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The Crime at Black Dudley full cast audiobook

by Margery Allingham · Albert Campion, Book 1

Released 11 October 2026 · Updated 11 October 2026 · 6h 46m · 24 voices

The story (no spoilers)

Dr George Abbershaw, a pathologist whom Scotland Yard consults, accepts a weekend invitation to the remote Suffolk mansion of Black Dudley, hoping to win the heart of Meggie Oliphant. The house is a grey, fortress-like pile, set in a thousand acres of empty parkland and lit only by candles. Its host, the scholarly Wyatt Petrie, has gathered a lively crowd of young guests for his uncle, Colonel Coombe, an invalid who wears a mask-like plate over his war-ravaged face. George studies the company with his usual precision, and the evening begins in laughter, flirtation and gossip. Then the weekend turns. A death in the house raises his suspicions of murder, and before he can act on them, a ruthless criminal gang closes in and takes every guest captive. Cut off from help and watched at every turn, George must work out what is happening around him and find a way to protect Meggie. An amiable, vague-looking party-crasher named Albert Campion may prove an unlikely ally.

The cast

18 speaking roles are listed; walk-on parts are not. Each voice was designed, or chosen from our library of designed voices, to fit how the book describes the character, and it stays with them from the first chapter to the last. Portraits are illustrated impressions of each character.

