This is the best audio book I’ve ever listened to. By far! I loved it. Absolutely loved it. So be warned. There might be gushing ahead.
But first – a bit of back story. If you follow Doctor Who, you know this novel is connected to the season 7’s episode 5 The Angels Take Manhattan. In this episode, the Doctor reads a mystery novel about a detective called Melody Malone and it turns out the novel is very important in helping the Doctor figure out what’s happening. The weeping angels causes Rory to be sent back in time where he meets River Song – and of course she is the writer of the mystery novel and uses the pen name Melody Malone. This of course also explains why the Doctor is so attracted to the female lead in the novel … It being River Song and all.
This novel is a prequel to the novel featured in The Angels Take Manhattan and it features Melody Malone, of course. Melody owns the Angel Detective Agency and she is hired by a famous actor who suspects someone is trying to kill him. He invites her to a party but when she shows up, he doesn’t remember her. And as Melody correctly points out, she is not easily forgettable. So how come he doesn’t remember her? And why is he talking about an angel’s kiss?
The story is rather simple and it takes less than two hours to listen to. But this story is written by Justin Richards and read by Alex Kingston. And this combination is magic. Justin Richards nails River Song/Melody Malone perfectly and has written the most amazing lines for Alex Kingston to read. There’s a smart ass remark or joke in so many of the lines and it kept me smiling or even laughing for most of it’s duration. I loved lines like this: ‘He looked at me with what might have been sympathy or possibly disappointment. I’m not sure which as I don’t go looking for sympathy and I rarely disappoint.’ or ‘The secret is not just to be stunning which I find comes rather easily to be honest. The tricky thing is getting exactly the right level of stun for the occasion.’ Delivered perfectly by Kingston.
Alex Kingston’s reading of the lines are absolutely amazing. She is just as good as she is in the tv show and that is saying something. She comes across as sexy and sassy and as a big flirt. But a smart flirt. And a woman who knows her own assets and are not afraid to flaunt them. She knows her worth.
I wold still love to read the actual novel featured in the episode and read about Rory and Amy and River’s reactions to what happens to them so I hope this will be published at some point (although I doubt it). But in the mean time, I adored listening to Alex Kingston reading this one.
- Title: The Angel’s Kiss: A Melody Malone Mystery
- Author: By Melody Malone with Justin Richards
- Publisher: BBC Books
- Year: 2012
- Pages: 80 pages
- Length: 1 hrs 42 min
- Narrated by: Alex Kingston
- Source: Own Collection (Audible)
- Stars: 5 stars out of 5
Related posts:
The Literary Bunny 
I’m going to listen to this right away! I didn’t even know it existed…
Go listen! I thought it was really good. I love River as a character!