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Midnight in Peking
- How the Murder of a Young Englishwoman Haunted the Last Days of Old China
- Narrated by: Erik Singer
- Length: 8 hrs and 14 mins
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Publisher's summary
In the last days of old Peking, where anything goes, can a murderer escape justice?
Peking in 1937 is a heady mix of privilege and scandal, opulence and opium dens, rumors and superstition. The Japanese are encircling the city, and the discovery of Pamela Werner's body sends a shiver through already nervous Peking. Is it the work of a madman? One of the ruthless Japanese soldiers now surrounding the city? Or perhaps the dreaded fox spirits?
With the suspect list growing and clues sparse, two detectives - one British and one Chinese - race against the clock to solve the crime before the Japanese invade and Peking as they know it is gone forever. Can they find the killer in time, before the Japanese invade?
Historian and China expert Paul French at last uncovers the truth behind this notorious murder, and offers a rare glimpse of the last days of colonial Peking.
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Story
Death in the City of Light is the gripping, true story of a brutal serial killer who unleashed his own reign of terror in Nazi-Occupied Paris. As decapitated heads and dismembered body parts surfaced in the Seine, Commissaire Georges-Victor Massu, head of the Brigade Criminelle, was tasked with tracking down the elusive murderer in a twilight world of Gestapo, gangsters, resistance fighters, pimps, prostitutes, spies, and other shadowy figures of the Parisian underworld. The main suspect was Dr. Marcel Petiot, a handsome, charming physician with remarkable charisma.
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Too many facts too little story
- By Caitanya on 09-27-11
By: David King
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Naples '44
- By: Norman Lewis
- Narrated by: Nicholas Boulton
- Length: 6 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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Naples '44 is an unflinching autobiographical account of a year in Naples after the armistice and Allied landings in Sorrento in 1943. Working as a British counterintelligence officer under the Allied occupation, Lewis documents the rich pageant of life in the city and its surrounding areas. There is suffering and squalor: Criminal gangs are on the rise, along with typhus and black market commerce, and the female population is forced into part-time prostitution. But there is farce and humor, too, witnessed in the Roman uncle paid handsomely simply to appear at funerals.
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Sharply observed, beautifully written, and deeply humane
- By cw on 11-13-23
By: Norman Lewis
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Ripper
- The Secret Life of Walter Sickert
- By: Patricia Cornwell
- Narrated by: Mary Stuart Masterson
- Length: 14 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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Vain and charismatic Walter Sickert made a name for himself as a painter in Victorian London. But the ghoulish nature of his art - as well as extensive evidence - points to another name, one that's left its bloody mark on the pages of history: Jack the Ripper. Cornwell has collected never-before-seen archival material - including a rare mortuary photo, personal correspondence and a will with a mysterious autopsy clause - and applied cutting-edge forensic science to open an old crime to new scrutiny.
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I thought this was a new book.
- By Stephanie on 03-01-17
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Pietr the Latvian
- Inspector Maigret, Book 1
- By: Georges Simenon, David Bellos - translator
- Narrated by: Gareth Armstrong
- Length: 3 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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The first audiobook which appeared in Georges Simenon's famous Maigret series, in a gripping new translation by David Bellos.Inevitably Maigret was a hostile presence in the Majestic. He constituted a kind of foreign body that the hotel's atmosphere could not assimilate. Not that he looked like a cartoon policeman. He didn't have a moustache and he didn't wear heavy boots. His clothes were well cut and made of fairly light worsted. He shaved every day and looked after his hands. But his frame was proletarian. He was a big, bony man.
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Long live Maigret
- By Adeliese Baumann on 11-19-14
By: Georges Simenon, and others
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The First Family
- Terror, Extortion, Revenge, Murder, and the Birth of the American Mafia
- By: Mike Dash
- Narrated by: Lloyd James
- Length: 13 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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Before the Five Families who so notoriously dominated U.S. organized crime for a bloody half-century, there was the one-fingered, surpassingly cunning Giuseppe Morello and his murderous coterie of brothers. Born into a life of poverty in rural Sicily, Morello became an American nightmare, pioneering the bizarre initiation rituals, imaginative protection rackets, influential underworld reigns, and Mafia wars later popularized by countless books, television shows, and movies.