George Abbershaw
Male, about thirty-one years old, an English pathologist in England in 1929, a middle-class professional man. He has a precise educated received pronunciation accent, a smooth mid-range baritone, slightly round and boyish in timbre from his small, chubby build. He speaks in measured, orderly sentences with a touch of pomposity, turning frigid and formal when annoyed. Solemn, methodical, earnest and gentle.
Albert Campion
Male, about twenty-seven years old, an English idler of good family in England in 1929, upper class. He has an affected upper-class drawl in light received pronunciation, a high, slightly nasal tenor edging into falsetto. He speaks vaguely and chattily with lazy, wandering pauses and an air of inane good humour. Amiable, fatuous on the surface, with a hint of hidden sharpness.
Martin Watt
Male, about twenty-five years old, an English clerkish young man about town in London in 1929, middle class. He has a casual educated London accent, a dry, slightly nasal mid-low baritone with a lean, beaky edge. He speaks slowly with a lazy drawl and breezy slang, voice ringing clear when roused. Sardonic, easygoing and quick-witted.
Meggie Oliphant
Female, about twenty-six years old, an English fashionable young woman in England in 1929, upper-middle class. She has a refined, modern received pronunciation accent, a low-to-mid, smooth contralto with a warm, slightly husky timbre. She speaks at an easy, unhurried pace, often dropping to a murmur. Intelligent, observant, dry and teasingly amused.
Michael Prenderby
Male, about twenty-six years old, an English newly qualified doctor in England in 1929, middle class. He has a light, brisk Home Counties accent, a slight, bright tenor, higher and quicker than the other young men. He speaks in rapid, casual bursts full of slang, lightly humorous, with flashes of indignation. Friendly, wry and a little worried underneath.
Wyatt Petrie
Male, about thirty-two years old, an English Oxford scholar and country host in England in 1929, upper class. He has a cultured Oxford received pronunciation accent, a smooth, low, well-modulated baritone with a relaxed timbre. He speaks slowly and evenly, choosing words with scholarly precision and an easy, slow laugh. Quiet, fastidious, amused and composed.
Mrs Meade
Female, about seventy-two years old, a Suffolk villager in rural England in 1929, a working-class churchwoman. She has a broad Suffolk rural accent, a loud, shrill, cracked soprano, thin and wavering with age. She speaks in rhetorical scriptural phrases, chanting and then dropping to a confidential monotone. Self-righteous, fiery, wary and grimly satisfied.
Dr Whitby
Male, about fifty-six years old, an English private physician in England in 1929, a middle-class professional. He has a mild, educated English accent, a thin, weak, reedy tenor that wavers. He speaks hesitantly with stilted, half-apologetic phrasing, starting and stopping nervously. Timid, harassed and anxious to please.
Benjamin Dawlish
Male, about fifty years old, a German gang leader posing as an English gentleman in England in 1929, a well-off man of business. He speaks with a heavy German accent over stilted, formal English with no contractions. His voice is a deep, dull, rasping bass from a heavy, ponderous frame. He speaks slowly and flatly, one weighty phrase at a time. Stolid, cold and expressionless.
Chris Kennedy
Male, about twenty-four years old, an English Cambridge sportsman in England in 1929, upper-middle class. He has a hearty public-school accent, a deep, booming bass-baritone from a big, broad-chested athletic frame. He speaks briskly and bluntly in slangy phrases, with an occasional sneering edge. Cheerful, hearty and easily excited.
Jesse Gideon
Male, about sixty-two years old, a smooth associate of a business ring in England in 1929, a well-dressed professional man. He has a soft, over-refined English accent with a faint continental flavour, a gentle, oily, breathy mid-range voice with little volume. He speaks softly and smoothly, unhurried and ingratiating. Suave, obsequious and fluttering.
Anne Edgeware
Female, about twenty-eight years old, an English actress and society woman in London in 1929, upper-middle class. She has a bright, stage-trained clipped received pronunciation accent, a higher, ringing mezzo-soprano with a lively timbre. She speaks fast and eagerly, with a blasé, outrageous flourish. Vivacious, sophisticated and amused.
Haywhistle
Male, about forty-five years old, an Englishman living in the English countryside in 1929, a working-class garage man. He speaks with a broad rough Cockney-tinged accent, dropping his h's. Very tall and heavy-framed, with a low, gravelly baritone that can drop softly. He speaks in short, blunt bursts, tacking on 'see', and sounds indignant, anxious and non-committal.
Inspector Pillow
Male, about fifty-five years old, an English county police detective-inspector in 1929, a respectable lower-middle-class official. He speaks with a soft county English accent, dropping his h's. Large build, with a warm, smooth, mid-range baritone. He speaks briskly and politely, adding 'sir' often, with a touch of self-important emphasis, kindly, deferential and businesslike.
Guffy Randall
Male, about twenty-seven years old, an Englishman living in England in 1928, a well-off upper-class sporting gentleman who rides to hounds. He speaks in a light upper-class received pronunciation with casual slang. His voice is a bright, easy tenor, a little nasal from a broken nose. He speaks quickly and cheerfully, with a pleasant, engaging tone and an amiable, quick-to-act demeanor.
Colonel Coombe
Male, about seventy-eight years old, an Englishman living in an old country house in England in 1928, a wealthy retired army colonel and invalid. He speaks in an old-fashioned upper-class received pronunciation. His voice is a thin, dry, slightly quavering tenor from frailty. He speaks slowly and courteously with formal phrasing, with a benign, gentle tone and a smiling, mild demeanor.
Jeanne Dacre
Female, about twenty-three years old, an Englishwoman living in England in 1928, a middle-class young woman engaged to be married. She speaks with a soft, refined middle-class English accent. Her voice is a light, thin, slightly breathy soprano from a slight build. She speaks hesitantly in quiet, quick phrases, with a shy, timid and easily worried demeanor.
Wendon
Male, about thirty-five years old, a Londoner in England in 1928, a rough working man employed as a hired hand. He speaks in a Cockney accent, dropping his h's and saying 'mate' and 'Guvnor'. His voice is a low, hard, curt baritone with a hoarse edge. He speaks in short gruff phrases, flat and clipped, with a cold, wary and hard demeanor.

Chapters

29 chapter markers; each link opens the video on YouTube at that point.

Series

Book 1 of 21 in Albert Campion. 1 released so far.

About this recording

Narrator: Hugh Ellery, our house narrator voice
Runtime: 6h 46m (complete and unabridged)
Voices: 24
Channel: Full Cast Audiobooks on YouTube
Released: 11 October 2026
Updated: 11 October 2026
Author: Margery Allingham
First published: 1929
Kind: crime novel
Source edition: Project Gutenberg eBook #75359
Public domain (US): The Crime at Black Dudley by Margery Allingham is in the public domain in the United States; text from Project Gutenberg.