The Mystery Of Cloomber
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Read by Delmar H Dolbier
This novel is written by the author of, among other novels, the Stories of Sherlock Holmes. It is narrated by John Fothergill West, who tries to discover why the tenant of Cloomber Hall, General Heatherstone, is nervous to the point of being paranoid. Why are his fears becoming stronger every year at the fifth of October? And why doesn't he let his children leave home? This is a great mystery novel with a sharp twist at the end. (Summary by Wikipedia and Stav Nisser)
(5 hr 20 min)
Chapters
Reviews
wonderfully suspenseful story
Frances
I have Previously reviewed Mr. Dolbier' read of this as outstanding... Still do. Noticed other reviewers did not agree and found the dialog difficult to understand. Too bad they did not allow time for their ears to grow accustomed to the totally accurate Scottish dialects which Mr. Dolbier used to add spice to his narration. Those dialects lifted the piece up from an ordinary reading to a theatrical presentation.
good story
Hiker1956
I enjoyed this story. I also enjoy most of this reader's work. he is very good with character voices. the Scottish accent for some of the characters could have a little less strong. After relistening to a chapter I had trouble with I began to understand. all in all a good listen.
Interesting but strange
Rebecca R Whisnant
interesting but strange story by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. I love accents. I thought the reader did a good job of trying to give each character a different accent in the thick countrymen brogue although a few took more intense listening skills to understand.
great story, engaging reader
DarthLaurel
Don't be put off by bad reviews of this reader. He's a very good reader and does what he can to do different voices and to make the story engaging. It is not at all easy to read a story aloud in a fluid, intelligible, entertaining manner. This guy is very good in his own way. Just because someone's style isn't to your tastes doesn't mean you are justified in running down the work he did for free and for your enjoyment.
Fantastic story but narrator impossible to understand in parts
M Harpenden
Loved the story line, and the mystery kept me hooked all the way through to the end. However, the narrator used different accents throughout and some had been over done , they were absolutely impossible to understand. I found this irritating as I desperately wanted to follow the excellent story, but just couldn't make out what was being said. Such a shame.
Moderately interesting story, absolutely terrible reader. I will never understand why they think they have to do different voices (and in this case, different accents too), and then why men have to have deeeeeep, gravelly voices (who in real life talks that way?), and the women all sound like piping ninnies. Not worth the listen. Whistling "s"s made it even worse! I really wish they would just straight read a book.
Excelled in All Counts
A.T.B.
This is an excellent reading of an enjoyable book. If one enjoys Doyle, and if one enjoys the Victorian adventure story genre, then I highly recommend this recording! Having read many tales of this type, it was slightly predictable; and as always the prejudices and accompanying language of bygone eras are distasteful to a modern reader. With that in mind, I still give this an outstanding rating.
good book. bad reader
Good book. Awful time with reader. Whistles when he says s, can't understand him half the time. Would be good if he would stick to one accent. None of the characters are read the same twice. Uses a voice way too deep, compared to what I assume is his normal voice when saying the beginning. Awful awful awful reader.