The Man in the Brown Suit: The Official Authorized Edition
Written by Agatha Christie
Narrated by Emilia Fox
3.5/5
()
About this audiobook
The Man in the Brown Suit is Agatha Christie at her best, as a young woman makes a dangerous decision to investigate a shocking “accidental” death she witnesses at a London tube station.
Pretty, young Anne came to London looking for adventure. In fact, adventure comes looking for her—and finds her immediately at Hyde Park Corner tube station. Anne is present on the platform when a thin man, reeking of mothballs, loses his balance and is electrocuted on the rails.
The Scotland Yard verdict is accidental death. But Anne is not satisfied. After all, who was the man in the brown suit who examined the body? And why did he race off, leaving a cryptic message behind: ""17-122 Kilmorden Castle""?
Agatha Christie
Agatha Christie (1890-1976) was an English author of mystery fiction whose status in the genre is unparalleled. A prolific and dedicated creator, she wrote short stories, plays and poems, but her fame is due primarily to her mystery novels, especially those featuring two of the most celebrated sleuths in crime fiction, Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple. Ms. Christie’s novels have sold in excess of two billion copies, making her the best-selling author of fiction in the world, with total sales comparable only to those of William Shakespeare or The Bible. Despite the fact that she did not enjoy cinema, almost 40 films have been produced based on her work.
More audiobooks from Agatha Christie
Closed Casket: The New Hercule Poirot Mystery Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5And Then There Were None Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sparkling Cyanide Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Pale Horse Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Crooked House Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Passenger to Frankfurt Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Midwinter Murder: Fireside Tales from the Queen of Mystery Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Murder Is Easy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Towards Zero Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5They Came to Baghdad Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Spider's Web Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Harlequin Tea Set and Other Stories Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Endless Night Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Sittaford Mystery Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related to The Man in the Brown Suit
Related audiobooks
Lord Edgware Dies: A Hercule Poirot Mystery: The Official Authorized Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Murder on the Links: A Hercule Poirot Mystery: The Official Authorized Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sad Cypress: A Hercule Poirot Mystery: The Official Authorized Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Deadly Affair: Unexpected Love Stories from the Queen of Mystery Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Man in the Brown Suit & They Came to Baghdad: Two Bestselling Agatha Christie Novels in One Great Audiobook Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe King of Clubs: A Hercule Poirot Short Story Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Man in the Brown Suit & Crooked House: Two Bestselling Agatha Christie Novels in One Great Audiobook Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Man in the Brown Suit & 4:50 From Paddington Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Mystery of the Blue Train Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Secret of Chimneys: The Official Authorized Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Seven Dials Mystery: The Official Authorized Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Murder in Mesopotamia: A Hercule Poirot Mystery: The Official Authorized Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ordeal by Innocence Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Five Little Pigs: A Hercule Poirot Mystery: The Official Authorized Edition Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Towards Zero Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Three Blind Mice and Other Stories Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Destination Unknown Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Sittaford Mystery Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Why Didn't They Ask Evans? Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Spider's Web Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Endless Night Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Peril at End House: A Hercule Poirot Mystery: The Official Authorized Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Big Four: A Hercule Poirot Mystery: The Official Authorized Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Regatta Mystery and Other Stories: Featuring Hercule Poirot, Miss Marple, and Mr. Parker Pyne Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Moving Finger: A Miss Marple Mystery Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/54:50 From Paddington: A Miss Marple Mystery Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Black Coffee Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Murder Is Easy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Death in the Clouds: A Hercule Poirot Mystery: The Official Authorized Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Mystery For You
Did I Kill You?: A Thriller Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Murder Your Employer: The McMasters Guide to Homicide Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Unexpected Guest Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The 7 ½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Complete Sherlock Holmes Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Perfume: The Story of a Murderer Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Murder on the Orient Express: A Hercule Poirot Mystery: The Official Authorized Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5When No One Is Watching: A Thriller Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Silence of the Lambs: 25th Anniversary Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Listen for the Lie: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Woman in the Library, The Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The River We Remember: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Heaven’s Crooked Finger Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hit and Run Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Marple: Twelve New Mysteries Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mother-Daughter Murder Night: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5What Lies in the Woods: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Tell No One Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hallowe'en Party: A Hercule Poirot Mystery: The Official Authorized Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This Tender Land Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Still Life: A Chief Inspector Gamache Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Death on the Nile: A Hercule Poirot Mystery: The Official Authorized Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5One for the Money: A Stephanie Plum Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ordinary Grace Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Altered Carbon Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Finlay Donovan Is Killing It: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Botanist's Guide to Parties and Poisons Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Good Girl's Guide to Murder: A Debutante Dropout Mystery Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for The Man in the Brown Suit
922 ratings40 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Super pleasant voice !! As for the story, it’s a weird Christie - but I love it just the same.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Typical Agatha Christie. Set in the 1920s it's full of 'plucky girls' and 'rugged, handsome men'. All very dated now, but typical of the period.
