Original mysteryNo. 651 hr 21 minHercule Poirot
Madrid, 1920s: expecting sunshine and civility, the Belgian Detective and his loyal companion step into a shabby boarding house where a devout widow lives like a miser while quietly sitting on a hidden fortune—until an anonymous blackmail letter tightens the air and the widow is found strangled and burned in her locked bedroom, with petrol, lies, and inheritance schemes smouldering in every corridor; as lodgers feud, a nephew sulks, and a second suspicious fire threatens to erase the truth, the investigation turns on who profited from fear, who forged “respectability,” and who needed the ashes to speak for them; inspired by historical crime of its era while remaining entirely fictional, this is an original Golden Age–style mystery of blackmail, false heirs, and a house where everyone dreads what daylight would prove. FOR LISTENERS This is an original Golden Age–style mystery presented as a respectful homage to classic detective fiction. All characters and events in this story are fictional. No affiliation, endorsement, or official connection is implied. QUESTION FOR THE COMMENTS When a crime is staged to look like chaos, what do you trust most: motive, method, or the one person who seems “too frightened” to lie? 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 golden age mystery audiobook, madrid 1920s mystery, boarding house whodunit, widow burned in bedroom, blackmail letter clue, petrol fire evidence, hidden fortune scandal, inheritance fraud plot, nephew suspect motive, quarrelling lodgers secrets, second fire cover-up, classic detective fiction audio, european city mystery, locked room fire scene, truth beneath the ashes
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.
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.
or
Give with PayPalPayPal 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.
Tell us what you made of this one. No account and no password — just a name.
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
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
Max Carrados
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
A. J. Raffles
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