Nocturnal Tales: Mystery Audiobooks and Crime Stories

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Dr Thorndyke again. Several of you asked for more of him — and there are more.

Like The Case of Oscar Brodski, this is one of Freeman's inverted stories: you watch the crime planned first, and only afterwards see how it is taken apart.

It opens on a train pulling out of Maidstone, where a quiet gentleman finds a stranger settling into his first-class compartment. The stranger never forgets a face — and he has not forgotten this one.

ℹ️ FOR LISTENERS
This is a complete, unabridged reading of A Case of Premeditation by R. Austin Freeman, from The Singing Bone (1912), now in the public domain. Every word is the author's own. Part of The Midnight Archive: three nights of classics every week, alongside four original Nocturnal Tales mysteries.

🗳️ YOU CHOOSE WHAT'S NEXT
The Archive is deep — Judith Lee? Max Carrados? Loveday Brooke? Violet Strange? Sherlock Holmes? Father Brown? Lady Molly? Raffles? Dr Thorndyke? Arsène Lupin? Vote in the poll attached to this episode, or tell us in the comments which classic you want to hear by lamplight.

💬 QUESTION FOR THE COMMENTS
Thorndyke has an unusual opinion by the end of this one. Did you agree with him? 🕵️

🕒 CHAPTERS
00:00 - Introduction
01:42 - The Elimination of Mr. Pratt
54:28 - Rival Sleuth-Hounds
1:36:10 - Closing

📖 GET THE EBOOK — $3.99

📌 Patreon — included with Writing Table & Archive Society, or one-time purchase
https://www.patreon.com/posts/156573383

🛒 Gumroad — EPUB + PDF included
https://nocturnaltalespod.gumroad.com/l/ebookvol2

❤️ SUPPORT & LISTENING OPTIONS

📌 Patreon — every new case first, ad-free and early
https://www.patreon.com/NocturnalTales

🌐 Website — every story, free, no account needed
https://nocturnaltalespodcast.com

📺 Rumble — free, supports us with ad revenue
https://rumble.com/c/c-7820714

❤️ Buy Me a Coffee — one-time support
https://buymeacoffee.com/nocturnaltales

💛 PayPal — one-time tip
https://paypal.me/nocturnaltalesprod

🎧 Apple Podcasts
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/nocturnal-tales-mystery-audiobooks-and-crime-stories/id1896195848

🧾 CREDITS
Narrated and produced by Nocturnal Tales. Story by R. Austin Freeman (public domain).

🔖 TAGS / KEYWORDS
dr thorndyke audiobook, r austin freeman audiobook, a case of premeditation, the singing bone 1912, inverted detective story, forensic detective fiction, classic detective story audiobook, public domain audiobook, unabridged classic mystery

🏷️ HASHTAGS
#NocturnalTales #MidnightArchive #DrThorndyke #AustinFreeman #ClassicMystery #FullAudiobook #Unabridged #ForensicMystery #InvertedMystery #PublicDomain

📌 Patreon — every new case first, ad-free and early ($2.99/month)
https://www.patreon.com/NocturnalTales
🌐 Website — every story we've ever made, free to listen. No paywall, no account, no password.
https://nocturnaltalespodcast.com

Shanghai, spring 1936. The Huangpu crowded with steamers, junks and barges, the great banks of the Bund standing shoulder to shoulder, and a hotel that looks as though several continents had each insisted on building a piece of it.

The Belgian Detective has solved the matter that brought him here before luncheon on the second day, and has since devoted himself to criticising the humidity. Tonight he and Arthur are guests at a private dinner on the seventh floor.

There are nine at table: a British trading director and his wife, a French diplomat, an American journalist, a Chinese physician and his watchful wife, a loud American industrialist — and, arriving late, a man most of Europe knows by name. Anton Varga has made a fortune selling weapons wherever they are least needed and most profitable.

Halfway through dinner, a waiter brings him an envelope. He reads it, and excuses himself for half an hour.

Before the evening is over, he is found dead in his suite on the ninth floor. The lift attendant carried nobody up after him. The staircase was closed. And on a table by the window stand two glasses of champagne.

The Shanghai Room is an original Golden Age-style locked-floor mystery set in the most crowded city of the nineteen-thirties.

