Skip to the main content
Nocturnal TalesMystery audiobooks for quiet evenings

The Lady of Many Names

Original mysteryNo. 711 hr 3 minHercule Poirot

Play this story
0:00
1:02:50

The story

London, 1920s: when a dazzling confidence artist begins leaving a trail of ruined men across the city — a jeweller dismissed as a lunatic after reporting vanished diamonds, a banker befriended at precisely the right moment then drugged and stripped of his holdings, a borrowed family left behind as collateral for a "baroness" who was never who she claimed — a brilliant Belgian detective and his faithful companion find themselves pursuing not a suspect but a phantom; she wears a hundred faces and answers to as many names, orchestrates illusions with the precision of a stage director, and turns every drawing room, jeweller's counter, and first-class hotel lobby into a theatre built entirely for her purposes — and when at last she steps from the shadows to confront her pursuer directly, the encounter becomes less an arrest than a duel between two minds that recognise, with mutual and uncomfortable clarity, how much they have in common; inspired by the real criminal prodigy Sheindlia-Sura Solomoniak, whose exploits fascinated police forces across Europe, while remaining entirely fictional, The Lady of Many Names is an original Golden Age-style mystery about elegance, deception, identity, and the dangerous art of illusion. FOR LISTENERS This is an original Golden Age-style mystery presented as a respectful homage to classic detective fiction, inspired by the real-life exploits of early 20th-century confidence artist Sheindlia-Sura Solomoniak. All characters and events in this story are fictional. No affiliation, endorsement, or official connection is implied. Written by Nicolas & Dora Laverty. QUESTION FOR THE COMMENTS Would you have recognised her? If you met a woman who seemed perfectly elegant, perfectly polite, perfectly convincing — would your instincts have warned you, or would she have fooled you too? What detail, looking back through the story, would have given her away first? SUPPORT & LISTENING OPTIONS Patreon (ad-free episodes, early access, bonus content – tiers from $2.99/month) Buy Me a Coffee (one-time support) PayPal (one-time tip) Spotify (follow the show) CHILDREN'S BOOK (Amazon) Sherlock Paws and the Diamond of the Nile CREDITS Written by Nocturnal Tales. Narrated by Nocturnal Tales. TAGS / KEYWORDS Belgian detective mystery audiobook, con artist mystery audiobook, 1920s London mystery, Bond Street mystery audiobook, confidence trick mystery, Golden Age mystery podcast, identity deception mystery, Sheindlia Solomoniak inspired mystery, female con artist mystery audiobook, psychological cat and mouse mystery, classic whodunit audiobook, vintage detective story, London society mystery, illusion and deception audiobook, British mystery podcast

Free to listen, in full, with no account and no password. Your place is remembered in this browser, so you can stop and come back.

Enjoyed this one?

Every story on Nocturnal Tales is free, and stays free. Listeners who choose to give are the reason there is a new one tomorrow.

This is our work and what we live on: two of us, writing and producing a story every night. Giving here goes straight to us, rather than through a platform that can change its mind overnight. Why donations are important.

Choose a monthly amount

or

Give with PayPal

PayPal opens in a new page. Monthly support is easiest to manage through the card option.

No story is ever locked. Payment is handled securely by Stripe — we never see your card details. You can change or cancel your support at any time, from this page, with no explanation needed.

Be the first to comment

Tell us what you made of this one. No account and no password — just a name.

No account, no password. Your email is never shown to anyone, and is used only to reply to you unless you ask for the nightly email above.

More from the library

Cover illustration for A Day's Folly

A Day's Folly

Lady Molly of Scotland Yard

The newspaper-reading public called it the Somersetshire Outrage, and to this day, as far as the public is concerned, it was never properly explained at all. A young shop assistant named Jane Turner is found in her lodgings at Weston, tied to a chair with a rope, a shawl over her head, half-slipping to the floor.

by Baroness Orczy

46 minNo. 249

Cover illustration for The Two Confessions

The Two Confessions

Hercule Poirot

New Orleans, the spring of nineteen thirty-three. There are certain cities which, even before one has committed a crime in them, seem already to know the secret. Arthur and the Belgian Detective have come for a rest.

1 hr 14 minNo. 248

Cover illustration for The Knight's Cross Signal Problem

It begins with Max Carrados greeting his friend Carlyle at the door and remarking that he has a mystery about him somewhere. He can hear it in the man's step. The mystery is a railway disaster.

by Ernest Bramah

1 hr 7 minNo. 247

Cover illustration for Wilful Murder & Nine Points of the Law

Two cases tonight from the gentleman thief who has drawn more requests than anybody else in the Archive. WILFUL MURDER is the darkest thing in the whole collection. Bunny warns us at the outset that most of their robberies will not bear telling at length.

by E. W. Hornung

1 hr 13 minNo. 246