This is neither a Poirot, Marple nor Tommy & Tuppence novel, but a standalone story and zips along at the usual sort of pace. Some of the clues are obvious, some less so and there's a dusting of romance in there that you don't usually get with her novels.
It was a quick easy read, which is what I was looking for, but I suspect I'm getting a little jaded with all the Agatha Christies and will need to give them a rest for a while. - Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5From London to South Africa, a young Englishwoman – eager for adventure – follows a trail of strange clues, only to find herself in a web of theft, lies and political intrigue.
One of Christie’s first novels, "The Man in the Brown Suit" is clearly in the thriller genre, and – like almost all of her thrillers – it ultimately becomes a morass of spy-story ideas that don’t quite gel together. However, unlike most of them, this book is attractive and engaging, with an enjoyable heroine in Anne Beddingfield, and a solid supporting turn by Colonel Race, who would later lead the cast of "Sparkling Cyanide" before returning for two superlative Poirot novels. - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5More a thriller than a usual Agatha Christie whodunit. Rather a large cast, making the plot a bit complex - but cleverly written, as ever, with satisfactory ending.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5i read this when i was 12 and liked it. now it seems really stupid. after finishing it at 12 and loving it (it was my first adult mystery), i lent it to a friend whose mother wouldn't let her read it because of the cover--a woman in a strapless dress being pursued to cliff side by a man in a brown suit(to the best of my memory 50 years later). i can remember my mother saying " has she never heard of agatha christie?".
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A newly orphaned young woman, Anne Beddingfield, heads off to make her way in the world and finds herself embroiled in the midst of an unexpected adventure. Anne is spunky, if a bit too naïve and reminded me a bit of Catherine in Northanger Abbey. Anne’s read too many mystery novels (as opposed to Catherine’s penchant for gothic novels) and sees a bit of mystery in everything. I wasn’t thrilled with this one. I won’t get into the plot too much, except to say Anne witnesses a death, meets lots of people and ends up falling in love. It was nothing to keep you up at night flipping pages, which is kinda what I want from a mystery. It was less creepy goodness and more whodunit with a dollop of romance. It’s not a bad book, just a light entertaining read. It’s not quite up to par with some of Christie’s darker murder mysteries, like my favorite, And Then There Were None. I’d skip this one and pick up a different Christie instead.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I liked Ann a lot but the ending really pulled it down.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I love Agatha Christie and this book is not an exception! Miss Beddingfield's narrative is witty and very funny. Another enjoyable read. (Pity the movie made of it, with Stephany Zimbalist as Miss Beddingfield, diverged so much from the original story.)
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ann Beddingfield saw a stranger fall to death on the rails of the Underground. A doctor in a brown suit pronounced him dead and vanished into a crowd. A link to a famous ballerina murder, a fortune in diamonds and blackmail leads to an attempt on Anne's life. An isolated mansion holds the solution to the bizarre mystery for this young sleuth. Another great classic from the Queen of Crime!
