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A Woman Investigates É |
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This
OTR title came about mainly through wifey's new-found interest in OTR as a means of enriching one of life's
boring bits: driving to and from work! (Forever
lovely) Glenys had worked her
way through every episode of every Miss Marple, Poriot & Lord Peter
Wimsey mystery (all of which are
available separately from this (OTR) section of the website) and I was
struggling to find stuff to entertain her on her daily trips. But
along the way, she had indicated a liking for the V. I. Warshawski set É
now "VI" is a Chicago private investigator in a contemporary
setting and UK's BBC Radio did
an excellent job in dramatized 3 of her books (and voiced by Hollywood actors
Kathleen Turner & Sharon Gless).
"A
Woman Investigates" is the result
É its a collection of UK's fabulous female PIs and DIs solving crimes
in intriguing and interesting ways
thanks to the fabulous skills of the BBC Radio dramatists. No VIs here
though, as V. I. Warshawski is
available separately from this (OTR) section of the website. So
here it is, A Woman Investigates: DI
Julie Enfield Julie
Enfield Investigates was a series
of radio dramas broadcast between 1994 and 1999. Written by Nick Fisher and starring Imelda Staunton as DI Julie Enfield, there were five stories: Terminus (1994 - concerning a number of perplexing murders
occurring around a London train station - 5 x 30 minute parts), The
Smithfield Murders (1995 -
concerning grisly murders in London's meat market - 5 x 30 minute parts), The
Net And The Canal (1996 -
concerning a series of murders on the canals of London - 4 x 30 minute
parts), The Leaves Of The Dead
(1997 - concerning an inexplicable killing at the British Library - 4 x 30
minute parts) and Murder West One
(1999) which consisted of four self-contained 45 minute cases: A Cure for
Death, The Art of the Matter, The Five Star Killing & Soho Espresso. Trademarks running through all the stories are a
very dark, almost Gothic, sense of horror, and an unusual narrator (in the
case of Terminus, the railway
station in which the murders take place). Kate
Brannigan Val
McDermid who is perhaps best known
for that great BBC TV series Wire in the Blood, has written a series of books around Kate
Brannigan, the junior partner at
Manchester-based a private consultancy firm specializing in computer fraud
and security systems. Kate is spunky, hip and has got a mouth, and she knows
how to use it! In 1998 McDermid adapted Clean Break for BBC Radio 4 from the Kate Brannigan novel of the same name. In it, Kate is not amused
when thieves steal a Monet from a stately home where she had arranged the
security. She sets off on a chase that takes her across Europe, eventually
bringing her head to head with organised crime. Clean Break features Charlotte
Coleman as Kate and Kathryn Hunt as Alexis Lee, a crime reporter on the Manchester Evening Chronicle who at times seems Kate's only friend. Although
neatly tied up at the end, McDermid used the second half of her Clean
Break novel to structure a another
Kate Brannigan radio adventure in 1999's The Right Chemistry. This time Kate thinks she's investigating a simple
case of industrial sabotage. But nothing here is quite what it seems and soon
blackmail and a counterfeit scam seem the likely crimes. Jane Hazelgrove plays Kate with Kathryn Hunt reprising her roles as Alexis. Both programs each
consisted of two 30 minute parts and were directed by Melanie Harris DS
Sue Manson (not quite a DI - she's only a Detective Sergeant!) Irish
writer Bill Murphy made his
radio drama debut with the highly successful BBC Woman's Hour thriller 'Fractions
of Zero'. An exciting detective
story about the hunt for a serial killer obsessed with numbers, its hero is DS
Sue Manson, grounded behind a desk
at the MetŐs Missing PersonŐs Bureau after accidentally shooting a man in an undercover operation.
However, she soon uncovers a potential serial killer who is mocking the
police around Britain by sending them cryptograms on the back of missing
personŐs photos. Murphy turned this intriguing thriller into a novel (of the
same name) before penning two further Sue Manson radio entries: The Final Sacrament (concerning Sue's hunt for a killer fixated with
religious Renaissance art) and Fragments of Amy (in which Sue has to find a missing heiress whose
abductor appears to have an obsession with twins). All
three programs consisted of 5 x 15 minute parts. Cordelia
Gray P.D.
