Murder in the Museum

De: John Rowland

Narrado por: Peter Wickham

When Professor Julius Arnell breathes his last in the British Museum Reading Room, it looks like death from natural causes. Who, after all, would have cause to murder a retired academic? Inspector Shelley's suspicions are aroused when he finds a packet of poisoned sugared almonds in the dead man's pocket, and a motive becomes clearer when he discovers Arnell's connection to a Texan oil millionaire. Soon another man plunges hundreds of feet into a reservoir on a Yorkshire moor. What can be the connection between the two deaths? Mild-mannered museum visitor Henry Fairhurst adds his detective talents to Inspector Shelley's own, and together they set about solving one of the most baffling cases Shelley has ever encountered.

©2016 Estate of John Rowland (P)2017 Soundings

One of my favorites...

I’ve been able to read or listen to the British Library Crime Classics in the past year and I’ve enjoyed them all, but this will rank as one of my favorites.
John ROWLAND was a wonderful story teller and Peter WICKHAM was the perfect narrator for this one.
And thanks to Martin EDWARDS for working with POISONED PEN and the BRITISH LIBRARY to bring them back into print!!
What TREASURES!!!

Artfully done sleuthing

Really enjoyed spending time with the charming characters in this book. Twists and turns and easy on the ears narrator.

Somewhat flat book

In 1938's <strong>Murder in the Museum</strong> by John Rowland, Henry Fairhurst has been doing research in the British Museum Reading Room when he gets annoyed that a man nearby seems to have fallen asleep. But when Henry goes to wake up the man, he discovers that the man is dead. Inspector Shelley, called to the scene, is certain that the man has been poisoned with cyanide. The victim proves to be Professor Julius Arnell, an expert in Elizabethan poets. Soon Inspector Shelley learns that another expert in the same field died in the British Museum six months earlier, and a third expert has gone missing. It doesn't take long before they locate the missing man's body, also at the British Museum, but stabbed only half an hour earlier.

The will brings in new information, as it specifies that Arnell's large estate will go to his daughter Violet for her life and then to her distant cousin, Moses Moss, upon her death. The cousin is the son of a relative disowned by Arnell's family for marrying a Jew. But when Violet shows the will to Henry Fairhurst, they discover that it is a forgery. This leads to drama, which concludes the book with an exciting car chase.

I came across <strong>Murder in the Museum</strong> by accident, looking to see if another book of the same name was on audio. I'm glad I found this book because I found it interesting, though I will point out that the official description does not match the actual plot of the book. The plot of this book kept me entertained, with interesting details. Some of the characters come across as memorable, but most don't stand out very much. Inspector Shelley seems sympathetic, allowing the amateur Henry Fairhurst to participate to an extent.

It is worth noting that there are descriptions of anti-semitic attitudes, such as the family that ostracized their daughter for marrying a Jew. The audiobook begins with a disclaimer about the language, but I felt that the message of the book was sympathetic to those of Jewish ancestry and negative towards the ones who would behave in such a way.

The audiobook was performed by Peter Wickham. It was a reasonable performance, but it didn't really inspire me. The narration seems flat at times and didn't have a lot of expression.

<strong>Murder in the Museum</strong> was a decent book, with some points of interest, but it didn't seem to have the depth that other books contain. I found it somewhat interesting, in particular the conclusion, but it didn't appeal strongly to me. I give the book three stars.

Dated take

I enjoyed listening to this tale if only because it when it was written and because the narrator is excellent. However the plot is the and the characters are never developed

Sound Issue

Apparently there is some issue on the British Isis Company that shared the master tape with audible because the loudness/softness feature isn’t working. I had to strain to hear the story. Audible should request a new master tape from Isis or remaster the original so that it is truly audible.