ℹ️ FOR LISTENERS
This is an original mystery written by Nocturnal Tales, inspired by the spirit of the great Golden Age crime writers. The plot, characters and text are entirely our own creation. The hotel, the dinner guests and everybody in them are fictional, and any resemblance to real persons is coincidental. No affiliation, endorsement, or official connection is implied.

💬 QUESTION FOR THE COMMENTS
Nobody went up in the lift. Nobody passed the stairs. And yet two glasses were poured. How did the visitor reach the ninth floor — and when did you work it out? 🕵️

🕒 CHAPTERS
00:00 - Introduction
01:48 - Dinner Above the Bund
10:40 - Nobody on the Ninth Floor
19:15 - The Woman in Red
27:59 - A Window Without a View
36:33 - The Guest Who Had Already Left
45:19 - The Shanghai Room
53:15 - Closing

📖 GET THE EBOOK — $3.99

📌 Patreon — included with Writing Table & Archive Society, or one-time purchase
https://www.patreon.com/posts/156573383

🛒 Gumroad — EPUB + PDF included
https://nocturnaltalespod.gumroad.com/l/ebookvol2

❤️ SUPPORT & LISTENING OPTIONS

📌 Patreon — every new case first, ad-free and early
https://www.patreon.com/NocturnalTales

🌐 Website — every story, free, no account needed
https://nocturnaltalespodcast.com

📺 Rumble — free, supports us with ad revenue
https://rumble.com/c/c-7820714

❤️ Buy Me a Coffee — one-time support
https://buymeacoffee.com/nocturnaltales

💛 PayPal — one-time tip
https://paypal.me/nocturnaltalesprod

🎧 Apple Podcasts
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/nocturnal-tales-mystery-audiobooks-and-crime-stories/id1896195848

🧾 CREDITS
Written by Nocturnal Tales. Narrated by Nocturnal Tales.

🔖 TAGS / KEYWORDS
golden age mystery audiobook, shanghai mystery audiobook, 1930s shanghai, locked room mystery, hotel murder mystery, belgian detective audiobook, arthur mystery audiobook, arms dealer mystery, full length mystery audiobook, classic detective story audiobook, original golden age mystery, vintage detective fiction

🏷️ HASHTAGS
#NocturnalTales #GoldenAgeMystery #LockedRoomMystery #FullAudiobook #ShanghaiMystery #ClassicMystery #DetectiveFiction #Whodunnit

📌 Patreon — every new case first, ad-free and early ($2.99/month)
https://www.patreon.com/NocturnalTales
🌐 Website — every story we've ever made, free to listen. No paywall, no account, no password.
https://nocturnaltalespodcast.com

Judith Lee is back. After her first episode, more of you asked for her again than for any other Archive detective this month — so we have not made you wait.

She is a teacher of the deaf, and she reads lips — across a room, across a railway platform, whether she means to or not. She does not investigate crimes. She overhears them being arranged.

Two cases tonight. CONSCIENCE begins on Brighton pier, with a round-faced man whispering a description of a lady's dress to two strangers. MATCHED begins with a hurried word at Charing Cross — and ends on a pleasure cruise with the most accomplished passenger aboard.

ℹ️ FOR LISTENERS
This is a complete, unabridged reading of two stories by Richard Marsh, collected in Judith Lee: Some Pages From Her Life (1912) and now in the public domain. Every word is the author's own, and some descriptions reflect the attitudes of 1912. Part of The Midnight Archive: three nights of classics every week, alongside four original Nocturnal Tales mysteries.

🗳️ YOU CHOOSE WHAT'S NEXT
The Archive is deep — Judith Lee? Max Carrados? Loveday Brooke? Violet Strange? Sherlock Holmes? Father Brown? Lady Molly? Raffles? Dr Thorndyke? Arsène Lupin? Vote in the poll attached to this episode, or tell us in the comments which classic you want to hear by lamplight.