James should get the credit for
creating the modern female P. I. with Cordelia Gray. Cordelia inherits a detective agency when her
mentor, Bernie Pryde, commits
suicide. Instead of selling it off, for a quick profit, she decides to keep
it going, despite it being "an unsuitable job for a woman," the
title of P.D. James 1972 novel. An Unsuitable Job for a Woman was dramatized for radio in 1991 and starred Judy
Barker as Gray in a story which
begins with handsome Cambridge dropout Mark Callender found hanging by the
neck with a faint trace of lipstick on his mouth. When the official verdict
is suicide, Mark's wealthy father hires fledgling private investigator Cordelia
Gray to find out what led Mark to
self-destruction. Using the lessons that Bernie taught her, Cordelia
discovers a twisting trail of secrets and sins, and the strong scent of
murder. Consists
of 4 x 30 minute parts. Although
not in line with the chronologically of the books, the actual first radio
dramatization of James' famous PI was 1990's The Skull Beneath the Skin. It came from her 1982 novel of the same name and
starred film actress Greta Scacchi
as Cordelia who this time is hired to guard actress Clarissa Lisle during the
days leading up to her performance in The Duchess of Malfi. Always
preoccupied with death, Clarissa had recently received threatening notes,
leaving her hysterical on the eve of her performance. When, despite precautions,
there is, in fact, a murder, Cordelia is presented with a typical
"closed room" situation: the killer obviously one of a dozen or so
people staying at a castle. Consists
of 6 x 30 minute parts. Both
programs were dramatized by Neville Teller. DCI
Jacqui Hartwell Stratford-upon-Avon
family liaison officer, DCI Jacqui Hartwell, solves cases by winning the
trust of those caught up in the nightmare of murder. Being closer to the
people involved enables Jacqui to investigate in a way her colleagues can't:
combining empathy and intuition with the keen observation of a clever
detective. Thus
far only one mystery has been produced: A Small Town Murder Consists
of 5 x 15 minute parts. Written
& dramatized by Scott Cherry DCI
Kate Duncan Reading
Between the Lines is the title of a
mystery which requires the skills of
DCI Kate Duncan to solve
it. When
a celebrated writer, RP Beckford-Jones, leaves clues in his final novel
implying that his recently deceased wife was murdered, DCI Kate Duncan is
forced to look more carefully at the incriminating text. Consists
of 5 x 15 minute parts. Written
& dramatized by Mark Lawson in
2009, Reading Between the Lines
is the only entry in this series - so far. Perhaps there will be more. Want
to check out the first episode of Julie Enfield's first case: Terminus"? This
episode can be freely downloaded to your computer - just right button click
on any link below and chose "Download Linked File" (or words to
that effect). The file is on an average about 24Mb - download time will
depend on your (broadband) speed AWIJET_1994-08-11
Episode No. 1.mp3 These
three MP3 Discs contain the all of the cases of UK's female fabulous
crime-solvers: A. Julie Enfield Terminus 1.
AWIJET_1994-08-11
Episode No. 1.mp3 2.
AWIJET_1994-08-18
Episode No. 2.mp3 3.
AWIJET_1994-08-25
Episode No. 3.mp3 4.
AWIJET_1994-09-01
Episode No. 4.mp3 5.
AWIJET_1994-09-08
Episode No. 5.mp3 The
Smithfield Murders 1.
AWIJESM_1995-11-02 Episode
No. 1.mp3 2.
AWIJESM_1995-11-09
Episode No. 2.mp3 3.
AWIJESM_1995-11-16
Episode No. 3.mp3 4.
AWIJESM_1995-11-23
Episode No. 4.mp3 5.
AWIJESM_1995-11-30
Episode No. 5.mp3 The
Net and the Canal 1.
AWIJENC_1996-05-16
Episode No. 1.mp3 2.
AWIJENC_1996-05-23
Episode No. 2.mp3 3.
AWIJENC_1996-05-30
Episode No. 3.mp3 4.