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This is a well-written mystery, but with horrible characters. If only Agatha had spent a bit more time on her characters and their motives, this would have been a five stars book.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Anne Beddingfeld is a young woman trapped in the dull countryside of England with her anthropologist father. Her longing for bright lights and adventure is realized when her father dies, but her impulsive trip to London segues into an impulsive voyage on a steamship to Africa in pursuit of a man she thinks she saw commit a murder (the titular man in the brown suit). She's caught up in a series of increasingly improbable events both on board the ship and later in South Africa, and survives more or less in spite of herself.This is one of Dame Agatha's earliest novels — I think it was her fourth — and it shows. The plot contains the twists and turns we came to expect from a typical Christie mystery, but it's rough around the edges and doesn't always hold together on close scrutiny. That the first problem. The second is not Christie's fault, but mine. One of the main suspects in this adventure is a man I first encountered in a couple of Hercule Poirot mysteries, written much later. Because he was on the side of the angels (or rather the funny little Belgian with the mustaches) in those, I knew he couldn't be a murderer here. That's just the kind of thing that happens if you don't stick to strict chronological order, kids.I read this now to fulfill the first prompt (read a book inspired by Christie's travel) in the reading challenge sponsored by Christie's official website.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A book by Agatha Christie I hadn’t read yet! Similar to her Tommy and Tuppence books in theme. More adventure/thriller than mystery but thoroughly enjoyable.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I like Ann. The point of view is sometimes from Anne. Sometimes we are getting the diary of Sir Eutace Peddler. It is full of false identities. Many people are not who they appear to be.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Enh. I don't like Christie in "spy thriller" mode as much as in mystery mode – although this did have a mystery, with an interesting solution – and the sexual politics in this one just flat out revolt me. And it is of it today and of its social class in its discussion of Rhodesia in the 1920s. Since it's counted as part of a "Colonel Race" series, and I really liked Cards on the Table, I had hoped to like this better than I did.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5My journey in the mysteries of Agatha Christie continues with The Man in the Brown Suit. This falls under the Colonel Race series and involves so many characters playing multiple parts that I felt lost at times. When her father dies, Anne Beddingfeld decides that she must live and take chances. First a man falls to his death at the train station in front of her, then a man in a brown suit stating he is a doctor examines the fallen man. Anne retrieves a slip of paper the man in the brown suit drops and thus begins her sleuthing. Anne then finds a canister of undeveloped film at Mill House where a woman has been killed. Anne quickly books passage on the ship, Kilmorden Castle, bound for Africa. As usual, Agatha Christie supplies many charming and alarming characters. Anne encounters an attempt to throw her overboard and a kidnapping but prevails in these adventures. The style fringes on light banter between the characters and danger seems distant. Anne narrates half of the story and Sir Eustace Pedler’s diary details the remaining story, an interesting approach to the narrative. This lacks the forcefulness of Poirot.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This is one of the less well known Christie novels from her early period in the mid 1920s. For much of the time it doesn't feel like a traditional Christie novel, given its setting mostly at sea and in South Africa. The narrator is Anne Bedingfield, daughter of a palaeontologist, who witnesses a man falling to his death on the London tube tracks after being frightened by someone behind her. She gets involved in the machinations of an international criminal gang smuggling diamonds, led by a mysterious individual known only as The Colonel. The usual blend of false identities and red herrings which is quite good fun.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Another book I read in middle school and do not remember. Another strong performance by Emilia Fox. This story, however, is one of Christie's weaker ones. Anne witnesses what turns out to be a murder and decides to get involved as a way to get a reporter's job (rather than her receptionist's position) on a newspaper. She ends up buying a boat ticket to South Africa, and shockingly (/s) is in over her head. But she is not the actual detective here, it's Colonel Race. This is book 1, after all. He is not really a major player in the story, however. Which is kind of weird. And really, how many proposals should one young woman get in a mystery novel? Personally, I would go with zero, but Anne gets 3 (4 if you count 2 from the same guy). Not to my taste at all.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This was a well-written book of its age and type (it was written in the 1920s), with just a few places where one grinds one's teeth at the ideas about female psychology back in the dark ages. (The heroine actually tells someone that women in love enjoy doing things they dislike if the man they love enjoys the thing in question!) I give it 4 stars for suspense and enough red herrings to make it very interesting. It does have the usual love at first sight nonsense, but there is usually a couple in her books who bond over the trials and tribulations...
