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The Layton Court Mystery full cast audiobook

by Anthony Berkeley · Roger Sheringham, Book 1

Released 13 October 2026 · Updated 13 October 2026 · 7h 14m · 17 voices

The story (no spoilers)

Roger Sheringham, a restless novelist and devoted amateur of crime, is spending a summer weekend at Layton Court, an English country house, when a sudden death shatters the peace. The morning begins in pure leisure. Roger strolls the rose beds in a disreputable Norfolk jacket, teasing the gloomy gardener and his friend Alec Grierson, whose recent engagement has turned him sleepless and sheepish. Then the household is thrown into shock, and the cheerful chatter gives way to urgent questions. The local police arrive in the person of Inspector Mansfield, the family and servants gather in uneasy groups, and the official account of what happened begins to look thin. Roger, who has always made a living from imagined puzzles, finds a real one lying in front of him. With Alec as his reluctant Watson, he sets out to test every statement, every locked door and every convenient explanation. The question is not only what happened at Layton Court, but whether a talkative writer can see it more clearly than the law.

The cast

13 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.

Roger Sheringham
Male, about thirty-three years old, an English writer and amateur sleuth in the English countryside in the 1920s, a well-off educated gentleman. Educated upper-middle-class received pronunciation. A bright, light tenor, wiry and energetic, with a hearty ring. Speaks fast and voluble, in tumbling bantering bursts, dropping low and grave when serious. Exuberant, teasing, curious and unperturbed.
Alec
Male, about twenty-seven years old, an English gentleman of independent means in the English countryside in the 1920s, comfortable middle-class. Easygoing southern English accent with public-school slang. A deep, warm, bluff baritone from a big, broad frame. Speaks at a steady, slower pace, in short gruff replies when exasperated. Good-humoured, blunt and easily harassed by his friend.
Major Jefferson
Male, about forty-eight years old, an English army major serving as private secretary at a country house in the 1920s, upper-middle-class. Clipped officer-class received pronunciation. A dry, flat, slightly rasping baritone from a tall, spare, sallow frame. Speaks slowly and curtly, in short, measured sentences with a touch of bitterness. Taciturn, methodical and impassive.
Mrs. Plant
Female, about twenty-six years old, an English lady, wife of a colonial civil servant, staying at a country house in 1920s England, upper-middle-class. Refined soft received pronunciation. A low, light, breathy mezzo with a graceful manner. Speaks in halting, jerky phrases with small nervous laughs, trying to sound easy. Polite, apologetic and anxious but self-possessed.
Inspector Mansfield
Male, about fifty years old, an English police inspector in a small market town in southern England in the 1920s, a respectable middle-class professional. He has a measured provincial southern English accent, polite and plain. His voice is a steady, medium-low, slightly dry baritone from a sturdy build. He speaks briskly and briefly with careful, clear phrasing, tolerant and interested in tone, methodical and calm, a little huffy when challenged.
Lady Stanworth
Female, about forty-five years old, an English titled widow and hostess of a country house in the 1920s, upper-class. Cool, cultivated upper-class received pronunciation. A low, smooth, even contralto, slender and poised. Speaks at a measured, unhurried pace in level tones, with a certain coldness. Self-possessed, reserved and composed, never fluttered.
Barbara Shannon
Female, about twenty-three years old, an English young lady of leisure at a country house in the 1920s, upper-middle-class. Bright, crisp received pronunciation. A clear, lively, medium-high soprano, fit and sporty. Speaks briskly and frankly, steadying to a low, level voice when serious. Lively, sharp-eyed, frank and fond of tennis.
William
Male, about fifty-eight years old, an English head gardener on a country estate in 1920s England, working-class. Broad rural southern English accent, dropping h's, with a slow burr. A low, gravelly, sombre baritone, weathered and heavy. Speaks very slowly and deliberately, with grunts and snorts between words. Melancholy, gloomy, cautious and disapproving.
Mrs. William
Female, about sixty-six years old, an English lodge-keeper's wife and gardener's wife on a country estate in 1920s England, working-class. Rural southern English accent, dropping her h's. A warm, slightly crackly mezzo, round and apple-cheeked. Speaks at a chatty, bustling pace, lowering her voice when confiding, with a polite sir. Cheerful, curious, humorous and deferential.
Doctor Matthewson
Male, about fifty-five years old, a Scottish-born country doctor practising in an English market town in the 1920s, middle-class professional. Educated Edinburgh Scottish accent. A crisp, light, dry tenor, lean and upright. Speaks briskly in brief clinical remarks, clipped and unemotional. Calm, thorough and professional.
Graves
Male, about sixty years old, an English butler in a country house in the 1920s, a respectable servant of the upper servant class. Polished, formal butler's English, softly refined. A deep, smooth, resonant bass-baritone, portly and stately. Speaks slowly and with careful courtesy, saying sir often. Deferential, composed and discreet.
Alice
Female, about seventeen years old, a housemaid who cleans the bedrooms in a country house in England in the 1920s, working-class and respectful. She speaks with a soft rural southern English accent. She speaks politely and briefly, soft and deferential, a touch nervous.
Mrs. Shannon
Female, about fifty-five years old, an English gentlewoman and guest at a country house in the 1920s, upper-middle-class. Affected, genteel received pronunciation. A thin, high, nasal soprano. Speaks in a drawn-out, plaintive way, with long-winded complaints. Peevish, fretful and self-pitying.

Chapters

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

Series

Book 1 in Roger Sheringham. 1 released so far.

About this recording

Narrator: Hugh Ellery, our house narrator voice
Runtime: 7h 14m (complete and unabridged)
Voices: 17
Channel: Full Cast Audiobooks on YouTube
Released: 13 October 2026
Updated: 13 October 2026
Author: Anthony Berkeley
Kind: novel
Source edition: Project Gutenberg eBook #72883
Public domain (US): The Layton Court Mystery by Anthony Berkeley is in the public domain in the United States; text from Project Gutenberg.