The Speaker of Mandarin cover art

The Speaker of Mandarin

A Chief Inspector Wexford Mystery, Book 12 (Unabridged)

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The Speaker of Mandarin

By: Ruth Rendell
Narrated by: Michael Bryant
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About this listen

There were some things about Chief Inspector Wexford's trip to China that he could never have dreamt of: That an old woman would haunt him from one city to the next. That a man would be tragically drowned. Or that, back in England, he would be investigating the murder of one of his fellow tourists.

©2009 Ruth Rendell (P)2014 Audible, Inc. Modern Detectives Mystery China Fiction Suspense

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All stars
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Interesting story and characters as usual - but the narrator just didn’t fit my view of Wexford and Burden.

Great plot

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Good storyline narater was not what I expected but I got used to it and really enjoyed it

Good

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I'm not sure why some reviewers don't like the actor reading this. Sure, it's a bit disorientating when there are at least three different performers reading the available Wexford range; but this was as well done as the rest, merely different.

Different reader, same quality

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Really enjoyed the story, but having grown up with George Baker playing Wexford it was hard to hear his and Mike Burdens voices swapped over.

Learned a lot about China

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Not as keen on this narrator as others. IMO he gets Wexford and Burden’s accents the wrong way round. But the story is decent enough and kept me guessing to the end.

Not my favourite, but still good RR

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no punctuation and at times didn't know which character was speaking , story was good but hard to follow because of the droning narrative

narrator not as good as previous one

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I enjoyed this book although old I still enjoyed it the narrator is ok but good value for the cost

Enjoyed

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I first read this book over 30 years ago and was fascinated by the author’s description of Wexford’s holiday in 1980’s tourist China. This time around I was equally fascinated by the travel but not so impressed with the second part of the story set back in England. Wexford investigates the murder of one of his fellow travellers who coincidentally had lived in his part of the country. The writing was very good but I could not maintain my interest in the story. The regulars were kept in the background and there were too many new characters to keep track of. The narrator was not my favourite, he started off on a clipped monotone like he was reading a news report but he did improve somewhat as it went on - albeit at a cracking pace.

Interesting Travelogue Shame about the Plot

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A different Wexford novel because the first part is set in China while he is on holiday there. The rest of the mystery links to things that happened in China. An interesting 'read'.

Interesting.

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No idea why the inspector went all the way to china. Story made no sense to me

Not one of her better books

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