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The truth about the origins of the American mafia
- By J. Sovar on 01-09-13
By: Mike Dash
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Death in the Air
- The True Story of a Serial Killer, the Great London Smog, and the Strangling of a City
- By: Kate Winkler Dawson
- Narrated by: Graeme Malcolm
- Length: 9 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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A real-life thriller in the vein of The Devil in the White City, Kate Winkler Dawson's debut, Death in the Air, is a gripping, historical narrative of a serial killer, an environmental disaster, and an iconic city struggling to regain its footing. In winter 1952, London automobiles and thousands of coal-burning hearths belched particulate matter into the air. But the smog that descended on December fifth of 1952 was different; it was a type that held the city hostage for five long days.
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Interesting
- By irene on 11-27-17
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England's Finest
- By: Christopher Fowler
- Narrated by: Tim Goodman
- Length: 10 hrs and 56 mins
- Original Recording
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The Peculiar Crimes Unit has solved many extraordinary cases over the years, but some were hushed up and hidden away. Until now. Arthur Bryant remembers these lost cases as if they were yesterday. Here, then, is the truth about the Covent Garden opera diva and the 17th reindeer, the body that falls from the Tate Gallery, the ordinary London street corner where strange accidents keep occurring, the consul’s son discovered buried in the unit’s basement, the corpse pulled from a swamp of Chinese dinners....
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Over to soon!
- By Nancy on 11-17-19
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The Eternal Nazi
- From Mauthausen to Cairo, the Relentless Pursuit of SS Doctor Aribert Heim
- By: Nicholas Kulish, Souad Mekhennet
- Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
- Length: 9 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Dr. Aribert Heim worked at the Mauthausen concentration camp for only a few months in 1941 but left a devastating mark. According to the testimony of survivors, Heim euthanized patients with injections of gasoline into their hearts. He performed surgeries on otherwise healthy people. Some recalled prisoners' skulls set out on his desk to display perfect sets of teeth. Yet in the chaos of the postwar period, Heim was able to slip away from his dark past and establish himself as a reputable doctor and family man in the resort town of Baden-Baden.
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Not certain about this one...
- By Nancy on 11-24-22
By: Nicholas Kulish, and others
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The Shadow District
- By: Arnaldur Indridason
- Narrated by: George Guidall
- Length: 8 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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A 90-year-old man is found dead in his bed, smothered with his own pillow. On his desk, the police find newspaper cuttings about a murder case dating from the Second World War, when a young woman was found strangled behind Reykjavik's National Theatre. Konrad, a former detective, is bored with retirement and remembers the crime. He grew up in "the shadow district", a rough neighborhood bordered by the National Theatre. Why would someone be interested in that crime now?
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A slow burn!
- By Rosemary Wells on 12-12-17
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The Battered Body Beneath the Flagstones, and Other Victorian Scandals
- By: Michelle Morgan
- Narrated by: Anne Dover
- Length: 10 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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A grisly book dedicated to the crimes, perversions and outrages of Victorian England, covering high-profile offences - such as the murder of actor William Terriss, whose stabbing at the stage door of the Adelphi Theatre in 1897 filled the front pages for many weeks - as well as lesser-known transgressions that scandalised the Victorian era. The tales include murders and violent crimes but also feature scandals that merely amused the Victorians.
