MULHOLLAND, ARE A JOY. ORIGINALLY BROADCAST FROM 1999 TO 2006, GOOD WRITING, GOOD CASTING, AND GOOD DIRECTION MAKE THIS FORTY-FIVE MINUTE SHOW A MUST FOR YOUR BBC DOWNLOADER . . .”

Indeed! Though I think a visit to RadioArchive.cc will be even more effiecent!

From “Snuffbox” a collector and moderator on RadioArchive.cc:

The dark broodings of James McLevy, a dour Scots detective created by writer James Ashton, are based loosely on the stories of a real-life police inspector. James McLevy was a County Armagh-born builder’s labourer who embarked on a police career in the 1830s and published several collections of his cases.

Ashton’s McLevy, however, is a far deeper and darker character, a man obsessed with meting out justice, and with demons of his own.

Brian Cox is superb as the brooding coffee addict McLevy, ably supported by his sharp side-kick Constable Mulholland. Running throughout the series is McLevy’s love-hate cat-and-mouse realationship with the delicious Jean Brash, propriortress of Edinburgh’s premier bawdy-hoose.

Cast:
McLevy … Brian Cox
Mulholland … Michael Perceval-Maxwell
Jean Brash … Siobhán Redmond
Lt. Roach … David Ashton

Pilot 1999
1. McLevy
1st Series 2000
2. For Unto Us
3. The Trophy Club
4. The Second Shadow
5. The Burning Question
2nd Series 2002
6. A Good Walk Spoilt
7. Wild Justice
8. The Wild Spark
9. Stab in the Back
3rd Series 2003
10. Behind the Curtain
11. A Voice from the Grave
12. The Dark Shadow
13. Servant of the Crown
4th Series 2006
14. A Piece of Cake
15. The Sea Change
16. Sins of the Fathers
17. The Devil’s Disguise
5th Series 2009
18. To Keep Him Honest
19. Picture of Innocence
20. The Chosen One
21. The Reckoning

2 episodes are also available on CD |HERE|

[via Bish’s Beat]

Posted by Jesse Willis

Review of Poison Sleep by T.A. Pratt

SFFaudio Review

Poison Sleep (A Marla Mason Novel)
By T.A. Pratt; Read by Jessica Almasy
9 Hours, 41 Minutes – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Audible Frontiers
Published: 2009
Themes: / Fantasy / Urban Fantasy / Magic / Crime /

This is the second Marla Mason novel from T. A. Pratt, yet you don’t need to have read the first book to appreciate this one. Marla is once again back in her home town of Felport. Marla is the chief Sorcerer of the city and she works to keep all the other sorcerers in the city in line. A thankless job. Part crime boss, part superhero. At her side is her somewhat reluctant friend, Rondeau. He’s not one to back down from danger, but the toilets in his night club need unblocking and Marla should really learn to do her own laundry. And shopping. And driving. She could use a Personal Assistant.

Freshly escaped from the Blackwing institute is a prisoner, Genevieve, who has been asleep for the last fifteen years. The Blackwing Institute is a prison that holds criminally insane sorcerers. You know, those that want to kill everyone in sacrifice to their own gods, or others that are a danger to the normal people who don’t believe in magic. Genevieve isn’t a criminal though. But she is unimaginably dangerous as her dreams affect reality. Unfortunately she has a lot of nightmares, so being catatonic for the last decade and a half has been a good thing for everyone else.

As Marla and Rondeau try to find Genevieve, there is also a rouge assassin somewhere in town stalking his prey. And one of her sorcerer isn’t answering her calls. Genevieve is affecting the city more and more. It is a race to reach her when she next appears out of her dream realm and starts changing the city.

Marla is a kick-in-the-door and subdue everyone kinda woman. She’s very strong and not afraid of a fight. The subtler side of negotiations sometimes elude her, particularly if they require much in the way of patience.

Although Genevieve’s story is tragic and disturbing, this is a fun story and Jessica Almasy carries you smoothly into the winter of Marla’s snow-bound Felport.

If you love your urban fantasy, hold the vampires and werewolves,
you’ll enjoy Poison Sleep.

Posted by Paul [W] Campbell

BBC Radio 5 + RA.cc: Hergé’s The Adventures Of Tintin

SFFaudio Online Audio

When I was a little boy my best friend was the son of my dad’s best friend. When I met him he had just immigrated to British Columbia from France with his mom and dad. I lived in a house by the government dock and they lived on their sailboat. The same sailboat that they’d emigrated in. He spoke only French. I spoke only English. But that didn’t matter. I taught him English over the summer. We had a long stretch of beach to play on. We’d make sand castles, sand dykes and dams. We’d build rafts out of random beach flotsam. We collect shells and seagull feathers (I figured if we gathered enough feathers we could make a floatplane. Then, in the evenings, while my dad and his dad talked adult talk, smoked pot and drank beer, Gaël and I would share our comics. I would show him my English Batmans and Supermans, he showed me his French Lucky Lukes, Asterices, and Tintins.