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5An early thriller from Agatha Christie - channeling the "Perils of Pauline" our heroine, fortuitously orphaned and penniless sets out in search of adventure and love and finds both in South Africa. Reads well for a light read though some of the casual racism (I've only recently realised that "Kaffir Boy" doesn't refer to a child) doesn't sit well with a modern audience. The heroine is feisty with a strong sense of self and I don't buy that her captulation to the hero (with all the "you're my woman / I'm your man" maundering is in character, she does capitulate but only because she wants to...
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Man in the Brown Suit is a mystery novel, but it also reads like a grand adventure. There's a murder to be solved for sure, but there's also espionage, a perilous sea voyage, diamond smuggling, kidnapping, a journey across Africa, and romance. Looking back, I'm amazed at how much Agatha Christie was able to fit into the novel. And yet, it didn't seemed forced or crammed in.Here's how the publisher describes the book:Pretty, young Anne came to London looking for adventure. In fact, adventure comes looking for her—and finds her immediately at Hyde Park Corner tube station. Anne is present on the platform when a thin man, reeking of mothballs, loses his balance and is electrocuted on the rails.The Scotland Yard verdict is accidental death. But Anne is not satisfied. After all, who was the man in the brown suit who examined the body? And why did he race off, leaving a cryptic message behind: "17-122 Kilmorden Castle"?Of all the Agatha Christie books I've read, this is by far the most adventurous. Anne Beddingfield is a fun character to follow, and the plot has several twists that took me by surprise. Another solid story from the Mistress of Mystery.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5In another early Christie outing, we get yet another effort that is as much a thriller as it is a detective story or mystery. It's the only canon appearance of Anne Beddingfield, a young English woman who, after her father's death, gives in to her desire to seek adventure. In her case, it starts with a death in a London tube station and leads her to South Africa and a diamond caper. It's also the earliest appearance of Colonel Race, whose interest in Beddingfield is not reciprocated. He gets over it, though, and goes on to become pals with a guy named Hercule Poirot.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5A young woman semi-witnesses a man back-up, stumble, & fall under a train.... She tells the police, that the man had a surprised look on his face as if he'd seen someone/something that frightened him.She also watches a man in a brown suit acting as a doctor examine him and pronounce him dead.... He "doctor" hurriedly walks away, but not before dropping a piece of paper out of his pocket..... A clue which she decides to follow up on.She is led to a house on the market, owned by a "colonel",there upon a strangled woman, and the young man who has found the dead woman....The young woman goes to the local paper w/ her information & convinces the editor to give her a chance at investigative journalism, which leads her further into danger (ridiculous situations) and eventually a fine romance and a prime job.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Another classic mystery from Dame Agatha. I loved her wit and humor placed in this one. My favorite character and point of view in the story was Sir Eustace Pedlar. He played the stereotypical bumbling English gentleman, but you could always tell there was some intelligence there behind it. I listened to the audio performance, and I must admit I think the narrator helped the story along. She seemed to know each character and knew how to portray them emotionally even if she couldn't quite get them voice-wise.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Man in the Brown Suit begins with Anne Beddingfeld, the daughter of a professor who longs for adventure. She spends her day trying to avoid creditors and longing to meet a nice young man. When her father dies, she takes an opportunity to go to London, where she witnesses the death of a man. Finding a piece of paper dropped at the scene, she believes the death to be linked to that of the murder of a young woman at the house of Sir Eustace Pedlar. With only eighty five pounds to her name, her deductions ignored by the police, she boards a ship bound for South Africa. On board she meets not only Sir Eustace Pedlar but his secretary Guy Pagett, society beauty Suzanne Blair, the enigmatic Colonel Race and the attractive Harry Rayburn. If she can find out who the man in the brown suit is, seen leaving Sir Pedlar's house shortly after the murder, she hopes for a job as a journalist.