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Doesn’t question it’s sources enough
- By Emily Stoneking on 11-27-18
By: Michelle Morgan
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Serpentine
- By: Thomas Thompson
- Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain
- Length: 24 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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There was no pattern to the murders, no common thread other than the fact that the victims were all vacationers, robbed of their possessions, and slain in seemingly random crimes. Authorities across three continents and a dozen nations had no idea they were all looking for the same man: Charles Sobhraj, aka "The Serpent". A handsome Frenchman of Vietnamese and Indian origin, Sobhraj targeted backpackers on the "hippie trail" between Europe and South Asia. A master of deception, he used his powerful intellect and considerable sex appeal to lure naive travelers into a life of crime.
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Good Story / Weak Narration
- By Chandelle on 10-09-18
By: Thomas Thompson
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Tinseltown
- Murder, Morphine, and Madness at the Dawn of Hollywood
- By: William J. Mann
- Narrated by: Christopher Lane
- Length: 15 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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By 1920, the movies had suddenly become America's new favorite pastime and one of the nation's largest industries. Never before had a medium possessed such power to influence; yet Hollywood's glittering ascendancy was threatened by a string of headline-grabbing tragedies - including the murder of William Desmond Taylor, the popular president of the Motion Picture Directors Association, a legendary crime that has remained unsolved until now.
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Everybody's a dreamer...
- By Steven on 01-08-15
By: William J. Mann
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The World's 20 Worst Crimes
- True Stories of 20 Killers and Their 1000 Victims
- By: Kate Kray
- Narrated by: Geoff Barham
- Length: 9 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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In this, the first book of its kind, Kate Kray, who married gangster Ronnie Kray, peers into the minds of the top 20 worst killers in criminal history and, sparing no detail, reveals the awful truth of their abominable acts. The extreme nature of their violence and their shocking lack of remorse makes for uncomfortable yet fascinating listening.
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Ugh!
- By Tim on 03-09-16
By: Kate Kray
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The Murderer in Ruins
- CI Frank Stave, Book 1
- By: Cay Rademacher
- Narrated by: Mark Meadows
- Length: 10 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Hamburg, 1947. A ruined city occupied by the British who bombed it, experiencing the coldest winter in living memory. Food is scarce; refugees and the homeless crowd into shantytowns and sheds. There is a killer on the loose, and all attempts to find him or her have failed. Plagued with worry about his missing son, Frank Stave is a career policeman with a tragedy in his past that is driving his determination to find the killer.
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Wasn't sure at first, but...
- By John S. on 01-14-21
By: Cay Rademacher
What listeners say about Midnight in Peking
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Maria
- 07-26-12
Sad
Would you listen to Midnight in Peking again? Why?
No, very rarely a repeat listener.
What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)
Sadness, a life interupted is always a sad and tragic moment. Those close to it can never recover.
What three words best describe Erik Singer’s voice?
Fit the mood
What’s the most interesting tidbit you’ve picked up from this book?
Peking - the Legation Quarter and how the foreign police had to work with the Chinese police.
Any additional comments?
This was an interesting story, and the author's description of the city, the spaces, and the people gives it a richness and brings the reader to the place, time and movements.
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- BallaghMan
- 02-19-21
Fascinating
Tragic story set against the backdrop of pre war China. Colonial presences, international figures, Chinese history and traditions, British imperialism, murky figures and characters. If you like that kind of story this is for you.
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- gracenote
- 05-06-12
Evocative
The historian author painstakingly reveals the details of a murder mystery in Peking just prior to the Japanese invasion. The book reveals the seamy side of the colonial/expat community. It describes a time in Chinese history I knew little about and appreciated becoming more familiar with.The description of the political climate of the time and the conquest of China by Japan adds urgency and interest to the tale as does the description of the unflagging devotion of the father, despite changing governments and armed conflicts to identify the murderer of his daughter.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Debra Clark
- 07-26-12
midnight in Peking
Any additional comments?
I really liked this book. I was concerned because I had heard it was hard to heel for the murdered girl. I didnt feel that, I feel like the book was more about the men who tried to bring her justice, and I felt for these men. I dont feel like I really needed to identify with the victim. I identified with the flawed haunted father. Truth is really stranger than fiction. Well done.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Lisa Martin
- 01-07-13
A REAL detective - and historian
This is very interesting- Mr French researched so much - he actually solves this crime for Pamela and her father- never knew Peking is Beijing- maybe it willl come up on Jeopardy someday- very enjoyable
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1 person found this helpful
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- Rodney
- 09-29-18
Doesn't go anywhere
I love history and hate fiction, it's just a waste of time, whoever when history / nonfiction is at it's best it reads like a novel, just without wizards and peoples goblins and all that nonsense. Anywho a good murder mystery, that is based on real events, in a setting like this should be a homerun, but it's not. The author uses way too much conjecture for the story to have much in terms of credibility. Also the account of the book is taken from the father who isn't exactly an unbiased arbitrator of the truth. You get scenarios that are based on nothing, just the author making up something, it's not based on police reports or anything, and you have the flat ending, which I won't get into as to not spoil the book. Finally you have the author making up dialog, which again is based on nothing.
In closing this book reads like fiction, but not in a good way, in a way where much of the content is made up since it's not based on anything - and the parts that are based on something come from an extremely biased source. The more I write this review, the more I look at my 3-star rating and think I need to lower it to 2-stars, however I think I'll keep it at 3 since I wasn't exactly bored during the book and I made it to the end without a problem. But getting to the end, that was based on there being a big ending, the big reveal, and there wasn't one. Had I know the ending of the book there is no way I would have sat through it.
On the positive side I guess is the setting. It gives you a very generic overview of the time and setting but really doesn't use the setting for much. There are interesting characters in the book, so that is good, however I do wonder how much flavor is made up, either by the author or by the source. Also the book moves mostly at a good pace, so again, I wasn't bored.
The reader does a good job, gives a professional reading. As always I listen to audiobooks at 1.25x speed since it knocked over an hour and half off the listening time while not affecting my ability to follow everything in the least. If you don't listen at 1.25x speed, you should, it can make really bad readers tolerable, and can make mediocre readers seemingly have more range while not really taking away anything except for time.
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- Savysara
- 03-04-20
Enjoyed listening
Intriguing story. I enjoy non-fiction that reads like a novel. History and a mystery combined.
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- JE M
- 10-20-18
enthralling look into 1930s China
I am so glad Audible recommended this one! Loved it. The gruesome parts weren't gratuitous, there was just enough to tell the story. I appreciated that. The story is riveting! I looked up pictures of the streets and main character after it ended. It sucked me in.
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- Anonymous User
- 06-04-12
Mesmerizing story
Where does Midnight in Peking rank among all the audiobooks you???ve listened to so far?
Midnight in Peking is a fascinating story about what was happening in Peking in the late 1930's and the story of a father's devotion to his daughter even in death. The horrible story of what happened to her possibly happened to others. Without his persistence, the killers would have gotten away with it. Because of his persistence, they had to stop their "sport" and disband. Wonderful story and mystery, but so sad because it was true.
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- Richard
- 05-16-12
Haunting, suspenseful
Would you listen to Midnight in Peking again? Why?
Yes. The story is set in Peking just before WWII erupts. The foreign community lives in an enclave that seems to attract or breed decadent westerners who think they are entitled to do whatever they want. The British embassy officials are more interested in preserving face and prestige than in seeing the brutal murder of a young British woman solve. The local Chinese police are corrupt, and protect the drug dealers, pimps and other low lifes in the "Badlands." The murdered girl's father, an irascible former British diplomat, won't give up and investigates how and why his daughter died. Meanwhile the tension mounts as the Japanese close in.
Who was your favorite character and why?
The father. He's a maverick, speaks his mind, which gets him in trouble. When his daughter is murdered persists in trying to solve the mystery of who murdered his daughter, in the face of ridicule, and danger from the British embassy, the local corrupt police, and the underworld.
Have you listened to any of Erik Singer’s other performances before? How does this one compare?
No, but he's very good.
If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?
When a young woman is murdered, her father risked it all to find her killers.
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