Paul Temple And The Margo Mystery

By: Francis Durbridge

Narrated by: Full Cast, Marjorie Westbury, Peter Coke

For thirty years the fictional crime novelist and detective Paul Temple, together with his Fleet Street journalist wife Steve, solved case after case in one of BBC Radio's most popular series. They inhabited a sophisticated world of chilled cocktails and fast cars, a world where Sir Graham Forbes, of Scotland Yard, usually needed Paul's help with his latest tricky case. Flying home from a lecture tour of America, Paul Temple encounters Mike Langdon who is seeking to persuade his employer's spoilt daughter Julie to give up her boyfriend, pop-singer Tony Wyman. Meeting Paul at the airport, Steve is drugged and kidnapped. She is released without harm - but mysteriously in possession of a coat, bearing the label 'Margo'. As Mike seeks Paul's help, the Temples enter into a dangerous web of lies and murder.© and (P)2004 BBC Audiobooks LTD

Formulaic, but a great dramatisation

These Paul Temple books are basically 'MacMillan & Wife' meets Agatha Christie: Famous/well-connected 40-something husband, plucky fashionable younger wife, multiple deaths, implausible 'coincidences' - and solving the crime without using a shred of actual forensic evidence.

(For example, I've listened to several of these in the past week or two, and not ONCE has anyone talked about dusting for fingerprints.)

However, once you get over these hurdles - which, after all, are common to all mystery/thrillers, especially of this time period - this is a great series. Well-acted, well-produced...sure, if you listen to a whole bunch in a row like I have, you start to see how formulaic they are, but that doesn't make them less enjoyable.

Recommended for anyone who likes mysteries or radio plays.

Predictable, Entertaining Fun

This is a BBC radio show from the 1960's. This series ran for over 30 years on the BBC.

If you have listened to and enjoyed other Paul Temple dramas, you will probably enjoy this one. It doesn't stray from the usual format. This is a vintage radio show. It is not even close to being "cutting edge."

I am old enough to remember when dramas were broadcast on the radio. There are times when I want a change from current TV, with it's edgy, often violent dramas. Those are the times when I listen to, and enjoy, Paul Temple.

An outstanding English mystery performed by a cast

This was the first Paul Temple mystery that I have heard. It certainly won't br the last. I particularly enjoyed the full cast performance.