The Big Bow Mystery cover art

The Big Bow Mystery

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The Big Bow Mystery

By: Israel Zangwill
Narrated by: Walter Covell
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About this listen

 The Big Bow Mystery is a masterpiece of the form, as compelling a story today as when it was first published. The author has produced a seminal crime novel - the original "locked room" mystery.

With a flair for storytelling and a literate style comparable to his contemporary, Charles Dickens, Israel Zangwill concocts a heady satire of Victorian England, setting his scene in London's picturesque Bow district. His hero is the colorful retired police inspector Grodman, whose egotism and brilliance bear striking resemblance to that most famous 19th century fictional sleuth - Sherlock Holmes.

Public Domain (P)1982 Jimcin Recordings Classics Detective Fiction Historical Mystery Traditional Detectives England Witty

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This is a classic of Crime fiction, by virtue of its being possibly the first real locked-room mystery. Published in 1892, it shows its Victorian origins, in a great deal of long wordy speechifying; this is tedious in an audiobook, and although there is a clever twist at the end, the fundamental concept is callous and extremely dislikable.
As to the narrator, this is a London story, the descriptions and atmosphere of London of that period permeate the book, so whatever possessed the producer to provide a narrator with an American accent? It jars and distracts throughout and is totally inappropriate.
To sum up, a tedious and unpleasant little story that should have been left in the annals of Crime Fiction History, is unsuited to an audiobook, and certainly not in an American voice.

A Tedious Little Story and Dreadful Narrator

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