The Beetle

A story about a mysterious oriental figure who pursues a British politician to London, where he wreaks havoc with his powers of hypnosis and shape-shifting, Marsh's novel is of a piece with other sensational turn-of-the-century fictions such as Stoker's Dracula, George du Maurier's Trilby, and Sax Rohmer's Fu Manchu novels. Like Dracula and many of the sensation novels pioneered by Wilkie Collins and others in the 1860s, The Beetle is narrated from the perspectives of multiple characters, a technique used in many late nineteenth-century novels (those of Wilkie Collins and Stoker, for example) to create suspense.

Richard Marsh was the pseudonym of the British author born Richard Bernard Heldmann. (Summary by Wikipedia) (11 hr 55 min)

Chapters

01 - Outside	14:20	Read by icyjumbo (1964-2010)
02 - Inside	17:25	Read by icyjumbo (1964-2010)
03 - The Man in the Bed	12:40	Read by icyjumbo (1964-2010)
04 - A Lonely Vigil	14:26	Read by icyjumbo (1964-2010)
05 - An Instruction to Commit Murder	22:36	Read by icyjumbo (1964-2010)
06 - A Singular Felony	19:28	Read by icyjumbo (1964-2010)
07 - The Great Paul Lessingham	19:22	Read by icyjumbo (1964-2010)
08 - The Man in the Street	5:11	Read by icyjumbo (1964-2010)
09 - The Contents of the Packet	12:03	Read by icyjumbo (1964-2010)
10 - Rejected	12:39	Read by Alan Winterrowd
11 - A Midnight Episode	14:06	Read by Alan Winterrowd
12 - A Morning Visitor	11:36	Read by Alan Winterrowd
13 - The Picture	25:22	Read by Alan Winterrowd
14 - The Duchess' Ball	18:40	Read by Alan Winterrowd
15 - Mr Lessingham Speaks	15:09	Read by Alan Winterrowd
16 - Atherton's Magic Vapour	18:49	Read by Alan Winterrowd
17 - Magic?--Or Miracle?	5:23	Read by Alan Winterrowd
18 - The Apotheosis of the Beetle	34:33	Read by Alan Winterrowd
19 - The Lady Rages	10:25	Read by Alan Winterrowd
20 - A Heavy Father	10:34	Read by Alan Winterrowd
21 - The Terror in the Night	26:24	Read by Alan Winterrowd
22 - The Haunted Man	27:58	Read by Alan Winterrowd
23 - The Way He Told Her	14:40	Read by Ruth Golding
24 - A Woman's View	9:30	Read by Ruth Golding
25 - The Man in the Street	11:17	Read by Ruth Golding
26 - A Father's No	9:16	Read by Ruth Golding
27 - The Terror by Night	18:03	Read by Ruth Golding
28 - The Strange Story of the Man in the Street	27:43	Read by Ruth Golding
29 - The House on the Road From the Workhouse	30:15	Read by Ruth Golding
30 - The Singular Behavior of Mr Holt	6:03	Read by Ruth Golding
31 - The Terror by Day	12:25	Read by Ruth Golding
32 - A New Client	6:23	Read by Anthony Wilson
33 - What Came From Looking Through a Lattice	21:18	Read by Anthony Wilson
34 - After Twenty Years	16:29	Read by Anthony Wilson
35 - A Bringer of Tidings	5:04	Read by Anthony Wilson
36 - What the Tidings Were	9:47	Read by Anthony Wilson
37 - What Was Hidden Under the Floor	12:52	Read by Anthony Wilson
38 - The Rest of the Find	9:03	Read by Anthony Wilson
39 - Miss Louisa Coleman	19:35	Read by Anthony Wilson
40 - What Miss Coleman Saw Through the Window	11:02	Read by Anthony Wilson
41 - The Constable,--His Clue,--And the Cab	14:57	Read by Anthony Wilson
42 - The Quarry Doubles	10:38	Read by Anthony Wilson
43 - The Murder at Mrs. 'Enderson's	22:22	Read by Anthony Wilson
44 - The Man Who Was Murdered	12:52	Read by Anthony Wilson
45 - All That Mrs. 'Enderson Knew	6:40	Read by Anthony Wilson
46 - The Sudden Stopping	15:24	Read by Anthony Wilson
47 - The Contents of the Third-Class Carriage	5:22	Read by Anthony Wilson
48 - The Conclusion of the Matter	7:45	Read by Anthony Wilson

Reviews

Complain to the author - that's how he wrote it

(0 stars)

librivoxbooks

Well, you could talk to the author about it, if he hadn't died in 1915, but that's how he wrote it e.g. "Oh it's a——fine world, this is!" We can't insert text that isn't there.

I object to censorship in the reading

(1 stars)

swoon

I object to censorship in the reading. the censored worded was covered by the LONG BEEB. that make me so sad to see it here (tears):(:(:(:(

If you like creepy, this is your book !

(5 stars)

Susan

I could only make it through a few chapters, not because it is a bad story, but because it is so well written that the creepiness is too much for me to handle. If you are more stout hearted than me, I’m sure you will enjoy this tale !

SLOW START, BUT INTEREST ACCELERATED

(5 stars)

AVID READER

Each reader seems to be perfect for his role. If the first book seems slow and almost pointless, hang in there. It gets much better.

You'd never know what a good book this is from this recording.

(0.5 stars)

Mich Seg

There is a terrific version of this on youtube

a strange adventure

(4 stars)

penthorpe

Changing readers as the different characters take up the story made this a fun listen. Well done.

The book is brilliant, the censorship ruins the reading