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The Attenbury Emeralds

Audiobook
1 of 3 copies available
1 of 3 copies available

The recovery of the magnificent gem in Lord Attenbury's dazzling heirloom launched a shell-shocked young aristocrat on his career as a detective in 1921. Thirty years later, a happily married Lord Peter has just shared the secrets of that mystery with his wife, the detective novelist Harriet Vane. Suddenly, the new Lord Attenbury—grandson of Lord Peter's first client—seeks his help to prove who owns the emeralds. As Harriet and Peter contemplate the changes that the war has wrought on English society—and Peter, who always cherished the liberties of a younger son, faces the unwanted prospect of ending up the Duke of Denver after all.

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    • AudioFile Magazine
      Edward Petherbridge is renowned for his portrayals of Lord Peter Wimsey. This story opens in 1951 as Lord Peter--now married to mystery writer Harriet Vane--and his manservant/friend, Bunter, recount the case that launched Lord Peter's investigative career. In 1921, he retrieved the "king stone," the pivotal jewel in the collection of the Attenbury emeralds. After the flashback storytelling, the current heir to the Attenbury title appears unexpectedly, wanting Peter's help to determine the true provenance of the "king stone." Over the past 30 years, murder, theft, and personal tragedy have befallen those connected to the emerald. Jill Paton Walsh does a terrific job with Dorothy L. Sayers's posh P.I., and Petherbridge's intimate style, offering charming throwaway comments, is genteel and subtle. Delightful listening. S.J.H. (c) AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      February 28, 2011
      Walsh's interpretation of the classic characters of Dorothy L. Sayers labors under a somewhat lukewarm performance from narrator Edward Petherbridge. Decades after the fact, legendary sleuth Lord Peter Wimsey—along with his wife, novelist Harriet Vane, and his faithful manservant Bunter—looks back on his first case: retrieving missing emeralds belonging to the Attenbury family while recovering from shell shock after WWI. Petherbridge's narration is steady and clear but tends to plod. While he provides excellent voices for Wimsey (soft-spoken, aristocratic, playful, and genteel) and Bunter (slightly twangy, dignified, and the very soul of deference) and cultivates an enjoyable chemistry between the married Wimsey and Vane, Petherbridge could better distinguish the book's other characters, many of which sound vaguely familiar and blend into each other. A Minotaur hardcover.

    • Publisher's Weekly

      Starred review from November 8, 2010
      Walsh triumphantly follows 2003's A Presumption of Death, inspired by some letters Dorothy Sayers wrote depicting Peter Wimsey during WWII, with a wholly original interpretation of Sayers's golden age characters. In 1921, while Lord Peter was still convalescing from the nervous breakdown he suffered from his time in the WWI trenches, the aristocrat got involved in finding missing emeralds belonging to the Attenbury family. Thirty years later, the current Lord Attenbury, who's in dire financial straits, wishes to sell one of the jewels, "the king-stone," but a shadowy claimant challenges his ownership of it. When Wimsey and his detective novelist wife, Harriet Vane, look into the dispute, they discovery a chain of murders related to the emeralds. Walsh successfully recreates the tone and personalities of the originals and plausibly depicts the main characters later in life. Fans of literate period mysteries will clamor for more.

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  • English

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