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  • Busman's Honeymoon

  • Lord Peter Wimsey, Book 13
  • By: Dorothy L Sayers
  • Narrated by: Jane McDowell
  • Length: 12 hrs and 57 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (192 ratings)
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Busman's Honeymoon cover art

Busman's Honeymoon

By: Dorothy L Sayers
Narrated by: Jane McDowell
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Summary

They plan to have a quiet country honeymoon. Then Lord Peter Wimsey and his bride, Harriet Vane, find the previous owner's body in the cellar.

Set in a country village seething with secrets and snobbery, this is Dorothy L. Sayers' last full-length detective novel.

Variously described as a love story with detective interruptions and a detective story with romantic interruptions, it lives up to both descriptions with style.

©1937 The Trustees of Anthony Fleming (deceased) (P)2015 Hodder & Stoughton

What listeners say about Busman's Honeymoon

Average customer ratings
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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

The end

Enjoyable end Wimsey and Harriet's relationship. I enjoyed the narrator, despite the other negative comments. The stacatto delivery seemed to carry something of the diction of the era to me.

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

D.L.S books are very enjoyable

I do think the narrator was the wrong choice.Jill Paton Walsh had Edward Petherbridge read her Peter Wimsey book and he was excellent as an narrator.Apart from that it was very enjoyable.

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1 person found this helpful

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

Bauman 's Honeymoon

This is another superb story with fun, and murder along with new wedded bliss.Loads of fun.

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

Annoying narrator

Would you be willing to try another one of Jane McDowell’s performances?

I will try to avoid this narrator, not only is it difficult to tell which character is speaking, but she didn't appear to have read through the story before beginning her reading, which means she'll come come across something such as "he said in a deep voice" and suddenly make that character's voice sound deepeer - but only in the second part of his comments. Most annoying was her talking about a "dessert" when the author had intended "desert", which made a mockery of that part of the story. Very lazy narration - and irritating because anyone who's ever done a voice over knows that all the reader needs to do is to say "I'll do that again" and read it correctly.

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8 people found this helpful

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

Excellent Story

This was an excellent story.
The characters were well written and the plot was absorbing with plenty of red herrings to sift through!
It was of it’s time however and Sayers writing reflects the racism and classism of her day (if I were Jewish I might be offended by her portrait of a debt collector, and I don’t speak French and Sayers offered no translation). I think it unfair to penalise a writer for reflecting their time and place but they did prove a distraction from the story so I thought they deserved mentioning.
There has been some criticism of the narrator in other reviews and it did take me a while to get used to her tone. However once I had settled into the story I thought she did a very good job.
I would definitely recommend reading/listening to this book.

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

Amusing Wimsey tale, accurately but poorly read.

DLS’s stories are old favourites of mine, read and re-reread many, many, times. These Jane McDowell readings are accurate and the French well rendered but the lady, hard though she tries, has a poor command of the idiomatic. She rather breathlessly renders many phrases with incorrect emphasis. Many an old-fashioned phrase is less than perfectly interpreted. Rehearsal and editing might help. A great pleasure tinged with irritation.

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2 people found this helpful

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

an enjoyable follow up to the ongoing relationship between Harriet and Wimsey

Harriet and Peter are at last Married. Crime however follows them to their honeymoon. A motley cast of characters make for an enjoyable read.

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

Sorry, wrong voice for these stories.

Where does Busman's Honeymoon rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Not very high, I found the reader's voice too light.

What did you like best about this story?

It's the one you wait for, where their story has its happy ending apart from a dead body and a hanging!

What three words best describe Jane McDowell’s performance?

Clear, pretty, wrong

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

yes

Any additional comments?

I love Dorothy L Sayers and have read all of the Lord Peter books. Unfortunately, though I love the story, I wasn't happy about the reader's voice. Very sorry M/s McDowell, you have a lovely voice, it is very clear and nice to listen too but I didn't like it for this audio book. I haven't been able to finish it.

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9 people found this helpful

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

what a let down

What a let down Dorothy L Sayers must be turning in her grave. A beautifully crafted story,enlightening the listener to the joyous and sensual partnership of husband and wife within a murder mystery utterly ruined by the strident voice of Miss McDowell with hardly any difference between characters and estuary English fighting country accents and unfortunately winning. Ian Carmichael's rendition was so superior in every way. Why was Edward Petheridge not . asked, his voice is melodious. Shall not buy any other books narrated by the current voice. Christina Bacon

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3 people found this helpful

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

Perfect pronunciation,

Perfect pronunciation, pausing a little odd, but actually becomes rather endearing, making it absolutely spot on. If you know, and therefore love Dorothy L Sayers books, it’s wonderful

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1 person found this helpful