The Saltmarsh murders (1932) – Gladys Mitchell Free Audiobook

Written by Gladys Mitchell
Read by Gordon Griffin
Format: MP3
Bitrate: 64 Kbps
Unabridged

Series: Mrs Bradley, Book 04
Publisher: ISIS Soundings, 2010
Length: about 13hrs

Noel Wells, curate in the sleepy village of Saltmarsh, likes to spend his time dancing in the study with the vicar’s niece until one day the vicar’s unpleasant wife discovers her unmarried housemaid is pregnant and trouble begins. It is left to Noel to call for the help of sometime-detective and full-time Freudian Mrs Bradley, who sets out on an unnervingly unorthodox investigation into the mysterious pregnancy, an investigation that also takes in a smuggler, the village lunatic, a missing corpse, a public pillory, an exhumation and, of course, a murderer.

There is, of course, the vicar, the Rev. Bedivere Coutts, who is rumored to have fathered the now-missing baby; the vicar’s puritanical wife and the bumbling young curate (who narrates the tale) also fall under scrutiny. Then there is Mrs. Gatty, a merry old woman who lives in a former lunatic asylum and who likens all acquaintances to corresponding animals–Mrs. Bradley is naturally greeted as Mrs. Crocodile, curate Noel Wells as Mr. Goat, and an ill-tempered financier as Mr. Shark, with only the last person taking offense. The Lowrys run the Mornington Arms Inn where Meg had stayed, and husband and wife seem to be keeping a powerful secret. The strong, secretive Edwy David Burt lives in a solitary bungalow near the sea coast with his actress girlfriend and Negro manservant; this group may or may not be involved. And the prime suspect of the police is undoubtedly one Bob Candy, a man with violence in his heritage and status as a slow-witted ex-boyfriend of the murdered girl.

Calling a meeting at the village hall, Mrs. Bradley begins to untangle the strange events; she realizes that, correctly played, justice will take the form of one final murder. Mrs. Bradley is easily one of the most memorable personalities in crime fiction and in this classic whodunit she proves that some English villages can be murderously peaceful.

The series has 65 books…