The Three Dahlias cover art

The Three Dahlias

Three Dahlias, Book 1

 Preview
Try Premium Plus free
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

The Three Dahlias

By: Katy Watson
Narrated by: Jilly Bond
Try Premium Plus free

£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

Confirm Purchase
Pay using card ending in
Switch payment method
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.
Cancel

About this listen

It wouldn't be a country house weekend without a little murder. . .

Three rival actresses team up to solve a murder at the stately home of Lettice Davenport, the author whose sleuthing creation of the 1930s, Dahlia Lively, had made each of them famous to a new generation. A contemporary mystery with a Golden Age feel, perfect for fans of Agatha Christie and Jessica Fellowes - and Janice Hallett and Richard Osman, of course!

In attendance at Aldermere: the VIP fans, staying at house; the fan club president turned convention organiser; the team behind the newest movie adaptation of Davenport's books; the Davenport family themselves; and the three actresses famous for portraying Dahlia Lively through the decades.

There is national treasure Rosalind King, from the original movies, who's feeling sensitive that she's past her prime, TV Dahlia for thirteen seasons, Caro Hooper, who believes she really IS Dahlia Lively, and ex-child star Posy Starling, fresh out of the fame wilderness (and rehab) to take on the Dahlia mantle for the new movie - but feeling outclassed by her predecessors.

Each actress has her own interpretation of the character and her own secrets to hide - but this English summer weekend they will have to put aside their differences as the crimes at Aldermere turn anything but cosy.

When fictional death turns into real bodies, can the three Dahlias find the answers to the murders among the fans, the film crew and the family - or even in Lettice's books themselves?

©2022 Katy Watson (P)2022 Hachette Audio UK Amateur Sleuths Crime Fiction Detective Fiction Mystery Women Sleuths Women's Fiction Celebrity

Listeners also enjoyed...

 Murder at Everham Hall cover art
Murder in Tuscany cover art
Murder at the Dolphin Hotel: A Gripping Cozy Historical Mystery cover art
Murder at Madingley Grange cover art
A Murder of Crows cover art
Murder Mystery Book Club cover art
Murder at Little Minton cover art
The Bookshop Murder cover art
The Bodies in the Library cover art
Murder in Galway cover art
A Pen Dipped in Poison cover art
The Dog Sitter Detective cover art
Murder at the House on the Hill cover art
The Cambodian Curse and Other Stories cover art
The Medici Murders cover art
Mystery on Hidden Lane: An Utterly Gripping Cozy Mystery Novel cover art

Critic reviews

"An absolute treat of a read with all the ingredients of a vintage murder mystery: a country house, mysterious dead bodies and three actresses all keen to catch the killer. Perfect weekend reading!" (Janice Hallett, author of The Appeal)

"A wonderful celebration of Golden Age crime...a read you can sink into, just like the perfect country house weekend. You will definitely love Dahlia in all her guises by the end." (S.J. Bennett, author ofThe Windsor Knot)

"I loved it - witty, engaging and hugely enjoyable. A must for fans of classic mysteries." (Frances Brody)
All stars
Most relevant  
The narrator is so slow to read, I ended up going up to x1.2 which for the most part made it seem to have a normal book pace, but some of the pauses still seemed excessive so I dread to think what it was like at normal pace. Overall though, it was a fine story. Very repetitive, the same points were covered many times, in numerous parts of the book which just made it feel waffley and dull, because of all the repeating. The characters also felt difficult to distinguish from one another, but I think that was probably a narrator issue that wouldn't have felt so bad in a book book. Did I mention the repeating?

Meh. There's better books out there to be read/listened to

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I have to admit it took me a while to get into this, but I definitely got hooked! It’s not startlingly different to other stories in this genre but is very enjoyable nonetheless. Would certainly read/listen to another from this author.

Traditional Country house mystery

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I was riveted from the start. love the characters and how they come alive within the book. cannot wait to listen to the next one that I have just downloaded. love this writers insight and imagination. A true classic old time murder mystery. I also thought the narrator was perfect.

Absolutely loved it

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Set in the present day, this novel takes on the Agatha Christie age of “whodunnit” murders in a very satisfying way.

A modern take on the golden age of crime

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I try not to criticise narrators as I imagine it’s not nice to read poor reviews. However, this isn’t the right narrator for the book. They really struggle with accents and the range of characters. The novel itself isn’t bad. It feels like it’s written for tv. It’s a bit too cosy crime for my liking. Would consider listening to more, if they used a different narrator.

Wrong choice of narrator

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I listened with a sort of horrified fascination. Still can’t believed I listened to the whole story as it was muddled and just weird. Only listened as a way of falling asleep.

Jumbled story line

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This has all the elements of a wonderfully daft murder mystery making it a great listen. The writing is lively with a great pace, and the portrayal of the place & people well presented & evocative of the crime genre in the golden age, and the great fun genre of the present day (think Midsomer Murders but much better storyline & much better writing.)

Great fun & a good listen.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Three women actors all having played a Golden Age sleuth end up putting rivalry aside to solve a murder. The three Dahlias are delightfully drawn; you can totally make your own casting choice for each. There’s tricksy, sneaky crime and appalling individuals in their country house setting, a laconic copper who turns up to moan about the sleuths and arrest the guilty after a late night unmasking in the drawing room. No twins, no supernatural nor any other broken rules. It’s both a homage to and light satire on classic crime fiction done very deftly.

Well that was fun!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I very much enjoyed the slow moving storyline, getting to know the three main characters. It has an old world charm about the writing style. Three actress gathered together for a fan weekend of a fictional lady detective called Dahlia Lively. The event takes place at Aldermere, the home of the writer, Lettice Davenport. We have Posie, a child actor who had a spectacular fall from grace and looking for a comeback movie in a new adaptation for the big screen. Caro who played Dahlia for thirteen series of the books on tv, and Rosalind who was the original movie actor back in the day. All three are bought together for a VIP fan weekend. And then the real murders begin. Can the three women, the three Dahlia’s come together to find out who the murderer is.

The story unfolds and we find out the back stories of the actresses and the secrets that they would like to keep under wraps. A lovely story with a multi-generational cast. It was good to see the women, who should be (bitter) rivals supporting each other and drawing closer as the drama unfolds.

I enjoyed Jilly Bond’s narration.

A good old fashioned murder mystery

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
It is a nice idea. However, I found myself drifting off. It didn't grip me and hold my attention. It sort of just meandered along quite slowly and the ending felt sort of ... meh! It wasn't bad... but I don't understand the hype and I wouldn't recommend it,

Just a bit... meh

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews