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Since I do not order audio books, I do no believe that this is one of mine. But if it is Christie, it is probably wonderful.
It's frightening that her estate has failed to see the importance of guarding her words as she wrote them. Whose voice do they think we want to hear when we sit down to a novel by Agatha Christie.
There are already major differences in punctuation, word choices, and scene breaks between the original Collins and Dodd Mead editions of this novel. There are further differences between the Dodd Mead editions republished by Random House/Avenel and the Dodd Mead editions republished by Simon & Shuster/Pocket.
What "improvements" have been made for the "Masterpiece" edition. What's the matter with these publishers.
There are further additions still in the Signet, Bantam, Berkley, and Black Dog & Leventhal editions. For every publishing house putting out her works, there seem to be a new batch of editors altering Agatha Christie's words and the sound of her voice.
And what will she sound like twenty years from now. Please tell me I'm not the only one here who senses that a crime has been committed.
Hugh Fraser is a good narrator for the usual well written book by Agatha Christie.
Great story with all these people's lives crossing and meeting. Hugh Fraser as reader is just the icing on the cake.
Christie's power in Towards Zero is her ability to create a sinister air which permeates this novel written at the height of her career. And why, after being rejected, does Audrey agree to come and visit Gull's Point at the latter end of the summer. Unfortunately, after recounting an incident in which two children playing eventually lead to a fatality, an audience member finds Mr. Treves, a kindly, well-meaning solicitor, whose considerable past experience allows him to speak with some authority on murderers and their victims. As the late summer approaches, Lady Tressilian finds herself hosting a series of guests, particularly her late husband's ward, Nevile Strange, accompanied by his new wife, Kay. Like many of Christie's novels, Towards Zero is an English countryhouse murder mystery in which a limited number of suspects all congregate in one particular location.
Lady Tressilian's home, Gull's Point, overlooks a river which empties into Easterhead Bay. There, Lady Tressilian lives in relative peace with her companion, Mary Aldin, a sheepish young woman who acts as a secretary to Lady Tressilian. If Christie's Towards Zero (1944), published after The Moving Finger (1943) and before Death Comes As the End (1945), ranks as a personal favorite, it does so largely because it is one of Christie's novels which I return to repeatedly and find myself quickly engrossed, even though I know its ending. Treves would have to climb, much to his peril, flights of stairs. Why does Kay find Audrey frightening. Eventually, we meet Mr. Christie's novel of suspense allows us briefly into the mind of the killer and while she never reveals anything that might give the end away, she manages to keep readers guessing until the last minute.
Christie, hardly prone to comedy comparable to a Noel Coward play, allows us to see the competing affections between these three characters. While the absence of Miss Marple or Hercule Poirot may disappoint Christie fans, Superintendent Battle, whose role remains relatively marginal for much of the action of the novel, is the primary detective in the story. Treves knowledge far too significant to ignore. Unfortunately, Nevile's first wife, Audrey, has also been invited. Why did Nevile leave his first wife whom everyone loved. Who among the guests at Gull's Point might be responsible for placing an "out of order" sign on an elevator so that an aging Mr.
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