Yes, that's definitely true for Gordon Griffin with me; at least when it comes to Golden Age British mysteries -- haven't listened to any other sort of books narrated by him yet, I have to confess, but from what I've listened to so far, I have no doubt that he's just as good at narrating other material.
What I'd really have liked to be able to do, now more than ever, is play fly on the wall at one of the Detection Club gatherings. Martin Edwards includes a description of the initiation ritual as witnessed by Ngaio Marsh (as a rare guest to the proceedings) at the beginning of his book about the Detection Club, "The Golden Age of Murder", and says that Marsh dined out on stories about what she had witnessed for months after she'd returned to New Zealand ... I believe that sight unseen!
I've always wanted to be able to hang out at one of those clubs too. There's one in the US, meets in Philadelphia, but I can't remember what it's called at the moment. No matter - they all sound so exclusive and fabulously interesting!
Do you mean Mystery Writers of America (the folks who award the Dagger Awards) -- or the Liars Club? (MWA is based in New York, though). Or the Bouchercon? (But that's in a different city each year, to the best of my knowledge ...)
Anyway, yeah, the mere idea to be able to listen in to conversations between folks like Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, G.K. Chesterton, Anthony Berkeley, Baroness Orczy (all founder members of the Detection Club) -- or their American counterparts ... riveting. Then again, I'm pretty sure I'd have been completely tongue-tied if I'd ever actually met any of them in person. Sayers in particular must have been extremely formidable, based on her biographies and what I've read of her correspondence -- and if, say, Raymond Chandler's and Dashiell Hammett's writing is anything to go by, they wouldn't exactly have needed a sharpener for their tongues, either ...!
What I'd really have liked to be able to do, now more than ever, is play fly on the wall at one of the Detection Club gatherings. Martin Edwards includes a description of the initiation ritual as witnessed by Ngaio Marsh (as a rare guest to the proceedings) at the beginning of his book about the Detection Club, "The Golden Age of Murder", and says that Marsh dined out on stories about what she had witnessed for months after she'd returned to New Zealand ... I believe that sight unseen!
Anyway, yeah, the mere idea to be able to listen in to conversations between folks like Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, G.K. Chesterton, Anthony Berkeley, Baroness Orczy (all founder members of the Detection Club) -- or their American counterparts ... riveting. Then again, I'm pretty sure I'd have been completely tongue-tied if I'd ever actually met any of them in person. Sayers in particular must have been extremely formidable, based on her biographies and what I've read of her correspondence -- and if, say, Raymond Chandler's and Dashiell Hammett's writing is anything to go by, they wouldn't exactly have needed a sharpener for their tongues, either ...!