The Dower House Mystery cover art

The Dower House Mystery

Preview

£0.00 for first 30 days

Try for £0.00
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

The Dower House Mystery

By: Patricia Wentworth
Narrated by: Anne Hancock
Try for £0.00

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

Confirm Purchase
Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.
Cancel

About this listen

Amabel Grey, a widow with a modest income, needs money. Fast. Her spoiled daughter Daphne has an opportunity to go with friends on holiday, and she's convinced it will end with a lucrative marriage proposal. But where to find 200 pounds?

Amabel refuses to borrow money she knows she can't repay and visits a lawyer friend to ask about ideas for employment. She overhears a client requesting the lawyer find someone to live in his Dower House for six months. The stipend is 200 pounds! And she knows the house, having visited 20 years before. The catch? Previous tenants have been driven away by strange happenings, and the village is convinced the place is haunted. The owner wants the rumors to stop.

Will strange noises, closing doors, and rising mist in the hallways intimidate the determined Amabel? Who or what is trying to scare her away and why?

Listeners of The Astonishing Adventure of Jane Smith will again encounter Jane, her anarchist uncle, and Criminal Investigations Chief "Piggy" LeMesurier. The Dower House's inhabitants and neighbors include a long-lost love of Amabel's.

Public Domain (P)2021 Anne Hancock
Detective Mystery Suspense Traditional Detectives Women Sleuths Women's Fiction Fiction
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Listeners also enjoyed...

The Black Cabinet cover art
The Amazing Chance cover art
The Annam Jewel cover art
The Astonishing Adventure of Jane Smith cover art
The Red Lacquer Case cover art
Inspector Alan Grant: The Full Collection cover art
A Very English Murder cover art
A Man Lay Dead cover art
Death of an Author cover art
A Quiet Life in the Country cover art
The Wintringham Mystery cover art
The Deadly Mystery of the Missing Diamonds cover art
Outlaws of Time: The Legend of Sam Miracle cover art
Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens & Peter and Wendy cover art
Murder at the Fitzwilliam cover art
Blast Off cover art

Critic reviews

"This classic British whodunit from the Golden Age of mysteries has been recorded to delight another generation. A comely middle-aged widow agrees to reside in what is reputed to be a haunted house for six months to earn money for her spoiled daughter. With panache and practiced skill, narrator Anne Hancock evokes the gloom of the old Dower House, with its peculiar staff and disconcerting neighboring families. Hancock brings to life the winsome widow and endows her with a rational, cultured voice. She also produces many other compelling portrayals, including those of family retainers, local residents, and people of differing ages, genders, and social background. This is a nostalgic treat." (D.L.G. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine, published June 2021)

What listeners say about The Dower House Mystery

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    6
  • 4 Stars
    8
  • 3 Stars
    3
  • 2 Stars
    3
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    8
  • 4 Stars
    4
  • 3 Stars
    4
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    1
Story
  • 3.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    6
  • 4 Stars
    6
  • 3 Stars
    2
  • 2 Stars
    2
  • 1 Stars
    2

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Good performance enough but...

Americanisms in pronunciation slip occasionally into this otherwise good performance - mildoo (mildew), noo (new), pahnd (pound).
The story is what one expects from Wentworth so quite satisfying.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Good old mystery!

I know people have been critical of this book. It’s an early Patricia Wentworth and even though it lacks the polish of her Miss Silver mysteries I still enjoyed it. Undemanding to listen to whilst I was painting. It’s got a bit of romance a bit of mystery and a bit of a twist at the end.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Give this one a miss

Patricia Wentworth's later books are so strong, and this one is so weak, it's a shame, because her Miss Silver series could lose an audience if this book was listened to first. The only point of interest for me was in realising that Georgette Heyer must have cribbed this plot for her first mystery novel: Footsteps In The Dark. The plot similarities are just too many. Heyer's book is much better written though, and well worth a listen. Give The Dower House Mystery a miss.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Childish plot

This might as well have been an Enid Blyton book - coincidences and secret passages. Also, the narrator did well but why not choose an English actor?

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!