AWIJENC_1996-06-06
Episode No. 4.mp3 The
Leaves of the Dead 1.
AWIJELD_1997-08-07
Episode No. 1.mp3 2.
AWIJELD_1997-08-14
Episode No. 2.mp3 3.
AWIJELD_1997-08-21
Episode No. 3.mp3 4.
AWIJELD_1997-08-28
Episode No. 4.mp3 Murder
West One 1.
AWIJEMWO_1999-05-04 A
Cure for Death.mp3 2.
AWIJEMWO_1999-05-11
The Art of the Matter.mp3 3.
AWIJEMWO_1999-05-18
The Five Star Killing.mp3 4.
AWIJEMWO_1999-05-25
Soho Espresso.mp3 B. Kate Brannigan Clean
Break 1.
AWIKBCB_1998-09-26
Episode No. 1.mp3 2.
AWIKBCB_1998-09-26
Episode No. 2.mp3 The
Right Chemistry 1.
AWIKBRC_1999-11-20
Episode No. 1.mp3 2.
AWIKBRC_1999-11-20
Episode No. 2.mp3 C. Sue Manson Fractions
of Zero 1.
AWISMFZ_2002-08-05
Episode No. 1.mp3 2.
AWISMFZ_2002-08-06
Episode No. 2.mp3 3.
AWISMFZ_2002-08-07
Episode No. 3.mp3 4.
AWISMFZ_2002-08-08
Episode No. 4.mp3 5.
AWISMFZ_2002-08-09
Episode No. 5.mp3 The
Final Sacrament 1.
AWISMFS_2004-04-19
Episode No. 1.mp3 2.
AWISMFS_2004-04-20
Episode No. 2.mp3 3.
AWISMFS_2004-04-21
Episode No. 3.mp3 4.
AWISMFS_2004-04-22
Episode No. 4.mp3 5.
AWISMFS_2004-04-23
Episode No. 5.mp3 Fragments
of Amy 1.
AWISMFA_2006-10-23
Episode No. 1.mp3 2.
AWISMFA_2006-10-24
Episode No. 2.mp3 3.
AWISMFA_2006-10-25
Episode No. 3.mp3 4.
AWISMFA_2006-10-26
Episode No. 4.mp3 5.
AWISMFA_2006-10-27
Episode No. 5.mp3 D. Cordelia Gray An
Unsuitable Job for a Woman 1.
AWICGUJW_1991-05-25
Episode No. 1.mp3 2.
AWICGUJW_1991-05-25
Episode No. 2.mp3 3.
AWICGUJW_1991-05-25
Episode No. 3.mp3 4.
AWICGUJW_1991-05-25
Episode No. 4.mp3 The
Skull Beneath the Skull 1.
AWICGSBS_1990-10-20
Episode No. 1.mp3 2.
AWICGSBS_1990-10-20
Episode No. 2.mp3 3.
AWICGSBS_1990-10-20
Episode No. 3.mp3 4.
AWICGSBS_1990-10-21
Episode No. 4.mp3 5.
AWICGSBS_1990-10-21
Episode No. 5.mp3 6.
AWICGSBS_1990-10-21
Episode No. 6.mp3 E. Jacqui Hartwell A
Small Town Murder 1.
AWIJHSTM_2008-12-15
Episode No. 1.mp3 2.
AWIJHSTM_2008-12-16
Episode No. 2.mp3 3.
AWIJHSTM_2008-12-17
Episode No. 3.mp3 4.
AWIJHSTM_2008-12-18
Episode No. 4.mp3 5.
AWIJHSTM_2008-12-19
Episode No. 5.mp3 F. Kate Duncan Reading
Between the Lines 1.
AWIKDRBL_2009-02-09
Episode No. 1.mp3 2.
AWIKDRBL_2009-02-10
Episode No. 2.mp3 3.
AWIKDRBL_2009-02-11
Episode No. 3.mp3 4.
AWIKDRBL_2009-02-12
Episode No. 4.mp3 5.
AWIKDRBL_2009-02-13
Episode No. 5.mp3 |