Audiobook7 hours
At the Villa Rose
Written by A. E. W. Mason
Narrated by LibriVox Community
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
4/5
()
About this audiobook
Harry Wethermill, the brilliant young scientist, a graduate of Oxford and Munich, has made a fortune from his inventions, and is taking a vacation at Aix-les-Bains. There he meets, and immediately falls in love with, the young and beautiful Celia Harland, who serves as companion to the aging but warm-hearted Madam Dauvray of Paris. All this is observed by Julius Ricardo, a retired financier from the City of London, who spends every August at Aix, expecting there to find a pleasant and peaceful life. Imagine his consternation when he learns that Mme. Dauvray has been brutally murdered, and imagine Harry Wethermill's consternation when he learns that every finger of suspicion is pointed at the now vanished Celia Harland.
Implored to do so by Wethermill, Ricardo asks his friend Inspector Hanaud, the great detective of the Paris Sûreté (who is also vacationing in Aix) to involve himself in the case so that the truth may come out. Hanaud agrees to do so (with the permission of the Aix police, of course), and goes to work. Will he be up to the job? And will Harry Wethermill ultimately be glad that he called in the great man? We can only wait to find out. But surely Hanaud will exercise his powerful little grey cells – one of several characteristics he shares with a famous Belgian detective of later decades, and indeed some scholars of mystery stories suggest that Agatha Christie, in her invention of Hercule Poirot, owes a debt to Mason and his invention of Inspector Hanaud. And indeed Julius Ricardo has than a passing resemblance to Arthur Hastings, Poirot's sidekick, who is invariably a few confused steps behind the detective.
(Introduction by Nicholas Clifford)
Implored to do so by Wethermill, Ricardo asks his friend Inspector Hanaud, the great detective of the Paris Sûreté (who is also vacationing in Aix) to involve himself in the case so that the truth may come out. Hanaud agrees to do so (with the permission of the Aix police, of course), and goes to work. Will he be up to the job? And will Harry Wethermill ultimately be glad that he called in the great man? We can only wait to find out. But surely Hanaud will exercise his powerful little grey cells – one of several characteristics he shares with a famous Belgian detective of later decades, and indeed some scholars of mystery stories suggest that Agatha Christie, in her invention of Hercule Poirot, owes a debt to Mason and his invention of Inspector Hanaud. And indeed Julius Ricardo has than a passing resemblance to Arthur Hastings, Poirot's sidekick, who is invariably a few confused steps behind the detective.
(Introduction by Nicholas Clifford)
Author
A. E. W. Mason
Alfred Edward Woodley Mason (1865–1948), otherwise known as A.E.W. Mason, is the author of A Romance of Wastdale, published in 1895. He is the author of more than twenty books, among them The Four Feathers, originally published in London in 1905 and now a 2002 major motion picture, starring Kate Hudson, Heath Ledger, and Wes Bentley.
Related to At the Villa Rose
Related audiobooks
The Million Dollar Bond Robbery Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Black Coffee Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The King of Clubs: A Hercule Poirot Short Story Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Breaking Point (Librovox) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Leavenworth Case (Version 2) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Secret Adversary Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Whose Body? Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Red House Mystery Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Secret of Chimneys Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Secret Adversary and The Mysterious Affair at Styles Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Mystery of Hunter's Lodge Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A Strange Disappearance Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Circular Study Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Man in the Brown Suit Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Mystery of 31 New Inn Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Spider's Web Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Miss Marple: The Complete Short Stories: A Miss Marple Collection Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Murder of Roger Ackroyd Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Case of the Middle-Aged Wife: A Parker Pyne Short Story Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Witness for the Prosecution Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Haunted Hotel, A Mystery of Modern Venice Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Study in Scarlet Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Secret Passage Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Disappearance of Mr. Davenheim Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Woman in the Alcove Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5They Came to Baghdad Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Mystery Of Cloomber Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Big Four Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Destination Unknown Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Death Comes as the End Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Mystery For You
The Complete Sherlock Holmes Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5And Then There Were None Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Did I Kill You?: A Thriller Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Murder Your Employer: The McMasters Guide to Homicide Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mother-Daughter Murder Night: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Perfume: The Story of a Murderer Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Silence of the Lambs: 25th Anniversary Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Murder on the Orient Express: A Hercule Poirot Mystery: The Official Authorized Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5What Lies in the Woods: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5When No One Is Watching: A Thriller Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The River We Remember: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Listen for the Lie: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Tell No One Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The 7 ½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Crooked House Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hit and Run Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Heaven’s Crooked Finger Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This Tender Land Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Woman in the Library, The Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5One for the Money Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ordinary Grace Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Book of Extraordinary Impossible Crimes and Puzzling Deaths: The Best New Original Stories of the Genre Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Still Life: A Chief Inspector Gamache Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Unexpected Guest Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Murder of Roger Ackroyd: A Hercule Poirot Mystery: The Official Authorized Edition Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Death on the Nile: A Hercule Poirot Mystery: The Official Authorized Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Word is Murder: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hallowe'en Party: A Hercule Poirot Mystery: The Official Authorized Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for At the Villa Rose
Rating: 3.875 out of 5 stars
4/5
24 ratings2 reviews
- Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5Horrendous piece of crap shoved into my preferences when I searched for an entirely different author. Puke-worthy.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This was a very entertaining book. While it had a bit of a slow start it has a tremendous ending. I recommend the Reid’s enjoyable and it’s intriguing. Just want to mystery reader wants!
1 person found this helpful