Death of Jezebel

By: Christianna Brand

Narrated by: Derek Perkins

At a medieval pageant, Inspector Cockrill investigates a dramatic death.

Ever since she drove her best friend's fiance to kill himself, Isabel Drew has been nicknamed Jezebel. She is domineering, arrogant, vain - and beautiful enough to get away with it. She is starring as a princess in a medieval pageant when her past catches up to her. On tiny slips of paper, threats appear, promising death to Isabel and those around her. Fearing she may be attacked, she invites the brilliant Inspector Cockrill to keep her safe after the performance.

But her precautions come too late. During the first show, Isabel falls from her tower and is dead before she hits the ground. She was strangled, and the room she fell from was locked from the inside - a crime too daring to be possible. But Inspector Cockrill saw it all, and unraveling the impossible is his specialty.

©1948 Christianna Brand (P)2021 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books

This is fine

A perfectly nice locked room mystery, with a couple interesting twists. As an audiobook, it doesn’t work as well - there’s so much about the geography of the room, you almost have to diagram it - but the reader does a good job with the characters. Odd that the detective barely seems to do any detecting, just floats along the story and comments on how dumb people are.

Another terrific Brand mystery

Christianna Brand; while not one of the better known golden age writers has a style of wit and just enough twists to make a great plot. And her Inspector Cockrill is a character. Alastair Sim played the role in the movie of another Brand novel; Green for Danger and he was the perfect choice. Every time I read a Brand now I see Sim as Cocky.

Click, Click, Click!

I don’t know how may times the phrase ‘Click, Click, Click the puzzle pieces fell into place’; was said only to have them scatter again. It’s a convoluted plot that could have been wrapped up in half the time. The Narration was done well.

Good narrator, ridiculous story

This is an incomprehensible, convoluted story without a single likeable character. The narrator is very good, but he can’t save this book.