The Island of the Dead

There are certain adventures which, looking back, seem to have announced themselves from the beginning. The weather is too fine. The sea is too calm. And the hotel proprietor smiles a little too readily when he assures you that the little motor launch is perfectly reliable. A small Greek island, Kalathos. The Belgian Detective and his friend Captain Arthur have been there a fortnight — Arthur on holiday, the detective merely conducting his usual habits in a warmer climate, his shoes immaculate and his moustaches geometrically precise. Arthur arranges a pleasure excursion around the western coast. His friend stands on the harbour wall, looks at the boat, and says he does not like it. By evening the launch is broken between two rocks, and six people are dragging themselves ashore onto an island that appears on no chart and carries no name: a distinguished elderly gentleman and his wife, a watchful young woman travelling under a shortened name, a London doctor, a Greek boatman who will not say why he refuses to land there, and two men who never intended to be there at all. Above the cove there is a ruin. Inside the ruin there is a dead man. And in the dust of the floor, before any of the survivors set foot in the place, there are three sets of footprints. FOR LISTENERS This is an original Nocturnal Tales mystery, written by us in the spirit of the great Golden Age crime writers. The plot, the characters and the text are entirely our own creation. All characters and events are fictional. The last word on this case is that the danger lies in believing that because one has been wronged, one can no longer be wrong. When you reach the end — do you have any sympathy left, or none at all? SUPPORT & LISTENING OPTIONS CREDITS TAGS / KEYWORDS golden age mystery audiobook, original detective story, greek island mystery, shipwreck mystery, marooned survivors mystery, belgian detective audiobook, full length mystery audiobook, whodunnit audiobook, 1930s detective fiction, classic style mystery HASHTAGS