The Floating Admiral
Failed to add items
Add to basket failed.
Add to wishlist failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
£0.00 for first 30 days
The Floating Admiral
Buy Now for £12.99
No valid payment method on file.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
David Timson
About this listen
Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, G.K. Chesterton and nine other writers from the legendary Detection Club collaborate in this fiendishly clever but forgotten crime novel first published 80 years ago.
Inspector Rudge does not encounter many cases of murder in the sleepy seaside town of Whynmouth. But when an old sailor lands a rowing boat containing a fresh corpse with a stab wound to the chest, the Inspector's investigation immediately comes up against several obstacles. The vicar, whose boat the body was found in, is clearly withholding information, and the victim's niece has disappeared. There is clearly more to this case than meets the eye – even the identity of the victim is called into doubt. Inspector Rudge begins to wonder just how many people have contributed to this extraordinary crime and whether he will ever unravel it…
In 1931, Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers and ten other crime writers from the newly-formed ‘Detection Club’ collaborated in publishing a unique crime novel. In a literary game of consequences, each author would write one chapter, leaving G.K. Chesterton to write a typically paradoxical prologue and Anthony Berkeley to tie up all the loose ends. In addition, each of the authors provided their own solution in a sealed envelope, all of which appeared at the end of the book, with Agatha Christie’s ingenious conclusion acknowledged at the time to be ‘enough to make the book worth buying on its own’.
The authors of this novel are: G. K. Chesterton, Canon Victor Whitechurch, G. D. H. Cole and Margaret Cole, Henry Wade, Agatha Christie, John Rhode, Milward Kennedy, Dorothy L. Sayers, Ronald Knox, Freeman Wills Crofts, Edgar Jepson, Clemence Dane and Anthony Berkeley.
©1931, 2011 The Detection Club (P)2017 HarperCollins PublishersListeners also enjoyed...
Critic reviews
"The plotting is ingenious, the pace sustained, the solution satisfying." (The New York Times Book Review)
"Amazingly, the story steers along very well despite so many different hands at the tiller. Christie's solution is typically ingenious." (Mark Campbell, The Pocket Essential Agatha Christie)
"These members of the Detection Club collaborate with skill in a piece of detection rather more tight-knit than one had a right to expect. There is enough to amuse and to stimulate detection; and the Introduction by Dorothy Sayers and supplements by critics and solvers give an insight into the writers' thoughts and modes of work." (Jacques Barzun and Wendell Hertig Taylor, A Catalogue of Crime)
What listeners say about The Floating Admiral
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall3 out of 5 stars
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars
-
Story2 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 26-02-18
inconsistent, very mixed styles from the different
Inconsistent, very mixed styles from the different authors. confusing plot. Good effort from the narrator!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- Sheryl Mason
- 26-02-17
Tightly crafted mystery
Unless you are a reincarnation of Agatha Christie, I doubt you will find the answer to this puzzle. Even then, it could be difficult.
The Detection Club got together and wrote this book, each author contributing a chapter and, in some cases, a sealed solution for when the book was finished.
Considering it is written by a lot of authors with usually very varied styles, they manage to create a book that flows nicely, although I did start to get tired of all the red herrings and odd clues that kept turning up. I did honestly try to solve this but it was beyond my capabilities. A lot of fun though!
By the end I was totally confused as to whodunit but Anthony Berkeley does a very credible job of stitching the whole thing together with some degree of believability.
Full marks to all the authors and full marks to the narrator, who did a very good job on this book.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
18 people found this helpful
-
Overall3 out of 5 stars
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars
-
Story3 out of 5 stars
- karen faulkner
- 14-03-23
Disjointed
I found the beginning of the book held the story together but was not enjoying it for chapters 16, 17 and 18
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall3 out of 5 stars
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars
-
Story3 out of 5 stars
- Colin
- 02-10-24
Interesting idea
Basically a game of consequences played by a group of authors. Fun idea. Gets a bit confusing!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall3 out of 5 stars
-
Performance3 out of 5 stars
-
Story3 out of 5 stars
- Nicky Cole
- 24-09-19
A good listen
Very interesting story showing how separate authors can conspire together but write apart to produce an excellent story.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story4 out of 5 stars
- May Reid
- 27-11-20
unusual format
an enjoyable story. the solutions offered at the end of the book allow you to choose the solution that sits best with you or come up with your own solution
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- Miss Julie E. Ellis
- 15-04-17
great crime
the detection club strikes again, the greatest writers of a truly unique club. more please
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
4 people found this helpful
-
Overall3 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story3 out of 5 stars
- Craig M. Hanson
- 01-04-20
Average
Unfortunately the story is constrained by each author trying to write their way out of the previous chapter. It therefore gets bogged down. The solutions are also less interesting than In I’d expected. Worth a listen as a curio but not essential.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars
-
Story3 out of 5 stars
- Ginger
- 31-07-17
Who did it?
Very interesting. Fascinating to read each chapter written by a different detective writer. I did not expect the ending.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars
-
Story4 out of 5 stars
- twigs way
- 22-11-22
Excellent and interesting trying to spot the joins
Greatly enjoyed this not just for the story - which is as usual for classic crime writers full of interesting characters and plausible reasons for murder - but also for the intrigue of spotting the different parts of the plot as a 'who wrote which' - although the introduction does indicate this so perhaps best till last for people that prefer to read not knowing storyline in advance - although I felt it actually added to my enjoyment.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!