Latest outing for sleuthing Brighton crime reporter

The paperback and e-book are available from Amazon.

Peter said: “When I knew that my Crampton of the Chronicle mysteries were going to be turned into audiobooks, my first question was: who will the narrator be?

“I guess that must be the first question any author would ask.

“But I thought it was especially important because the books are narrated in the first person by the central character – Colin Crampton, a 28-year-old crime reporter on a Brighton newspaper in the 1960s.

“It was tough finding just the right actor to voice the books.

“Would you believe we started with a database of more than 50,000 possible actors?

“But we whittled that down to a short list of 19 and we listened to samples of each of them reading other books.

“Our first choice was Matt Jamie, an actor who has an incredible talent for voicing different characters. Matt has just recorded the fifth audiobook in the series.”

Matt said: “As Colin is working for a newspaper – and also something of a sleuth – I played on the idea of his vocal style being slightly sensationalised. Sometimes it has a hint of a 1960s detective film voice-over about it.”

Matt revealed some of the tricks of the trade that actors use on audiobooks. “There are a few simple techniques with how close or far I am to the microphone which can affect the listeners’ relationship with the character.

“I move in close for more intimate moments – whether they’re romantic or threatening – and further away for a sense of space.

“One of the main challenges with the Crampton books was keeping the pace up throughout.

“They really have to rattle along.

“So it’s important to stay focussed.”

In the first three books Matt recorded, he created 68 different characters voices.

“Deciding on a voice for each character can be a challenge,” he said.

“There will often be clues in the text about what they sound like, even if it’s just a description of what they look like.

“For example, the news editor Frank Figgis is described as ‘a small man with a wizened face and hard little eyes which constantly darted about. His sixty-a-day habit meant he leaked smoke like a Puffing Billy.’

“Occasionally, I might decide to change a character’s voice once the recording is complete.

“I’ll do that if a couple of characters end up sounding similar. Or if I suddenly find out where the character comes from.

“There was one American character who began with a New York accent, and then a few pages on he mentioned he was from Louisiana, so I had to re-record him.”

Matt added: “Remembering which voice belongs to which character can be quite a challenge. It’s harder for some of the minor characters.

“For example, some of the characters who work for the newspaper might only have said one or two lines several chapters – or even several books – ago.

“Quite often I have to look back through the text to see if someone had appeared before and then search through the audio files to find out what voice I’d given them.”

Matt said he had most fun creating the voice of the new editor character in the books. “But it was an occasionally painful voice to create.

“The news editor’s wheezing sixty-a-day habit was amusing to try to capture, and his weary put-upon attitude was a joy to work with – even if he wouldn’t have been a joy to work with!”

The Mother’s Day Mystery audiobook is available from Audible, Amazon and iTunes. The paperback and e-book are available from Amazon.

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