Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

Preview
  • Unnatural Causes

  • By: P. D. James
  • Narrated by: Daniel Weyman
  • Length: 7 hrs and 29 mins
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (565 ratings)

£0.00 for first 30 days

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.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Unnatural Causes

By: P. D. James
Narrated by: Daniel Weyman
Try for £0.00

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £18.99

Buy Now for £18.99

Pay using card ending in
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.

Summary

Superintendent Adam Dalgliesh had been looking forward to a quiet holiday at his aunt's cottage on Monksmere Head, one of the furthest-flung spots on the remote Suffolk coast. With nothing to do other than enjoy long wind-swept walks, tea in front of the crackling wood fire and hot buttered toast, Dalgliesh was relishing the thought of a well-earned break.
However, all hope of peace is soon shattered by murder. The mutilated body of a local crime writer, Maurice Seaton, floats ashore in a drifting dinghy to drag Adam Dalgliesh into a new and macabre investigation.

©2014 P. D. James (P)2014 Faber & Faber
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Listeners also enjoyed...

Rumpole of the Bailey [Recorded Books] cover art
P. D. James BBC Radio Drama Collection cover art
Hero: A Simon Serrailler Short Story cover art
The Birthday Mystery cover art
North Face cover art
The Stratton Story cover art
The Human Factor cover art
Evans Above cover art
Murder at Madingley Grange cover art
The Mysterious Affair at Styles cover art
Death at the Auction cover art
Into the Blue cover art
A Man Lay Dead cover art
Broadland cover art
Say It With Poison, Mitchell and Markby Village, Book 1 cover art
Wycliffe and the House of Fear cover art

Critic reviews

"From the moment a handless corpse in a neat city suit is found drifting in a dinghy off the east coast, and we meet the ghastly members of a literary society, we’re hooked." ( Evening Standard)
"The greatest contemporary writer of classic crime." ( Sunday Times)
"One of the most spine-chilling writers around." ( Observer)

What listeners say about Unnatural Causes

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    339
  • 4 Stars
    154
  • 3 Stars
    56
  • 2 Stars
    10
  • 1 Stars
    6
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    401
  • 4 Stars
    89
  • 3 Stars
    18
  • 2 Stars
    6
  • 1 Stars
    3
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    289
  • 4 Stars
    126
  • 3 Stars
    71
  • 2 Stars
    21
  • 1 Stars
    8

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Too Deep

Daniel Weyman's voice is far too deep for me, Michael Jayston's voice was far better

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Atmospheric story, perfectly narrated.

A perfect partnership - PD James's writing with Daniel Weyman's narration. The atmosphere and characters of the novel are perfectly interpreted by this narrator.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Great narration and prose

The denouement was disappointing. Whole explanation delivered as a chunk without the process followed by Dalgliesh. How did he know?

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Another gripping yarn from PD James

This was a brilliant listen, hard to turn off. Well narrated, atmospheric and one to listen to again.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Kept me listening

What did you like most about Unnatural Causes?

I love the Dalgleish character and here there was plenty of him. I enjoyed the interplay between him and the other characters

Who was your favorite character and why?

No contest, Adam Dalgleish

Have you listened to any of Daniel Weyman’s other performances? How does this one compare?

I have heard him when performing other stories and he is excellent. He makes it so easy to differentiate between the characters

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

I never listen to a book in one sitting. I like to savour them over a few days

Any additional comments?

I did not like the ending as it seemed somewhat contrived. The roof scene didn't ring too true and so left me feeling a little cheated. Hence the four rather than five stars

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

A little far fetched

But I still enjoyed it. As others have said the way the disabled character is depicted is not at all nice. I guess it was wrote in a different time when things weren’t as inclusive. Excellent narration

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Well performed but brutal details.

Spoilt by nasty details at the finish. Impressive descriptions of weather, coast etc. Good performances.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Struggled and gave up.

The narrator repeatedly lulled me to sleep; this helped my insomnia, but I had to keep rewinding to catch up with missed passages. I lost interest in the story. I couldn't even be bothered to skip to the end to discover what happened. It was too wordy, unnecessarily descriptive, over used complicated language, too introspective. I might have enjoyed reading the book rather than listening to the story; I could have read at my own pace, and skipped the boring bits.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Distressingly ableist

I have always loved P.D. James’ intricate mysteries, and have recently been discovering her early work. These were written in the 1960s, and are a product of their time - this book, for example, has a lot what, to a modern reader, feels like ableism. There is a disabled character who is depicted very negatively, which I found distressing to read. If you can get past that, the mystery itself is intriguing

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Love PD James books

Daniel's voice is very calming a wonderful listen, loved it, a great listen, would recommend

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!