Grant's Performance

I'm only writing to say that of the hundreds of books I've listened too on Audible, Richard E Grant's performance stands out as one of the all time greats. He captures the sensibility of place, character subtleties and has incredible command of distinctive voices. I'd recommend this to anyone.

8 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

An Remarkable Performance, Most Memorable

I have come to Agatha Christie late in my long, mostly literary reading life. Sometimes something a little light, but a little less light than Wodehouse is just the thing. Christie's craft has been analyzed and praised and parroted by admirers for almost a century, so here I will raise my glass to Richard E. Grant's lively performance. He lights up each character with a distinctive voice and personality, never failing to catch the wry humor and droll perspective on class attitudes and "human nature" that suffuses Christie's oeuvre. His performance is so compelling, I find myself recalling lines from his performance in my day-to-day encounters with real-world "human nature," a great help in dealing with everything from bad food to nosy prigs and pretentious prats. #SmallTownLife #Nostalgic #Humorous #Tagsgiving #Sweepstakes

7 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

Christie's Story+Grant's Performance = Great Book!

Would you listen to The Murder at the Vicarage again? Why?

I would certainly listen to it again. The story was brilliant and had me second guessing everything I thought. The clues were all there, but I missed them. I enjoyed trying to piece them together, and the brilliant humor that Christie manages to weave into her books.

Who was your favorite character and why?

I really loved the vicar and his wife both! They were great characters and had lots of commentary and humor. All of the characters,m however, were wonderful.

Have you listened to any of Richard E. Grant’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Yes! I would have to say that this was just as brilliant as the first one to which I listened, "The Moving Finger". He has a wonderful range in his characters and, once again he has proven that he understands Christie's style of writing. It is often hard to fall in love with a book when you aren't reading it yourself, but Mr. Grant makes this possible by his wonderful interpretation.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

"Running a church can be murder"

Any additional comments?

A definite must-read!!!

13 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

Fun story

This is a really fun story, but make sure you get the right version! Richard E. Grant does a good job narrating, but before getting this version I bought a two for one version (Murder at the Vicarage/The Mysterious Affair at Styles) which had a horrendous narrator! She didn't ever pause or change her inflection when going from one character to the next or back to the general narrator! So make sure you buy the version with Richard E. Grant narrating because he does a fantastic job.

8 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

Loved it

Great narration and a super story. I thought I didn’t like the Miss Marple books based on my teenage memories but I’m definitely enjoying them more as an adult. Lots of understated humor.

1 personne a trouvé cela utile

Superb Narration by Richard E. Grant

I usually listen to Agatha Christie mysteries with half an ear and certainly not much deep interest in the psyche of the characters. Richard E. Grant has changed that. He inhabits each character so thoroughly, shifting without perceptible artifice from voice to voice, accent to accent, attitude to attitude with incredible facility, bringing even mundane interactions to engrossing life. I don’t know if it’s the reading alone but the plot too was full of complexity and surprises, one of Christie’s best. This might be the rare mystery that I listen to again. Bravo to Richard E. Grant for this wonderful performance.

1 personne a trouvé cela utile

Narrator Ruins It

Would you try another book from Agatha Christie and/or Richard E. Grant?

I would not buy another audiobook with Richard Grant as the narrator. He adores putting emphasis on completely innocuous words and phrases and making things sound sinister at the wrong moment. I'm buying the book with another narrator.

11 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

What a wonderful story!

The ins and the outs... Thread sewn here then there. I didn't see the true ending until it happened.

Grant slays the narration

Agatha Christie’s murder mysteries tend to have so many characters and plots that I need to re-read chapters to keep track of who did what. With Mr. Giant’s phenomenal and varied narration, however, each character is unique and memorable. Bravo!

A fun listen

The book is a fun listen, but nothing more. It’s not a page turner, but entertaining enough. I’ve listened to a lot of Agatha Christie books (and seen movies and TV programs). Perhaps some of us are too familiar with the whole style to find something really exciting (even though I did not remember how this one ends). If it’s on sale and you enjoy Agatha Christie stories, sure, go ahead. The performance is quite good, though maybe a certain zest is missing, but maybe there is only so much you can do with this story.