💬 QUESTION FOR THE COMMENTS
One case in which she is certain and can prove nothing, and one in which she meets her match. Which did you prefer — and should Judith Lee come back again? 🕵️

🕒 CHAPTERS
00:00 - Introduction
01:37 - Conscience
22:02 - Conscience
48:28 - Interlude
49:07 - Matched
1:10:18 - Matched
1:37:19 - Closing

📖 GET THE EBOOK — $3.99

📌 Patreon — included with Writing Table & Archive Society, or one-time purchase
https://www.patreon.com/posts/156573383

🛒 Gumroad — EPUB + PDF included
https://nocturnaltalespod.gumroad.com/l/ebookvol2

❤️ SUPPORT & LISTENING OPTIONS

📌 Patreon — every new case first, ad-free and early
https://www.patreon.com/NocturnalTales

🌐 Website — every story, free, no account needed
https://nocturnaltalespodcast.com

📺 Rumble — free, supports us with ad revenue
https://rumble.com/c/c-7820714

❤️ Buy Me a Coffee — one-time support
https://buymeacoffee.com/nocturnaltales

💛 PayPal — one-time tip
https://paypal.me/nocturnaltalesprod

🎧 Apple Podcasts
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/nocturnal-tales-mystery-audiobooks-and-crime-stories/id1896195848

🧾 CREDITS
Narrated and produced by Nocturnal Tales. Story by Richard Marsh (public domain).

🔖 TAGS / KEYWORDS
richard marsh audiobook, judith lee audiobook, judith lee some pages from her life 1912, lip reading detective, female detective audiobook, edwardian lady detective, forgotten detective fiction, early women detectives, classic detective story audiobook, public domain audiobook, unabridged classic mystery

🏷️ HASHTAGS
#NocturnalTales #MidnightArchive #JudithLee #RichardMarsh #ClassicMystery #FullAudiobook #Unabridged #FemaleDetective #ForgottenClassics #PublicDomain

📌 Patreon — every new case first, ad-free and early ($2.99/month)
https://www.patreon.com/NocturnalTales
🌐 Website — every story we've ever made, free to listen. No paywall, no account, no password.
https://nocturnaltalespodcast.com

Dublin, May 1929. Rain on the office windows, and a woman of fifty-five in a black coat who has crossed Ireland to sit in the client's chair of a small Dublin enquiry agency.

She places a metal disc upon the blotter. The number 417 is stamped into it. It belonged to her son Patrick, killed the previous August in an explosion on the Shannon hydro-electric works at Ardnacrusha — and blamed, by the official inquiry, for his own death.

Now a letter has come from Berlin. The engineer who signed that finding writes that he knew part of it to be untrue, and that he will return for the opening of the Shannon Scheme in July to make his statement before a witness she trusts.

So Captain Arthur, Anne Foster and a spaniel of settled opinions take the train to Limerick, into the greatest engineering work the young Free State has ever attempted: pylons marching across the fields, a canal held high above the country, and several thousand men who know exactly what they are not supposed to say.

The Lights of Ardnacrusha is an original Golden Age-style mystery set against a real moment in Irish history. The great works around it were real, and we set out what is actually recorded about them in a factual epilogue at the close.

ℹ️ FOR LISTENERS
An original mystery written by Nocturnal Tales, inspired by the spirit of the great Golden Age crime writers. Plot, characters and text are entirely our own, and all characters and events are fictional. The Shannon Scheme and its opening on 22 July 1929 are real, and discussed factually in the closing epilogue. No affiliation is implied.

💬 QUESTION FOR THE COMMENTS
A widow with two pound notes, a disc with clay still in the numbers, and an official report that says her son caused his own death. Who did you suspect first — and when did you change your mind? 🕵️

🕒 CHAPTERS
00:00 - Introduction
01:41 - Number 417
25:48 - The Great Scheme
55:54 - The Opening of the Gates
1:21:27 - The Walking Light
1:49:52 - The Missing Frames
2:13:25 - The Man Behind the Picture
2:37:00 - Epilogue - The Road to Kingsbridge
2:48:05 - Historical Epilogue - The Real Lights of Ardnacrusha
2:56:33 - Closing

📖 GET THE EBOOK — $3.99

📌 Patreon — included with Writing Table & Archive Society, or one-time purchase
https://www.patreon.com/posts/156573383

🛒 Gumroad — EPUB + PDF included
https://nocturnaltalespod.gumroad.com/l/ebookvol2

❤️ SUPPORT & LISTENING OPTIONS

📌 Patreon — every new case first, ad-free and early
https://www.patreon.com/NocturnalTales

🌐 Website — every story, free, no account needed
https://nocturnaltalespodcast.com

📺 Rumble — free, supports us with ad revenue
https://rumble.com/c/c-7820714

❤️ Buy Me a Coffee — one-time support
https://buymeacoffee.com/nocturnaltales

💛 PayPal — one-time tip
https://paypal.me/nocturnaltalesprod

🎧 Apple Podcasts
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/nocturnal-tales-mystery-audiobooks-and-crime-stories/id1896195848

🧾 CREDITS
Written by Nocturnal Tales. Narrated by Nocturnal Tales.

