Captain Wafer

Wodehouse's best, brilliantly read

Revisado: 06-08-21

Wodehouse is a variable author, going from so-so to hilarious and compelling. And this is his best. Uncle Fred is a delightful character, and he absolutely shines in this one. He brings his desire to spread sweetness and light (or meddle in others' business) to the people around him, along with his tireless energy and utter disregard for this thing we call "the truth". Wodehouse spins a twisty, intertwined story which is an absolute delight to see resolved.

And the reading? Jonathan Cecil is always good, and in this one he is just spot-on with his timing and tones.

If you like Wodehouse, get this story.

If you don't know if you like Wodehouse, this is the one to try.

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Tedious

Revisado: 06-08-21

A dull, plodding mystery. I'm generally not very good at figuring out "whodunit", but I had this one figured out with two hours left to go in the story. I know a book has good characters when I'm sad that the book has ended - or I'm immediately reaching for the next one - to find out what happens to them. I didn't really care about any of the unhappy characters in this book by the end. There are more stories in the Brighton Mysteries series, but I won't be wasting my time on any of them.

I will say that the narration was good. I tend to listen to stories while I'm doing other activities, whether it's household chores, driving, or whatever. If the narrator is unclear, or the volume levels change dramatically, I often struggle to follow the story. This was easy to hear, and the voicing was done well.

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Another Wodehouse masterpiece

Revisado: 05-23-21

First of all, Jonathan Cecil's narration is right on. He has narrated multiple Wodehouse novels and he is superb. Keep up the good work, Mr. Cecil!

As for the story: this story is much like Cocktail Time (my #1 favorite Wodehouse story): a fun romance story with lots of characters weaving together. There's no Uncle Fred (alas), but we do get an Uncle Fred-ish character who has a similar disregard for what the rest of us call "truth". It's a treat to see Gordon Carlisle and Gertie in action again, particularly with the two of them starting off the story estranged from one another. As always, the story ends with the young lovers are united (with the right people), happiness reigning supreme, and the dishonest Carlisles no richer. Even Soup Slattery - a fun addition to this wide-ranging stable of characters - ends with the prospect of life improving.

I've listened to this several times and will doubtless do it again. I think this is probably now my #2 favorite Wodehouse story.

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OK but not spectacular

Revisado: 05-23-21

I've listened to and enjoyed several of Anne Perry's books, but this one falls somewhat below average for her.

To be clear, there are a lot of enjoyable characters in this story. Sir Oliver Rathbone is a good character, and Hester is great.

But the pacing of the story is unfortunate. The first part of the book develops with agonizing slowness. I just don't need that much anguish over an unwinnable case that's going to come to trial. Once we get to the trial things pick up nicely, and bring us an interesting twist. But in resolving that twist, Ms. Perry must have realized that the book had already gone on too long, and gives us a Deus Ex Machina ending that just wraps everything up too quickly.

And second, the story just beat the listener over the head about how bad Victorian society's limited roles for women were. Yes, this is a crucial part of the plot, but there's no reason to keep pounding away once the point has been made the first five or six times.

I enjoyed it enough to finish the story, but can't imagine listening to it again. There are just too many parts that I know I wouldn't want to be sitting through.

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May have soured me on the entire romance genre

Revisado: 02-14-21

I don't typically listen to romance stories, but I do enjoy a bit of romance in mystery or science fiction stories. Then I listened to the delightful Snow Day, and thought that perhaps I should try a full-length romance novel.

This certainly wasn't the right one to pick.

The premise was far-fetched, although many good stories are built on far-fetched premises. But this really stretched it past the breaking point. Khai's mother is sad that her son seems like he will never have a companion, so she arranges a possible marriage for him. And then gives Esme no briefing on how Khai is different, and still expects everything to go swimmingly. Really?

Second, do romance stories only happen to beautiful people? From listening to this book, you could be forgiven for thinking so.

And third, this could have been a story about how two very different personalities manage to combine and produce a whole that's bigger than the sum of the parts. Instead it is mostly a story of unsatisfied sexual longings. Ugh. Exceedingly tedious to listen to.

