The Mystery of Treefall Manor

An Inspector Graves locked-room mystery

By: J.S. SAVAGE

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

A house full of suspects. Two dogged detectives. One impossible murder.

When the owner of the Treefall Estate, Alexander Grimbourne, is murdered on the morning of his daughter’s wedding, the local police are stumped by the case. After all, Alexander’s body is found inside his study, the door and windows of which are locked from the inside - yet someone has stabbed the tyrannical man with a dagger through the heart and seemingly vanished into thin air.

An impossible murder case requires a uniquely talented detective, and there is no one better than Inspector Graves of Scotland Yard, who together with his new constable, James Carver, travel to Treefall Manor where they find a host of suspects. From the dead man’s resentful son to his fearful secretary, the local pub landlord to the gossiping housekeeper, the neighbouring landowner to the flighty socialite - even the village vicar is not above suspicion.

But in order to unmask the killer, Inspector Graves must first find the answer to some baffling questions: Who is the mysterious figure seen lurking on the Treefall Estate? How did the killer escape from a locked room? And why is Alexander found clutching The Canterbury Tales in his dead hand?

Praise for The Mystery of Treefall Manor:

"Outstanding... An exceptional debut, well worth being part of any mystery reader's collection." - Steve Barge, In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel

Praise for The Riddle of the Ravens:

"A deftly constructed puzzle box of a mystery, with one of the most satisfying impossible crime plots I've seen in a long while. Very highly recommended." - Tom Mead, author of Death and the Conjuror

"An incredibly clever murder mystery. Highly inventive and the central trick is beautifully staged. Magnificent!" The People's Book Prize winning author, Victoria Dowd

Twists and Surprises Throughout!

There was great character development with enough information to allow the listener to understand each character’s actions. There were also lots of plot twists throughout with unexpected outcomes that tied together quite neatly by the end. Well done!!

Artificial intelligence: just like the real thing... except not.

the AI "narrator" was frustratingly monotone; all characters exactly alike and i kept dropping off (zzz) in the long dialogs & having to go back.
it also misread several words, a minor annoyance but unprofessional.

the very end was an Oxford Comma- like experience. These two sentences were "read" in a rush, with no pause between them!
"and may God have mercy on my soul. this book was read by AI voice."

Indeed.

AI narrator

Overall the story provided background while working on a project. It was a classic period whodunit that three days later I don’t remember.
However, there were several time while listening I felt the audio was a bit flat, times when a bit more expression would have helped the story. I remember thinking it sounded like someone just picked up the book and started reading out loud without rehearsing. When I finished I learned the narration was AI.
Overall the book served its purpose for me, but it was not spectacular.

AI voice missed the mark.

The storyline and characters were enjoyable. The narrator had a decent voice, but was clearly not a human. The timing for dialogue was off and it would pause in strange places. The text clearly had a character say, 'hmmm', but the reader would say the actual letters, h-m-m-m. This happened multiple times throughout the book.

AI WAS DISTRACTING

The AI narrator was just irritating. I didn't realize that I had purchased a book without a human narrator until it started saying things oddly. I almost stopped listening but the storyline was pretty good so I continued to the end. never again