Original mysteryNo. 1361 hr 52 minHercule Poirot
Surrey, England, 1934: when celebrated portrait painter Lucien Vidal is found dead in the locked studio of Blackthorn House — his latest canvas still on the easel, his laudanum tampered with, and a rival artist's cufflink lying conspicuously near the body — a brilliant Belgian detective unravels a web of old scandal and cold hatred buried beneath fresh paint; the key lies not in who is visible in the portrait, but in who has been painted over — a hidden image beneath the surface canvas revealing a woman's throat encircled by gloved fingers, an earlier truth that Lady Frances Welby had desperate reason to destroy before it could speak; inspired by the golden age of country house crime while remaining entirely fictional, The Portrait at Blackthorn House is an original Golden Age–style mystery about obsession, buried secrets, and the treachery of appearances.
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.
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
Hercule Poirot
Mexico City, the summer of nineteen twenty-eight. A banquet is given for the man who is about to become President — a soldier who won a civil war, lost an arm doing it, and has spent the years since collecting enemies with the same efficiency he once collected territory.
1 hr 20 minNo. 245
Loveday Brooke
Somebody has got hold of Miss Loveday Brooke's private address, which she had given strict orders was to be handed to nobody at all. Her holiday lasts precisely as long as it takes to read the note.
by Catherine Louisa Pirkis
55 minNo. 244