I can't give away the ending because I gave up about two-thirds of the way through. When I realized how much more of the story was left, I just couldn't bring myself to try to finish it.

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A fair story but nothing more

Revisado: 02-14-21

This is an interesting premise: in World War Two, an intelligent and determined woman wants to do more to help with the war effort than roll bandages and pass out medications, but is limited by the gender roles assigned to her at the time. She wants to put her keen mind to work. The fact that the woman in question is Agatha Christie seems arbitrary, an effort to grab the interest of potential readers rather than being a central pivot point of the story. And having worked with the theme of frustrated ambition, it switches gears to a different theme near the end. It's clearly meant to leave the listener with an interesting puzzle to ponder...but I thought there wasn't enough material in the story to make this work. I just got to the end and felt, "Ho hum, so it's over". Not unpleasant, but also not interesting enough to ever make me want to listen to it again, nor to act as a recommendation for the authors.

I will add that I take no exception with the narration. It was well done and kept moving along at just the right page.

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Not my favorite Marsh story, but still good

Revisado: 02-04-21

This story has plenty to like. Having listened mostly to the earlier Inspector Alleyn stories, I quite enjoyed this one where his grown son is in the thick of the action. There were plenty of colorful characters that made the story good fun. And the atmosphere of the Channel Island was also quite well done - it made me wish I could visit!

My only disappointment was that the ending of the story seemed rushed. I won't say any more about the ending, because who wants to read a review of a mystery story that reveals whodunnit, but it was a bit of a let-down.

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Perfectly charming

Revisado: 01-29-21

This is an absolutely charming story.

OK, let me be clear: it's completely predictable. From the very first scene, you know how the story is going to end. But in this case, it's not how it ends that's the important part. It's how you get there. And getting there, in this story, was really enjoyable. I really liked the situation the two characters found themselves in, and how they worked their way through it.

Disclaimer: I love romantic themes in stories - and I'm always disappointed when the romances don't work out in the stories I'm reading or listening to. But I practically never listen to "straight-up" romance stories. I look for romances in sci-fi or mystery stories. So I'm out in a new genre here. Maybe my criticisms are just criticisms of romance stories in general. I don't know.

Everything moved too quickly. Amy changed her life, her goals, and her plans all in less than an hour and a half. That is preposterous. But what that really is saying is that I wanted this to be a five-hour book instead of an hour-and-a-little short story. Which is another way of saying that I really liked Amy and Martijn, and wanted to hear more about them. Martijn is, in some ways, the kind of person I wish I could be. Amy is thinking about where her life is going and how to be happy. Something I think about regularly. Yes, I wish I could have spent more time with them. Is there higher praise for an audiobook? I don't think so.

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A weaker version of "Cocktail Time"

Revisado: 01-29-21

This story ends up feeling like a practice version of Wodehouse's "Cocktail Time". There are the same general themes (young love and riches), the same setting (a rural country house), and many of the same characters: the potty older uncle, the young lovers, and so on. There are even some of the same scenes, such as people being locked into the wine cellar.

So far, so good: Cocktail Time is my favorite Wodehouse story, so revisiting the same themes would be good, right? Not this time. The main romantic lead here is a far less likeable character, the voicing of the potty uncle leaves a lot to be desired, and the plot just doesn't have all the twists and turns it needs to really be fun. Of course, it's really hard to compete with Uncle Fred, who forms the center of Cocktail Time. Neither Jeff, the cavilier young lover here, nor the potty uncle, come close to having the same kind of magic to them.

I won't be listening to this one again. I will, however, go listen to Cocktail Time again.

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Not what I was hoping it would be

Revisado: 01-25-21

I enjoyed Ian Pears' The Raphael Affair, so I went looking for other audiobooks by him. Great - another story with the same characters, with an art theme!

Unfortunately, what made The Raphael Affair so good - the magic of a lost masterpiece hidden from the world - completely failed to materialize this time. What we got instead was a pretty run-of-the-mill caper that happens to have a painting involved in it. The story failed to enthrall with the idea of a missing masterpiece, and the resulting adventure story had nothing special about it. It wasn't a *bad* story, but it also wasn't anything special.

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