🔖 TAGS / KEYWORDS
golden age mystery audiobook, irish history mystery, shannon scheme ardnacrusha, ireland 1929 mystery, captain arthur mystery, anne foster mystery, limerick mystery, irish free state history, full length mystery audiobook, classic detective story audiobook, original golden age mystery, vintage detective fiction

🏷️ HASHTAGS
#NocturnalTales #GoldenAgeMystery #IrishMystery #IrishHistory #ClassicMystery #FullAudiobook #Whodunnit #DetectiveFiction

📌 Patreon — every new case first, ad-free and early ($2.99/month)
https://www.patreon.com/NocturnalTales
🌐 Website — every story we've ever made, free to listen. No paywall, no account, no password.
https://nocturnaltalespodcast.com

Sherlock Holmes returns to the Archive. Several of you have written to ask where he has been, and one of you asked for this story by name — twice. So here it is.

September, and the equinoctial gales have set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind has screamed and the rain has beaten against the windows of Baker Street. Nobody sensible is out of doors.

And then the bell rings. The visitor is young, soaked from the storm, and plainly frightened — because of something that arrived in the post, and what happened to the last members of his family who received the same thing.

ℹ️ FOR LISTENERS
This is a complete, unabridged reading of The Five Orange Pips by Arthur Conan Doyle, from The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1892), now in the public domain. Every word is the author's own. Part of The Midnight Archive: three nights of classics every week, alongside four original Nocturnal Tales mysteries.

🗳️ YOU CHOOSE WHAT'S NEXT
The Archive is deep — Judith Lee? Max Carrados? Loveday Brooke? Violet Strange? Sherlock Holmes? Father Brown? Lady Molly? Raffles? Dr Thorndyke? Arsène Lupin? Vote in the poll attached to this episode, or tell us in the comments which classic you want to hear by lamplight.

💬 QUESTION FOR THE COMMENTS
This is one of the very few cases in which Holmes is not in time. Did the ending surprise you — and which Holmes should we open next? 🕵️

🕒 CHAPTERS
00:00 - Introduction
01:38 - The Five Orange Pips
21:59 - The Five Orange Pips
38:03 - The Five Orange Pips
46:06 - Closing

📖 GET THE EBOOK — $3.99

📌 Patreon — included with Writing Table & Archive Society, or one-time purchase
https://www.patreon.com/posts/156573383

🛒 Gumroad — EPUB + PDF included
https://nocturnaltalespod.gumroad.com/l/ebookvol2

❤️ SUPPORT & LISTENING OPTIONS

📌 Patreon — every new case first, ad-free and early
https://www.patreon.com/NocturnalTales

🌐 Website — every story, free, no account needed
https://nocturnaltalespodcast.com

📺 Rumble — free, supports us with ad revenue
https://rumble.com/c/c-7820714

❤️ Buy Me a Coffee — one-time support
https://buymeacoffee.com/nocturnaltales

💛 PayPal — one-time tip
https://paypal.me/nocturnaltalesprod

🎧 Apple Podcasts
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/nocturnal-tales-mystery-audiobooks-and-crime-stories/id1896195848

🧾 CREDITS
Narrated and produced by Nocturnal Tales. Story by Arthur Conan Doyle (public domain).

🔖 TAGS / KEYWORDS
sherlock holmes audiobook, the five orange pips, arthur conan doyle audiobook, adventures of sherlock holmes, baker street mystery, victorian detective story, classic detective story audiobook, public domain audiobook, unabridged classic mystery

🏷️ HASHTAGS
#NocturnalTales #MidnightArchive #SherlockHolmes #ConanDoyle #ClassicMystery #FullAudiobook #Unabridged #DetectiveFiction #BakerStreet #PublicDomain

📌 Patreon — every new case first, ad-free and early ($2.99/month)
https://www.patreon.com/NocturnalTales
🌐 Website — every story we've ever made, free to listen. No paywall, no account, no password.
https://nocturnaltalespodcast.com

Paris, a little after ten on a night of rain. The Gare de Lyon wrapped in steam beneath the electric lamps, doors slammed with unnecessary violence, and a polished sleeping car bound for Switzerland.

The Belgian Detective is travelling to Lausanne to settle what he calls, with some disdain, a little matter of family dishonesty. Arthur has the compartment next door.

In the restaurant car, a heavy-set stranger with iron-grey hair sits down at their table without waiting to be asked. He is a banker from Brussels, he says, and for three days a man in a long brown coat has been following him — from his office, to Paris, to his hotel, and tonight, he is certain, to the station.

He will not say what he is carrying. He will not say why he is travelling. He says only: if anything happens tonight—

By morning, compartment nine stands open. The bed has not been slept in. And the attendant insists that nobody has occupied it since Paris.

The Passenger from Compartment Nine is an original Golden Age-style mystery aboard a night train to the Swiss frontier.

ℹ️ FOR LISTENERS
This is an original mystery written by Nocturnal Tales, inspired by the spirit of the great Golden Age crime writers. The plot, characters and text are entirely our own creation. The sleeping car, its passengers and everybody aboard are fictional, and any resemblance to real persons is coincidental. No affiliation, endorsement, or official connection is implied.

💬 QUESTION FOR THE COMMENTS
The attendant swears compartment nine was empty all night. Arthur watched a man walk into it. Which of them did you believe — and when did you change your mind? 🕵️

🕒 CHAPTERS
00:00 - Introduction
01:24 - The Man Who Was Followed
10:01 - The Empty Compartment
18:48 - The Dead Banker
28:08 - The Red Seal
37:50 - The Baggage Car
47:56 - The Passenger Who Never Existed
58:43 - Closing

📖 GET THE EBOOK — $3.99

📌 Patreon — included with Writing Table & Archive Society, or one-time purchase
https://www.patreon.com/posts/156573383

🛒 Gumroad — EPUB + PDF included
https://nocturnaltalespod.gumroad.com/l/ebookvol2

❤️ SUPPORT & LISTENING OPTIONS

📌 Patreon — every new case first, ad-free and early
https://www.patreon.com/NocturnalTales

🌐 Website — every story, free, no account needed
https://nocturnaltalespodcast.com

📺 Rumble — free, supports us with ad revenue
https://rumble.com/c/c-7820714

❤️ Buy Me a Coffee — one-time support
https://buymeacoffee.com/nocturnaltales

💛 PayPal — one-time tip
https://paypal.me/nocturnaltalesprod

🎧 Apple Podcasts
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/nocturnal-tales-mystery-audiobooks-and-crime-stories/id1896195848

🧾 CREDITS
Written by Nocturnal Tales. Narrated by Nocturnal Tales.

🔖 TAGS / KEYWORDS
golden age mystery audiobook, train mystery audiobook, night train mystery, sleeping car mystery, vanishing passenger mystery, belgian detective audiobook, arthur mystery audiobook, 1930s europe mystery, full length mystery audiobook, classic detective story audiobook, original golden age mystery, vintage detective fiction

🏷️ HASHTAGS
#NocturnalTales #GoldenAgeMystery #TrainMystery #FullAudiobook #ClassicMystery #DetectiveFiction #Whodunnit #NightTrain

📌 Patreon — every new case first, ad-free and early ($2.99/month)
https://www.patreon.com/NocturnalTales
🌐 Website — every story we've ever made, free to listen. No paywall, no account, no password.
https://nocturnaltalespodcast.com

An old tower, a family that has held it a very long time, and a matter they would greatly prefer to settle without lawyers.

Max Carrados can drop the most absorbing occupation of his day at a moment's notice and apply himself entirely to somebody else's difficulty. Somebody has travelled a long way to ask him a question they have not asked anybody else.

No murder tonight, and that is deliberate. It is the third stretch running in which several of you have written to say the gentle cases are the ones you enjoy most, and we would rather programme for what you actually tell us than for what a mystery series is supposed to look like.

Watch for Parkinson. The manservant gets the last word, and he has earned it.

ℹ️ FOR LISTENERS
This is a complete, unabridged reading of The Secret of Dunstan's Tower by Ernest Bramah, collected in The Eyes of Max Carrados (1923) and now in the public domain. Every word is the author's own. Part of The Midnight Archive: three nights of classics every week, alongside four original Nocturnal Tales mysteries.

🗳️ YOU CHOOSE WHAT'S NEXT
The Archive is deep — more Max Carrados? Loveday Brooke? Judith Lee? Violet Strange? Sherlock Holmes? Father Brown? Lady Molly? Raffles? Dr Thorndyke? Arsène Lupin? Vote in the poll attached to this episode, or tell us in the comments which classic you want to hear by lamplight.

💬 QUESTION FOR THE COMMENTS
This is the third time in a row we have programmed a case with no body in it, because you keep asking. Should we keep a gentle one in every week? 🕵️

🕒 CHAPTERS
00:00 - Introduction
01:09 - The Secret of Dunstan’s Tower
19:48 - The Secret of Dunstan’s Tower
28:49 - The Secret of Dunstan’s Tower
43:36 - The Secret of Dunstan’s Tower
56:18 - Closing

📖 GET THE EBOOK — $3.99

📌 Patreon — included with Writing Table & Archive Society, or one-time purchase
https://www.patreon.com/posts/156573383

🛒 Gumroad — EPUB + PDF included
https://nocturnaltalespod.gumroad.com/l/ebookvol2

❤️ SUPPORT & LISTENING OPTIONS

📌 Patreon — every new case first, ad-free and early
https://www.patreon.com/NocturnalTales

🌐 Website — every story, free, no account needed
https://nocturnaltalespodcast.com

📺 Rumble — free, supports us with ad revenue
https://rumble.com/c/c-7820714

❤️ Buy Me a Coffee — one-time support
https://buymeacoffee.com/nocturnaltales

💛 PayPal — one-time tip
https://paypal.me/nocturnaltalesprod

🎧 Apple Podcasts
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/nocturnal-tales-mystery-audiobooks-and-crime-stories/id1896195848

🧾 CREDITS
Narrated and produced by Nocturnal Tales. Story by Ernest Bramah (public domain).

🔖 TAGS / KEYWORDS
ernest bramah audiobook, max carrados audiobook, the secret of dunstan's tower audiobook, the eyes of max carrados 1923, blind detective mystery, cosy classic mystery, gentle mystery no murder, english country house mystery, classic detective story audiobook, public domain audiobook, unabridged classic mystery

🏷️ HASHTAGS
#NocturnalTales #MidnightArchive #MaxCarrados #ErnestBramah #CozyMystery #ClassicMystery #FullAudiobook #Unabridged #BlindDetective #PublicDomain

📌 Patreon — every new case first, ad-free and early ($2.99/month)
https://www.patreon.com/NocturnalTales
🌐 Website — every story we've ever made, free to listen. No paywall, no account, no password.
https://nocturnaltalespodcast.com

A traveller in diamonds misses his train and calls at a house beside the line. That is all you need to know, because in a moment you are going to be told the rest.

That is the point of it. This is the first inverted detective story ever written. Freeman shows you the crime — who, how, and every precaution taken — and only then brings in Dr John Thorndyke, so that you watch the science close on a man whose guilt you have never once doubted.

The collection prints it in two halves and we keep them: The Mechanism of Crime, then The Mechanism of Detection. Every howcatchem since comes from this story, including a certain rumpled American lieutenant in a raincoat.

Freeman wrote afterwards that he wanted to find out whether a detective story could survive having its secret given away at the start — whether the interest lay in the puzzle, or in the method. This is the experiment.

At nearly two hours, it is also the longest thing we have run. Four of you asked for longer stories in the last ten days, none of you prompted.

ℹ️ FOR LISTENERS
This is a complete, unabridged reading of The Case of Oscar Brodski by R. Austin Freeman, collected in The Singing Bone (1912) and now in the public domain. Every word is the author's own. Part of The Midnight Archive: three nights of classics every week, alongside four original Nocturnal Tales mysteries.

🗳️ YOU CHOOSE WHAT'S NEXT
The Archive is deep — more Dr Thorndyke? Max Carrados? Loveday Brooke? Judith Lee? Violet Strange? Sherlock Holmes? Father Brown? Lady Molly? Raffles? Arsène Lupin? Vote in the poll attached to this episode, or tell us in the comments which classic you want to hear by lamplight.

💬 QUESTION FOR THE COMMENTS
You will know who did it from the first chapter. Did that make it more gripping or less — and was this the right length? 🕵️

🕒 CHAPTERS
00:00 - Introduction
01:57 - The Mechanism of Crime
20:18 - The Mechanism of Crime
37:50 - The Mechanism of Crime
55:59 - The Mechanism of Detection
1:13:29 - The Mechanism of Detection
1:32:16 - The Mechanism of Detection
1:49:24 - Closing

📖 GET THE EBOOK — $3.99

📌 Patreon — included with Writing Table & Archive Society, or one-time purchase
https://www.patreon.com/posts/156573383

🛒 Gumroad — EPUB + PDF included
https://nocturnaltalespod.gumroad.com/l/ebookvol2

❤️ SUPPORT & LISTENING OPTIONS

📌 Patreon — every new case first, ad-free and early
https://www.patreon.com/NocturnalTales

🌐 Website — every story, free, no account needed
https://nocturnaltalespodcast.com

📺 Rumble — free, supports us with ad revenue
https://rumble.com/c/c-7820714

❤️ Buy Me a Coffee — one-time support
https://buymeacoffee.com/nocturnaltales

💛 PayPal — one-time tip
https://paypal.me/nocturnaltalesprod

🎧 Apple Podcasts
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/nocturnal-tales-mystery-audiobooks-and-crime-stories/id1896195848

🧾 CREDITS
Narrated and produced by Nocturnal Tales. Story by R. Austin Freeman (public domain).

🔖 TAGS / KEYWORDS
r austin freeman audiobook, dr thorndyke audiobook, the case of oscar brodski audiobook, the singing bone 1912, inverted detective story, first howcatchem story, forensic detective fiction, scientific detective story, long full length audiobook, classic detective story audiobook, public domain audiobook, unabridged classic mystery

🏷️ HASHTAGS
#NocturnalTales #MidnightArchive #DrThorndyke #RAustinFreeman #InvertedMystery #ClassicMystery #FullAudiobook #Unabridged #ForensicMystery #PublicDomain

📌 Patreon — every new case first, ad-free and early ($2.99/month)
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🌐 Website — every story we've ever made, free to listen. No paywall, no account, no password.
https://nocturnaltalespodcast.com

An English country house on a clear October morning in 1930, at the end of a long gravel drive bordered with beech trees. Red brick, tall chimneys, ivy on the walls — the kind of house that has seen a great deal and chosen to say nothing.

Sir Henry Ashwood has been found dead in his library. The door was locked, the windows fastened from within, and a glass of port stood beside him on the desk.

The solicitor who telephones for help is anxious and discreet in equal measure, and he says one thing plainly before anyone has taken off their coat: suspicion is already gathering around Sir Henry's wife.

So the Belgian Detective and Arthur arrive at Ravenswood Hall to find a household that has been awake since breakfast — a widow holding herself very still, her cousin watching everything, a secretary who cannot keep his hands quiet, a family doctor, a butler of long service, and a staff speaking in lowered voices below stairs.

Everyone is eager to help. Everyone has already begun deciding what to say.

The Ravenswood Mystery is an original Golden Age-style locked-room mystery, and at a little over three hours, the longest story we have ever recorded.

ℹ️ FOR LISTENERS
An original mystery written by Nocturnal Tales, inspired by the spirit of the great Golden Age crime writers. Plot, characters and text are entirely our own; all characters and events are fictional. One of the first stories we wrote when the channel began, reworked for our collected ebook and recorded here as the new edition. No affiliation is implied.

💬 QUESTION FOR THE COMMENTS
A locked library, a houseful of people with something to hide, and three days of suspicion. Who did you suspect first, and at what point did you let them go? 🕵️

🕒 CHAPTERS
00:00 - Introduction
01:57 - The Morning Discovery
17:48 - The Household Watches
36:16 - The Inspector Arrives
57:49 - Footsteps in the Night
1:19:03 - The Charm
1:44:29 - The Bait Is Set
2:11:46 - The Library Revelation
2:34:33 - A Quieter House
2:51:30 - The Little Order of Things
3:04:23 - Closing

📖 GET THE EBOOK — $3.99

📌 Patreon — included with Writing Table & Archive Society, or one-time purchase
https://www.patreon.com/posts/156573383

🛒 Gumroad — EPUB + PDF included
https://nocturnaltalespod.gumroad.com/l/ebookvol2

❤️ SUPPORT & LISTENING OPTIONS

📌 Patreon — every new case first, ad-free and early
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🌐 Website — every story, free, no account needed
https://nocturnaltalespodcast.com

📺 Rumble — free, supports us with ad revenue
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❤️ Buy Me a Coffee — one-time support
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💛 PayPal — one-time tip
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🎧 Apple Podcasts
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/nocturnal-tales-mystery-audiobooks-and-crime-stories/id1896195848

🧾 CREDITS
Written by Nocturnal Tales. Narrated by Nocturnal Tales.