Sometime after my father died and I moved north, I learned that Gaël, who I’d eventually lost touch with, had changed his name to Jeff. I miss that kid.

I haven’t seen any audio versions of Asterix, and Lucky Luke is quite scarce these days, but Tintin is available in radio drama form:

The Adventures Of Tintin

In these productions Tintin doesn’t have a French (or Belgian) accent, and his dog, Snowy, is more talkative than I remember him being in the comics. Nevertheless, this is still a fun series – especially as something to listen to after reading the comics. The shows are all only 30 minutes long, except for the two part episodes, The Calculus Affair and The Red Sea Sharks. A half-hour is really far too short to include every panel of dialogue and hour is better.

The Adventures Of Tintin

You can get all 13 episode of both seasons (and the special) by torrent over at RadioArchive.cc.

The Adventures Of Tintin – The Black Island
The Adventures Of Tintin – The Secret Of The Unicorn
The Adventures Of Tintin – Red Rackham’s Treasure
The Adventures Of Tintin – Destination Moon
The Adventures Of Tintin – Explorers On The Moon
The Adventures Of Tintin – Tintin In Tibet
The Adventures Of Tintin – The Seven Crystal Balls
The Adventures Of Tintin – Prisoners Of The Sun
The Adventures Of Tintin – The Calculus Affair – Part 01
The Adventures Of Tintin – The Calculus Affair – Part 02
The Adventures Of Tintin – The Red Sea Sharks – Part 01
The Adventures Of Tintin – The Red Sea Sharks – Part 02
The Adventures Of Tintin – The Castafiore Emerald

For more information on this series visit Tintinologist.org.

Posted by Jesse Willis

SpeakingVolumes: Roger Zelazny read by Roger Zelazny

SFFaudio News

Neill Smith sez:

“…two Roger Zelazny audiobooks … have become available in unabridged form on CDs – Nine Princes In Amber and A Night In Lonesome October as originally read by Roger. You may know about these (and future Zelazny unabridged titles to finally be rereleased) but I just happened on the news. If you don’t know, the company is Speaking Volumes. I got the news from the newsgroup alt.books.roger-zelazny on Google. According to Chris Kovacs on this group, the releases will include Roger’s readings of Blood of Amber and Knight of Shadows which were not released in unabridged form on cassettes.”

It looks like Speaking Volumes will have quite a number of Roger Zelazny audiobooks published! But this new publisher doesn’t only have Zelazny, Speaking Volumes is doing some other titles that look very cool:

Medicine Cup / Microbe by Bill Clem (two medical thrillers paired as double novel along the lines of the old Ace and Tor doubles)

Three novels by Max Allan Collins novels

We’re going to try to get some of these in as review copies too.

[Thanks Neill!]

Posted by Jesse Willis

Recent Arrivals: The Complete Ripley Radio Mysteries and Catwings by Ursula K. Le Guin

SFFaudio Recent Arrivals

They are still “recent arrivals” when I borrow them from my local public library right?

Yeah, I thought so.

The Complete Ripley Radio Mysteries
Based on the novels by Patricia Highsmith; Performed by a full cast
4 CDs – Approx. 5 Hours [RADIO DRAMA]
Publisher: BBC Audio
Published: 2009
ISBN: 9781408409473
Ian Hart stars in these BBC Radio 4 dramatisations of Patricia Highsmith’s five Ripley novels. Tom Ripley detests murder unless it is absolutely necessary. He prefers someone else to do the dirty work. But if he’s called on to act there is no one more cool, calculating and clever. In these dramatisations, BBC Radio 4 brings all Patricia Highsmith’s Ripley novels together in one thrilling series. In The Talented Mr Ripley, Tom makes a bid for another man’s inheritance and succeeds, but has he really got away with it? Ripley Under Ground is set a few years later, when Tom is living in luxury in a French chateau with his beautiful wife Heloise – but the clever art forgery which funds Tom’s expensive tastes is about to be uncovered. In Ripley’s Game,Tom sets up a man he dislikes to carry out two perfect murders, while in The Boy Who Followed Ripley, a rich young stalker arrives at Belle Ombre and he and Tom end up fighting for their lives. Finally, in Ripley Under Water, strange new neighbours show an overdeveloped interest in Ripley’s past. Will Tom’s shady dealings be exposed? Tense, thrilling and atmospheric, these dramatisations are perfect evocations of Highsmith’s unique, complex and brilliantly twisted crime novels.

Catwings
By Ursula K. Le Guin; Read by Ursula K. Le Guin
1 CD – Approx. 30 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Recorded Books
Published: September 2008
ISBN: 9781428174375
Le Guin wrote this highly acclaimed novel about a very special litter of kittens. Mrs. Jane Tabby has always longed to get away from the cramped alleys of the city. She knows it is too late for her, but she thinks her longing may be the reason her litter of kittens was born with wings. When they are old enough to fly, she sends the four kittens, who become known as catwings, out into the world to find their home. But they find that danger does not lurk only in city alleyways.

Posted by Jesse Willis