Audiobook · read by volunteers
Middle Temple Murder
J. S. Fletcher (1863–1935)
Read by Betsie Bush, Kara Shallenberg (1969-2023), Patricia Oakley, Mark Nelson, Gesine, Julian Jamison, Ezwa, Anita Roy Dobbs, Sara Walsh, Westwinds12 · 36 chapters · 8 h 15
About the book
The body of a man is found on the steps of some chambers in Middle Temple Lane, a stone's throw from London's law courts. Who was he, and why did he die there? A journalist and a young lawyer join forces to find out, following clues that lead through the offices, clubs and drawing rooms of the capital. J. S. Fletcher, himself a journalist who turned to writing detective stories, gives the case a brisk pace and a nice sense of the city. The Middle Temple Murder became one of his best-known books and a classic example of the English mystery in the years after the First World War. Ten LibriVox volunteers share its thirty-six chapters across about eight hours of puzzling entertainment.
Introduction
Joseph Smith Fletcher (1863-1935) was an English author who wrote a vast number of books, among them history, topography and, above all, crime fiction. Trained as a journalist, he turned to detective stories in his later years and became one of the best-selling crime writers in Britain between the wars. The Middle Temple Murder, published in 1919, was one of his first major successes in this field.
The book is a traditional detective story in the sense that it centres on the unravelling of a mystery by reasoning and persistence, but its heroes are an investigative reporter and a young barrister rather than a professional sleuth. This gives it a particular flavour, with scenes set in newspaper offices, legal chambers and the streets of London. It helped establish Fletcher's reputation.
The recording has thirty-six chapters and lasts about eight hours and twenty minutes. It was made by a group of LibriVox volunteers, among them Betsie Bush, Kara Shallenberg and Patricia Oakley. The shared reading gives the story a lively variety of voices. It will appeal to anyone who enjoys the golden age of the English murder mystery, with its fog, its clubs and its tidy solutions, and who likes to follow a puzzle without hurrying. The mystery is built from small discoveries, and Fletcher keeps the reader guessing about who is trustworthy and who is not. The newspaper office and the lawyers' chambers give the book a lived-in feeling, and the chapters are short enough to keep the story moving. It is a satisfying listen for anyone who likes a good puzzle set in a vanished London, and a worthwhile example of what ordinary readers enjoyed a century ago.
Public domain
J. S. Fletcher died in 1935: the work is in the public domain in Switzerland, more than 70 years after the author’s death.
The LibriVox volunteers dedicated this recording to the public domain.
Sources : LibriVox page · Files at the Internet Archive · Original text