Welcome to the latest in our series of audio adventures, Tales for Our Time. This month's yarn was published eighty-seven years ago, and is revived as the first of this season's Christmas capers: Mystery in White, by Jefferson Farjeon.
Some listeners enjoy our tales as a mug of nightly audio Ovaltine twenty minutes before they lower their lamp. Others leave it a few episodes to see if it's worth their commitment and then jump in for a big binge-listen. Either way, in tonight's installment, has the assumed murderer once again flown the coop?
The exclamation had come from Mr. Maltby. An icy draught had led him into the kitchen towards the back door, and a window by the back door was open. Somehow or other, Smith had scrambled out. That, at any rate, was the inference. The back door itself was blocked by a snowdrift.
David joined the old man. For a moment they stared out into the darkness flecked with whirling white. Mr. Maltby raised his hand to close the window.
"Good riddance!" muttered David.
"It's a pity he's got that knife," answered Mr. Maltby.
Members of The Mark Steyn Club can hear Part Ten of our tale simply by clicking here and logging-in. Earlier episodes can be found here.
Thank you for your interesting comments on our latest yarn. The cavalcade of once familiar Brit coinage slang a couple of nights back had the years falling away for North Wales Steyn Clubber Margaret Hughes:
Gosh, that took me back in time.
For the confused out there:
A bob was a slang reference for a shilling in pre-decimalisation UK (ie pre 15 February 1971).
Sixpence was half of a shilling, hence one shilling and sixpence for one tin of salmon, three shillings (three bob) for two tins.
To which Nicola Timmerman adds from Ontario:
Twenty shillings to a pound.
Ah, but how many to half-a-crown? Or tuppence three-farthing?
If you have friends who might appreciate Mystery in White, Northanger Abbey, Nineteen Eighty-Four or our other tales, we have a special Steyn Club Gift Membership that lets them in on that and on all the other fun in The Mark Steyn Club. It makes a great Christmas present.
If you've only joined the Steyn Club in recent days and missed our earlier serials (Conan Doyle's The Tragedy of the Korosko, Joseph Conrad's The Secret Agent, Baroness Orczy's The Scarlet Pimpernel, Anthony Hope's The Prisoner of Zenda, plus Kipling, Kafka, Dickens, Gogol, Louisa May Alcott, P G Wodehouse, G K Chesterton, Agatha Christie, H G Wells, Scott Fitzgerald and more), you can find them all on our easy-to-access Netflix-style Tales for Our Time home page. Indeed, it's so easy to access that we've introduced a similar format for our poetry and music outings.
The Mark Steyn Club is now in its eighth year, and, in an age when "platforms" cancel individuals and governments cancel platforms, helps keep all our regular content - whether in print, audio or video - out there in the world for everyone. In return, membership confers, aside from Tales for Our Time, a few other benefits:
~Exclusive Steyn Store member pricing on over 40 books, mugs, T-shirts, and other products;
~The opportunity to engage in live Clubland Q&A sessions with Mark, such as this coming Wednesday's;
~Transcript and audio versions of The Mark Steyn Show and our other video content;
~Mark's video series of classic poetry;
~Booking for special members-only events such as The Mark Steyn Christmas Show (if his woeful health permits);
~Advance booking for live appearances around the world, such as our next Mark Steyn Cruise;
~Customised email alerts for new content in your areas of interest;
~and the opportunity to support our print, audio and video ventures as they wing their way around the planet.
To become a member of The Mark Steyn Club, please click here - and please join Mark tomorrow for Part Eleven of Mystery in White.
