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Death in the Stocks

A gripping classic detective novel

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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

A moonlit night. A sleeping village. And an unaccountable murder...

An English bobbie returning from night patrol finds a corpse in evening dress locked in the stocks on the village green. He identifies the body immediately. Andrew Vereker was not a well-loved man, and narrowing down the suspects is not going to be an easy job. The Vereker family are corrupt and eccentric -and hardly cooperative ...

It's another case for the resourceful Superintendent Hannasyde, who sets off on the trail of a killer so cunning that even his consummate powers of detection are tested to their limits...

© Georgette Heyer 1935 (P) Penguin Audio 2021

 Crime Thrillers Fiction Mystery Police Procedural Thriller Thriller & Suspense Traditional Detectives Crime Detective

Critic reviews

Praise for Georgette Heyer's mystery novels:
'We had better start ranking Heyer alongside such incomparable whodunit authors as Christie, Marsh, Tey and Allingham'
'Rarely have we seen humour and mystery so perfectly blended'
'Sharp, clear and witty'
'Heyer's characters and dialogue are an abiding delight to me ... I have seldom met people to whom I have taken so violent a fancy from the word "Go"'
'The wittiest of detective writers'
Death in the Stocks is that rare and refreshing thing - a clever problem stated, developed and finally solved in terms of character
Miss Heyer's characters act and speak with an ease that is as refreshing as it is rare in the ordinary mystery novel
All stars
Most relevant
A good story from the pen of Georgette Heyer. Though, as with quite a few of her characters, I could cheerfully shake some of them; they really are too annoying. The perpetrator is fairly obvious but that didn't stop my enjoyment of it. Matt Addis does a creditable job of the narration too.

Enjoyable

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I have read this book several times over the years and also listened to an earlier Audible version with another reader. This is a much better production and the male reader has a good range and is convincing when performing the female characters. I find the period details which are obviously current mid 1930s interesting and enjoyable. I have read Georgette Heyer for more than fifty years mostly her better known Regency romances. The skill in engaging the reader is demonstrated in all her novels and there are very few of her books of which I am not happy to reread. My understanding is that her husband had a hand in constructing the outline of the detection novels and that GH then put the meat on the bones of the characters and produced the stories. I can certainly recommend her other novels which are not just a repetittive series of romances, but cover a range of adventures and comedy situations with engaging characters. Many of the later novels have a quieter feel to them but are never the less enjoyable. I now listen more to Audible productions and this brings a new insight into familiar novels.

Excellent new performance

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Really impressed with this narrator and their range of characterisation and nuance. Every line delivered to best effect. Heyer detective stories seem at least as good as Christie but sadly not as many of them

Top notch narration

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Without doubt, the best of the Heyer mysteries. It’s not just the good plot, but the very humorous writing, excellently performed as always by Matt Addis. The combination of these two never fails to keep me entertained, whether in a period novel or a mystery, Next!

Lewis

Loved it

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Sparkling evocation of brittle upperclass conversation of 1930s. Quite surprising whodunnit but very well-written if rather chilly, like all Heyer’s mysteries it seems. I wonder if the collaboration with her husband rather quelled her usual brilliance of style and touch. But a really good narrator makes a great difference

Excellent narration

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