The Seven Dials Mystery

This production suffers in two aspects: The story is weak, and the narration is routine, even listless. Despite a melodious voice and attractive British accent, Jenny Funnell has to struggle with sketchy, unmemorable characters and a heroine with a cutesy nickname, "Bundle," aka Lady Eileen Brent. (Remember Christie's Tuppence? Both female sleuths are from her earliest works.) When researching the history of this book, I encountered rave reviews, puzzling, until I noticed that they involved the unabridged original. Reviews of abridgments have not been so generous--like this one. The story: Bundle encounters a murder and a secret society. Enough said. D.R.W. (c) AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine

Christie's charming and absorbing detective novel (1929) is suspenseful and witty, and has vividly drawn characters. In the country, Lady "Bundle" Brent, an adorably perky amateur sleuth, finds murder, conspiracy, secret societies, and, need we mention it, intrigue. Actress Emilia Fox, who sounds like a flapper of the era, serves all this up with considerable zest and aplomb. She excels particularly in the dialogue. But in the narrative, one hears the shallowness in her soprano's voice; her sentences end on irritatingly scratchy attempts at a low pitch. Further, her phrasing is graceless, though her excellent interpretation and sense of fun will win over most listeners. Y.R. (c) AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine