Snoozecast

We hope you enjoy this preview of an episode from our back catalog available to our premium subscribers. Tonight, we’ll read from “The Red House Mystery” by A. A. Milne, published in 1922. This episode is dedicated to Kerry, who first recommended the author Milne to us. It was Milne’s only mystery novel, and yet it was immensely popular. It falls into the “locked room” whodunnit category. To unlock full episodes, ad-free listening, and more, please go to snoozecast.com/plus.

The setting is an English country house, where Mark Ablett has been entertaining a house party. The black sheep of his family arrives from Australia and a mystery ensues.

There is a preface to this book by the author that reads “My dear Father,

Like all really nice people, you have a weakness for detective stories, and feel that there are not enough of them. So, after all that you have done for me, the least that I can do for you is to write you one. Here it is: with more gratitude and affection than I can well put down here.

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We hope you enjoy this preview of an episode from our back catalog available to our premium subscribers. Tonight, we’ll read the next part to “The Secret Garden”, a novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett published in 1911. Set in England, it is now one of Burnett's most popular novels and seen as a classic of English children's literature. To unlock full episodes of this series, ad-free listening, and more, please go to snoozecast.com/plus.

If you’d like to listen to this story’s episodes easily in order, go to snoozecast.com/series.

In the last episode, Mary and Martha write a letter to Martha’s brother Dickon, asking him to obtain some gardening supplies for Mary. Mary is hiding where exactly she plans to do her gardening.

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Tonight, we’ll read another story from the King Arthur series written by Maude Radford Warren titled “How Sir Lancelot Saved the Queen

If you’d like to listen to this whole series easily in order, go to snoozecast.com/series.

King Arthur was a legendary British leader who, according to medieval histories and romances, led the defence of Britain against Saxon invaders in the late 5th and early 6th centuries.

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We hope you enjoy this preview of an episode from our back catalog available to our premium subscribers. Tonight, we’ll read a story called “Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves” from “The Arabian Nights: Their Best-known Tales” by Smith, Wiggin, and Parrish. It has become one of the most familiar of the "Arabian Nights" tales, and is where the phrase “Open, Sesame!” comes from. To unlock full episodes, ad-free listening, and more, please go to snoozecast.com/plus.

This folk tale was added to the “One Thousand and One Nights” anthology in the 18th century by its French translator. This translator heard it from a Syrian storyteller who travelled to Paris.

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Tonight, we’ll read the next chapter of “Little Women” by American author Louisa May Alcott, published in 1868, titled “Castles in the Air”. Following the lives of the four March sisters—Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy—the novel details their passage from childhood to womanhood and is loosely based on the author and her sisters.

You can listen to the whole series in order at snoozecast.com/series. In the last episode, we finished the chapter called “Camp Laurence.” The episode finished with the March sisters, along with Laurie and his British friends paddling back from their day of picnicking and games.

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Tonight, we’ll read selections from “The Bird Watcher in the Shetlands” by Edmund Selous, written in 1905. If you enjoy this episode, be sure to listen to our others from this birdwatching series at snoozecast.com/series.

The author started as a conventional naturalist of his time, but Selous developed a disdain of the common practice of killing animals for scientific study. He was a pioneer of bird-watching as a method of scientific study. The author was a solitary man and was not well known in ornithological circles. He avoided both the company of ornithologists and reading their observations so as to base his conclusions entirely on his own observations. He has gifted future generations with his beautiful and intuitive writing on birds.

The island of Shetland is the northernmost part of Scotland. The archipelago has a complex geology, a rugged coastline, and many low, rolling hills. The islands have produced a variety of prose writers and poets, who have often written in the distinctive Shetland dialect of the Scots language.

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We hope you enjoy this preview of an episode from our back catalog available to our premium subscribers. Tonight, we’ll read "A Retrieved Reformation", a short story by American author O. Henry first published in 1903. This story shows how love can change anyone for the better. It describes the events which lead up to the reformation of an ex-convicted burglar. As usual, the ending of this O. Henry is worth hearing for the twist. To unlock full episodes, ad-free listening, and more, please go to snoozecast.com/plus.

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Tonight, we shall read the next part of “Pride and Prejudice”, written by Jane Austen. If you’d like to listen from the beginning, please find and listen to all the previous episodes easily at snoozecast.com/series.

In the previous episode, the Bennet sisters attend the much anticipated ball at Netherfield. Elizabeth makes the mistake of talking with her odious cousin Mr. Collins, and becomes obligated out of politeness to accept the first two dances with him. She had designs to dance with Wickham then, but either way Wickham does not show up at the ball. While Jane has a wonderful time with Mr. Bingley, poor Lizzy makes matters worse by dancing with Mr. Darcy, whom she has judged to be detestable. We will pick up with Lizzy and Jane chatting, during the ball.

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Tonight, we’ll read the opening to “A Study in Scarlet” an 1887 detective novel written by Arthur Conan Doyle. The story marks the first appearance of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. They meet for the first time and interview each other to become roommates.

“A Study in Scarlet” was also the first work of detective fiction to incorporate the magnifying glass as an investigative tool.

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We hope you enjoy this preview of an episode from our back catalog available to our premium subscribers. Tonight, for our episode “Halvor and the Trolls” we’ll read a story called Soria Moria Castle from The Red Fairy Book. This episode is dedicated to our patron Heidi, who loves the Red, Blue and Green Gairy Book stories best. To unlock full episodes, ad-free listening, and more, please go to snoozecast.com/plus.

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