The story starts off at a slow pace, but it builds momentum with multiple deaths, stolen jewels, an old injustice, and kidnappings. Published in 1924 it was actually written in serialized form as “Anne the Adventuress”. I'm not a huge Christie fan but I did enjoy the quirky characters, lively dialogue and entertaining adventure story.
Overall, The Man in the Brown Suit is not the greatest mystery book, nor the greatest Agatha Christie book. It is, however, a very enjoyable addition to her highly acclaimed body of work and any Christie fan is bound to enjoy it. - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Along with her popular private detective series, and her stand-alone mysteries, Christie also wrote a number of books that are a blend of mystery and espionage story. The Man in the Brown Suit is an example of this type of Christie story. Ann Beddingfeld becomes entangled in danger and secrets, an adventure which she eagerly pursues. She witnesses a man fall on the live track at the train station, which instantly kills him. A doctor happens to be on hand to examine him. He drops a note as he is leaving the scene, and she snatches it. She can't decipher the note's strange message - 17.1 22 Kilmorden Castle - but she does notice that it smells like moth balls, just like the dead man did. The next day, Ann reads an article in the paper which reveals that a woman was just found dead at a house which was the same one as that on an ad in the dead man's pocket. The newspapers report that the only suspect is a young man in a brown suit.Ann knows that these two events are connected, and something bigger is underfoot.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Soon after the death of her anthropologist father, young Anne Beddingfeld witnesses the accidental death of a stranger in the tube station. She also realizes that the doctor who pushes his way into the crowd to examine the dead man doesn't seem to know anything about basic anatomy, which makes Anne follow the fraud and starts her adventure. Determined to prove that she had witnessed a crime of some kind, Anne boards a ship for South Africa, which is on the brink of revolution. Aboard, she becomes friends with a famous socialite, meets Member of Parliament Sir Eustace Pedlar and his three secretaries, Secret Service man Colonel Race, and falls in love with a wanted criminal.This is one of Christie's most fun and most active. Anne's thirst for adventure has her fighting, falling down cliffs, being chased through the city and receiving proposals. If you want to sample a Christie that is not her typical English locked room mystery, this is a good one.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5French translation of The Man in the Brown Suit. See review there. This previously belonged to y parents, probably my mother who ha taught French and read it fluently. I read it less fluently.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Always enjoy an Agatha Christie mystery! Thought Anne Beddingfield was a fantastic heroine, can't wait to read the Miss Marple books and the other books narrated by a female.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5This is the first non series that Christie wrote. Published in 1924 it takes place in 1920. A feisty young girl raised in a sheltered way catering to her scholarly father has the whole world before her after her father dies but she has made no plans until she is present at the death of a man who falls on the third rail in the subway. A man in a brown suit claiming to be a doctor tries to resuscitate the man but rushes off dropping a mysterious piece of paper.
Our heroine Anne Beddingfeld grabs the piece of paper and starts on an adventure of a lifetime.
Anne is an unusual girl for the era in someways because she is educated, fearless and intrepid. On the other hand she longs for romance and all the things others girls of the time want. A man, family and a home. - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A good book by Christie that doesn't fit what became her traditional formula. It alternates well between a first person account by Anne and the journal/diary of Sir Edgar. There is even a little love-interest typically absent in novels Christie wrote under her own name.