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AUDIO CD REVIEW: News Of Paul Temple, BBC Audio.
He's not the most fashionable of our fictional detectives – but there's a huge amount to savour in the world of Paul Temple, a world worth visiting with this latest of his adventures, revived on audio CD by the BBC.
It's a lost world in a way, a kind of Secret Seven for grown-ups, a world where important letters are snaffled, where there's a cunning ruse around every corner, where's there's a military secret being used as bait and where there are dastardly villains in a dastardly international spy ring with a mysterious (and dastardly) character at the centre.
Traps are laid; bodies tumble out of cupboards; and all manner of dodgy accents are to be heard, all brought to life by Anthony Head in this abridged reading.
There's an Austrian academic, a shady Dutch-sounding guy and at least two Princes Charles in there, one with definite shades of Prince Philip. Also in the mix are the softer tones of Temple's wife Steve – a name that takes a fair amount of getting used to.
Head brings it all alive admirably, but you still need to do a fair amount of the work yourself. Let your mind wander, and you'll soon be lost. Concentrate, and you'll enjoy the rich satisfactions of a mystery ravelled and unravelled with old-fashioned chic and old-fashioned craft.
After meeting the actress Iris Archer, Paul Temple writes a play for her. She is thrilled, but before the opening she disappears to France. So Temple is surprised when she turns up at an inn where he is holidaying in Scotland… and that's just the start.
Francis Durbridge has the dramatist's feel for drama and the novelist's eye for character. And you'll get your money's worth in other ways besides. Reach the end – and the chances are you'll want to go back to the beginning, not just to check you've seized every last nuance but also to admire the skill with which the great man has put it all together.
Available through www.bbcshop.com. RRP 12.99; current price 9.75.
Phil Hewitt
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Weather for Chichester
Tuesday 14 February 2012
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: 6 C to 9 C
Wind Speed: 20 mph
Wind direction: North west
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: 4 C to 10 C
Wind Speed: 22 mph
Wind direction: North west