🔖 TAGS / KEYWORDS
golden age mystery audiobook, locked room mystery audiobook, country house mystery, poison mystery audiobook, belgian detective audiobook, arthur mystery audiobook, 1930s murder mystery, long full length audiobook, classic detective story audiobook, original golden age whodunit, vintage detective fiction

🏷️ HASHTAGS
#NocturnalTales #GoldenAgeMystery #LockedRoomMystery #FullAudiobook #CountryHouseMystery #ClassicMystery #DetectiveFiction #Whodunnit

📌 Patreon — every new case first, ad-free and early ($2.99/month)
https://www.patreon.com/NocturnalTales
🌐 Website — every story we've ever made, free to listen. No paywall, no account, no password.
https://nocturnaltalespodcast.com

A lodge-keeper has been found dead at the gates of a great house, and the county has already settled comfortably on who must have done it.

Miss Loveday Brooke of the Lynch Court agency is about thirty, dresses in plain black, and enjoys the considerable professional advantage of being the sort of woman nobody bothers to watch. She uses it in this one more coldly than in any other.

This is generally reckoned the best of the Loveday Brooke stories, and we think the reckoning is right. Two of you wrote in within hours of each other asking for more Pirkis and more Loveday, which is why it is here.

Written in eighteen ninety-three, by a woman, about a woman doing a job no woman was permitted to do — and Pirkis simply declines to make a fuss about it, which is somehow the most modern thing in it.

ℹ️ FOR LISTENERS
This is a complete, unabridged reading of The Murder at Troyte's Hill by Catherine Louisa Pirkis, collected in The Experiences of Loveday Brooke, Lady Detective (1894) and now in the public domain. Every word is the author's own. Part of The Midnight Archive: three nights of classics every week, alongside four original Nocturnal Tales mysteries.

🗳️ YOU CHOOSE WHAT'S NEXT
The Archive is deep — more Loveday Brooke? Max Carrados? Judith Lee? Violet Strange? Sherlock Holmes? Father Brown? Lady Molly? Raffles? Dr Thorndyke? Arsène Lupin? Vote in the poll attached to this episode, or tell us in the comments which classic you want to hear by lamplight.

💬 QUESTION FOR THE COMMENTS
The whole county has already agreed who did it before she arrives. How early did you start distrusting their opinion? 🕵️

🕒 CHAPTERS
00:00 - Introduction
01:26 - The Murder at Troyte’s Hill
16:25 - The Murder at Troyte’s Hill
31:59 - The Murder at Troyte’s Hill
45:42 - The Murder at Troyte’s Hill
1:00:47 - Closing

📖 GET THE EBOOK — $3.99

📌 Patreon — included with Writing Table & Archive Society, or one-time purchase
https://www.patreon.com/posts/156573383

🛒 Gumroad — EPUB + PDF included
https://nocturnaltalespod.gumroad.com/l/ebookvol2

❤️ SUPPORT & LISTENING OPTIONS

📌 Patreon — every new case first, ad-free and early
https://www.patreon.com/NocturnalTales

🌐 Website — every story, free, no account needed
https://nocturnaltalespodcast.com

📺 Rumble — free, supports us with ad revenue
https://rumble.com/c/c-7820714

❤️ Buy Me a Coffee — one-time support
https://buymeacoffee.com/nocturnaltales

💛 PayPal — one-time tip
https://paypal.me/nocturnaltalesprod

🎧 Apple Podcasts
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/nocturnal-tales-mystery-audiobooks-and-crime-stories/id1896195848

🧾 CREDITS
Narrated and produced by Nocturnal Tales. Story by Catherine Louisa Pirkis (public domain).

🔖 TAGS / KEYWORDS
catherine louisa pirkis audiobook, loveday brooke audiobook, the murder at troyte's hill audiobook, experiences of loveday brooke 1894, victorian lady detective, female detective audiobook, country house murder, early women detectives, classic detective story audiobook, public domain audiobook, unabridged classic mystery

🏷️ HASHTAGS
#NocturnalTales #MidnightArchive #LovedayBrooke #ClassicMystery #FullAudiobook #Unabridged #FemaleDetective #VictorianMystery #EarlyWomenDetectives #PublicDomain