The Hindenburg MurdersBy Max Allan Collins; Read by Jeff Woodman
6 Cassettes or 7 CDs - 7 hours 45 minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher:
Recorded BooksPublished: 2001
ISBN: 0788754513 (Cassette), 1402510101 (CD)
Themes: / Mystery / Air Ships / Disaster / Murder / World War II / Nazis / Sabotage /
An inevitable fact - You know this one is going to end with a bang. A big bang!
Max Allan Collins, winner of two Shamus Awards and numerous novels, has created a series of novels based on famous historical disasters. His second novel in the series deals with the Hindenburg explosion. Each novel is a stand-alone work with a different "real-life" protagonist at the center. In The Hindenburg Murders that protagonist is Leslie Charteris author of The Saint stories.
The Saint was, and is, an immensely popular noir-styled Robin Hood-like character who's stories have been adapted into the movies, comic strips, and TV shows. Collins uses the character of Charteris of as a passenger on this final doomed flight of the Hindenburg. Charteris was a flamboyant, monocled Englishman who loved women. As a character he is as unpretentious as a monocled Englishman can be. When he is asked by the Captain to help solve the mystery of the murder of an undercover Nazi agent, Charteris is up to the task.
Collins does a great deal of research to make this mystery hum with authenticity. The giant airship creates a unique setting filled with details that fill our senses. A luxury liner in the sky, with even smaller cabins, aptly describes what it must have been like to fly on this giant aircraft. The cast of characters actually come from real travelers that were aboard that fateful trip.
Before you're through with the yarn, you'll be wondering what is historically accurate, and what is reasonable conjecture, and what is pure fiction. There's a nice afterward written by the author that describes exactly what he used, borrowed, and made-up from the actual story of the Hindenburg's last flight. There's also a lengthy interview with the author, exclusive to the audiobook. This is a great addition to an already rewarding listen.
Jeff Woodman reads the novel with a flair for the many accents used. I found myself easily distinguishing between each character in the shipload of travelers. If you're like me, you'll be wishing for more audiobooks with Leslie Charteris written by Max Allan Collins and read by Jeff Woodman.
Posted by
The Time Traveler
The talented professors responsible for the stupendous Out Of The Past: Investigating Film Noir podcast (Shannon Clute and Richard Edwards) are teaming up once again for a whole new show! This one sounds even more promising! The show #1 will air July 15th 2006 and will be called Behind The Black Mask: Mystery Writers Revealed. The show will focus on the creators behind your favorite literature, mystery fiction!
