The Law and the Lady
par Wilkie Collins
Lu par Wiebke Müller
Valeria Brinton marries Eustace Woodville despite objections from Woodville's family leading to disquiet for Valeria's own family and friends.
Just a few days after the wedding, various incidents lead Valeria to suspect her husband is hiding a dark secret in his past and she discovers that he has been using a false name. He refuses to discuss it leading them to curtail their honeymoon and return to London where Valeria learns that he was on trial for his first wife's murder by arsenic. He was tried in a Scottish court and the verdict was 'Not Proven' rather than 'not guilty' implying his guilt but without enough proof for a jury to convict him.
Valeria sets out to save their happiness by proving her husband innocent of the crime. In her quest, she comes across the disabled character Miserrimus Dexter, a fascinating but mentally unstable genius, and his devoted female cousin, Ariel. Dexter will prove crucial to uncovering the disturbing truth behind the mysterious death. (Introduction by Wikipedia)
Chapitres
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| The Bride's Mistake | 11:55 | Lu par Wiebke Müller | |
| The Bride's Thoughts | 17:08 | Lu par Wiebke Müller | |
| Ramsgate Sands | 14:24 | Lu par Wiebke Müller | |
| On the Way Home | 13:50 | Lu par Wiebke Müller | |
| The Landlady's Discovery | 8:54 | Lu par Wiebke Müller | |
| My Own Discovery | 13:55 | Lu par Wiebke Müller | |
| On the Way to the Major | 16:07 | Lu par Wiebke Müller | |
| The Friend of the Women | 12:18 | Lu par Wiebke Müller | |
| The Defeat of the Major | 25:29 | Lu par Wiebke Müller | |
| The Search | 35:39 | Lu par Wiebke Müller | |
| The Return to Life | 15:34 | Lu par Wiebke Müller | |
| The Scotch Verdict | 13:11 | Lu par Wiebke Müller | |
| The Man's Decision | 9:50 | Lu par Wiebke Müller | |
| The Woman's Answer | 21:33 | Lu par Wiebke Müller | |
| The Story of the Trial. The Preliminaries | 5:04 | Lu par Wiebke Müller | |
| First Question - Did the Woman die Poisoned? | 29:40 | Lu par Wiebke Müller | |
| Second Question - Who poisoned Her? | 21:23 | Lu par Wiebke Müller | |
| Third Question - What was his Motive? | 29:04 | Lu par Wiebke Müller | |
| The Evidence for the Defense | 9:46 | Lu par Wiebke Müller | |
| The End of the Trial | 19:46 | Lu par Wiebke Müller | |
| I see my Way | 12:57 | Lu par Wiebke Müller | |
| The Major makes Difficulties | 12:03 | Lu par Wiebke Müller | |
| My Mother-in-Law surprises me | 12:08 | Lu par Wiebke Müller | |
| Miserrimus Dexter - first View | 13:58 | Lu par Wiebke Müller | |
| Miserrimus Dexter - second View | 24:14 | Lu par Wiebke Müller | |
| More of my Obstinacy | 11:59 | Lu par Wiebke Müller | |
| Mr. Dexter at Home | 20:16 | Lu par Wiebke Müller | |
| In the Dark | 12:03 | Lu par Wiebke Müller | |
| In the Light | 16:03 | Lu par Wiebke Müller | |
| The Indictment of Mrs. Beauly | 22:19 | Lu par Wiebke Müller | |
| The Defense of Mrs. Beauly | 14:44 | Lu par Wiebke Müller | |
| A Specimen of my Wisdom | 5:15 | Lu par Wiebke Müller | |
| A Specimen of my Folly | 24:49 | Lu par Wiebke Müller | |
| Gleninch | 12:22 | Lu par Wiebke Müller | |
| Mr. Playmore's Prophecy | 17:27 | Lu par Wiebke Müller | |
| Ariel | 11:02 | Lu par Wiebke Müller | |
| At the Bedside | 23:45 | Lu par Wiebke Müller | |
| On the Journey back | 4:50 | Lu par Wiebke Müller | |
| On the Way to Dexter | 12:23 | Lu par Wiebke Müller | |
| Nemesis at last | 50:44 | Lu par Wiebke Müller | |
| Mr. Playmore in a new Character | 18:16 | Lu par Wiebke Müller | |
| More Surprises | 12:43 | Lu par Wiebke Müller | |
| At last! | 7:23 | Lu par Wiebke Müller | |
| Our new Honeymoon | 11:48 | Lu par Wiebke Müller | |
| The Dust-Heap disturbed | 14:37 | Lu par Wiebke Müller | |
| The Crisis deferred | 8:35 | Lu par Wiebke Müller | |
| The Wife's Confession | 16:43 | Lu par Wiebke Müller | |
| What else could I do? | 8:10 | Lu par Wiebke Müller | |
| Past and Future | 14:09 | Lu par Wiebke Müller | |
| The last of the Story | 13:12 | Lu par Wiebke Müller |
Critiques
Refreshing
Relly
Nice work by Wilkie Collins. The reader was fantastic throughout the book and made all (yes all) the characters feel real! Absolutely stunning performance when she read Eustace's first wife's letter. The reader's voice made me feel the despair of Sarah as if it was happening to me or someone dear to me, for i didn't like her at all until that. Eustace is my bias followed by Valeria. Dexter! Ah! What a character! He will make you feel a variety of emotions just like himself (yes! he's a chameleon). For me, it's all about extreme. When I liked him, I liked him extremely. When I hated him in end, i hated him extremely. He is a very underrated character in literature (He should be more famous than Mr.Darcy or Mr.Grey). Major Fitzdavid was a hilarious (maybe charming) character! Mr.Benjamin and Ariel reminded me of Mr.Watson (Sherlock Holmes). I neither liked nor disliked Mr.Playmore and Mrs.Macallan. All in all no one is really evil. Maybe Mr.Dexter is. Maybe he is not (poor Eustace). Go figure.
