Murder's a Swine

By: Nap Lombard

Narrated by: Kris Dyer

When newlyweds Agnes and Andrew Kinghof are present for the discovery of an over-ripe corpse in the air-raid shelter of their apartment building, the two set out to put their amateur detective skills to work. The dead man's sister is nearly frightened to death by the appearance of a grinning pig's head outside her window, and she claims to be threatened by someone calling himself 'The Pig'. The newlyweds deduce that it must be someone who lives in the same apartment building.

Set during the Second World War, this deceptively light-hearted pause-resister is one of two detective novels jointly written by Pamela Hansford Johnson and her first husband and journalist, Neil Stewart, under the joint pseudonym 'Nap Lombard'.

©1943 The Estate of Pamela Hansford Johnson and Gordon Neil Stewart (P)2021 Soundings

wish there were more than two

fun, full of silly characters, silly names, criminals, and a fascinating time in history.

A real whodunit!

Funny dialog and a really good mystery. Every couple minutes I was sure one or another character did it. Very satisfying ending. The narrator provided a great listening experience.

Delightful forgotten classic

This is a delightful Golden Age mystery set in London during the Phony War of 1939. The plot may not rise to the level of Sayers or Christie, but this reader did not solve the case. The prose and characterization are excellent, as we get to know a group of people who live in the same block of flats. Is there a killer among them? I shan’t tell, but I do highly recommend this forgotten classic.

Chris Dyer is a good narrator. I was distracted here, though, by a weakness for differentiating between characters' voices. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the book.

This book was forgot about for a good reason

Boring. Trite. Contrived. Stereotypical undeveloped characters. No real detective work. I listened to it, but only because I had no other options at the time.