and the moral of the story is......
benefitsingers
You need to make better choices about who you fall in love with. That is really what this story is about, people who have made really bad decisions in their love interests and how it really screwed up their lives. The story is long but very well written. The character of Dexter was very vexing and he made me as impatient as he made Valeria. The narrator was fabulous and she really made Valeria real. Terrific story, highly recommended.
A good thriller!
Ana
excellently written, a long story yes but not drawn out or uselessly slow at any point. All of the characters were unique and the reader did an awesome job voicing each of hem in an artful and convincing manner. This is my first read of Wilkie Collins, looking forward to reading other titles. A special thank you Wiebke for an incredible reading!
long love story with mystery
jaded_grl
this book really goes in to test out a womans love for her husband. what would you do if your husband told you he was previously on trial for the murder of his first wife. an amazing mystery. i was led in so many different directions i. unraveling the mystery and i confess i had the correct answer at first and dismissed it as very improbable... but later as the killer is revealed and the circumstances unraveled - you realize why it makes since to be that person and i must say i am just held in awe by this writers patience to compose the story and not rush through in writing it. the reader mispronounced some words - repeatedly. but she really does a fantastic job with the reading! a must read for men and women!
Excellent book - good quality recording.
BreAnna Teschendorf
Wow! I love Wilkie Collins. The depth and texture of his colorful characters never ceases to amaze me. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to this book. This was one of the best quality libravox recordings I've listened to. Wiebke is an excellent reader. She absolutely transported me with her wonderful, dramatic execution of the story. She read characters that professional actor might struggle to perfect, with perfection... which made her frequent, mispronounced words all the more difficult to overlook. I was jarred out of perfect imagination of the scenes while I pondered briefly what was that word she just said or giggled... (chpt. 14 - indictment became "in-dick-ment" again and again). And let's not forget to take "cor-age" (French accent). :) Nevertheless, this was thoroughly enjoyable! Fantastic book, excellent recording quality and nearly perfect reader.
L Larimer
The reader reads the story with great expression and a sense of humor. Her accent, although noticeable, is light enough that everything is perfectly understandable. Fair warning: the cruelty of one of the character can be a bit disturbing at times, and in my opinion the beginning of the story leads you to believe the narrator will be rather powerless, but hold out. She gets more interesting as the story develops. The plot turns out to be complicated & enjoyable, and minor characters add humor to lighten the serious subject. Overall, I loved this mystery.
Bob Applegate
A very enjoyable “read.” Valeria is a wonderful character with an interesting cast supporting her in her quest to uncover the murderer is a 3- year old case. I commend this book to you. Additionally, the reader did a marvelous job. I often find it difficult, if not impossible, to understand readers with heavy accents. Not this time! She articulated each word clearly, not hurrying through the book and her British accent lent a degree of realism to the time and place of the story.
suspenseful story
Suzanne
Wilkie Collins’ story keeps you in suspense in this “who dunnit” and the reader does a great job reading BUT her numerous mispronunciations are annoying and distracting. When will foreign readers learn how to pronounce “yacht”? This one also doesn’t know when bow is pronounced as in bow and arrow or bow to the queen. Those are just two examples of the many mispronunciations that made for cringeworthy listening. Too bad really because her reading style is excellent.