Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    No. 17
    No. 17
    No. 17
    Audiobook6 hours

    No. 17

    Written by J. Jefferson Farjeon

    Narrated by David John

    3/5

    ()

    Switch to ebook

    About this audiobook

    The first book featuring Ben, the lovable, humorous ex-sailor and down-at-heels rascal who can’t help running into trouble.

    Ben is back home from the Merchant Navy, penniless as usual and looking for digs in fog-bound London. Taking shelter in an abandoned old house, he stumbles across a dead body – and scarpers. Running into a detective, Gilbert Fordyce, the reluctant Ben is persuaded to return to the house and investigate the mystery of the corpse – which promptly disappears! The vacant No.17 is the rendezvous for a gang of villains, and the cowardly Ben finds himself in the thick of thieves with no way of escape.

    Ben’s first adventure, No.17, began life in the 1920s as an internationally successful stage play and was immortalised on film by the legendary Alfred Hitchcock. Its author, J. Jefferson Farjeon, wrote more than 60 crime thrillers, eight featuring Ben the tramp, his most popular character.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateAug 11, 2016
    ISBN9780008155902

    More audiobooks from J. Jefferson Farjeon

    Related to No. 17

    Related audiobooks

    Mystery For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      The Book That Changed Everything

      Jul 21, 2021

      Nancy Mitford may have been one of the Bright Young Things of the 1920s, but, by 1945, she was working at Heywood Hill's bookshop, 10, Curzon Street, Mayfair, London W1 (right, now marked by a blue plaque). Divorced from Peter Rodd (Linda's first hus

      1 min read

    • Article

      A Century Of Christie

      May 13, 2020

      1920 The Mysterious Affair at Styles is published, introducing Hercule Poirot 1922 Christie takes part in the British Empire Exhibition tour with her first husband, Archie Christie, visiting South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Hawaii, w

      1 min read

    • Article

      Who Can You TRUST?

      Mar 31, 2021

      Who Can You TRUST?
      5 min read

    • Article

      Once BITTEN

      Jun 28, 2022

      Once BITTEN
      14 min read

    • Article

      Coffee Ghosts

      Jan 6, 2022

      Coffee Ghosts
      7 min read

    • Article

      Fanning the FLAMES

      Jan 18, 2022

      Fanning the FLAMES
      6 min read

    • Article

      If the SHOE FITS

      Nov 16, 2021

      If the SHOE FITS
      6 min read

    • Article

      An Afternoon In Her Shoes

      Jul 26, 2022

      An Afternoon In Her Shoes
      6 min read

    • Article

      Isabel’s

      Jan 19, 2022

      Isabel’s
      3 min read

    • Article

      The Waiting Room

      May 10, 2023

      Overhead the lights hummed. They were bright and fluorescent, and they reflected off the clean white walls of the waiting room to produce the unsettling effect of being folded away inside a sheet of paper. Cross-legged on the floor by the door, the b

      9 min read

    • Article

      The Invisible WOMAN

      Dec 23, 2020

      The Invisible WOMAN
      6 min read

    • Article

      The Italian INFLUENCE

      Jan 19, 2022

      The Italian INFLUENCE
      9 min read

    • Article

      Lol

      Feb 23, 2022

      Lol
      3 min read

    • Article

      Caught In The Cubicle

      Jan 26, 2023

      Caught In The Cubicle
      4 min read

    • Article

      The Waiting Room

      Jan 10, 2021

      Overhead the lights hummed. They were bright and fluorescent, and they reflected off the clean white walls of the waiting room to produce the unsettling effect of being folded away inside a sheet of paper. Cross-legged on the floor by the door, the b

      9 min read

    • Article

      A friend INDEED

      Jun 8, 2022

      A friend INDEED
      6 min read

    • Article

      The Talent CONTEST

      Dec 30, 2020

      The Talent CONTEST
      6 min read

    • Article

      Break for FREEDOM

      Jan 12, 2021

      Break for FREEDOM
      6 min read

    • Article

      Dancing In The MOONLIGHT

      Jun 14, 2022

      Dancing In The MOONLIGHT
      6 min read

    • Article

      Second CHANCES

      Aug 24, 2022

      Second CHANCES
      6 min read

    • Article

      Hidden SECRETS

      Sep 15, 2021

      Hidden SECRETS
      9 min read

    • Article

      Righteous

      Jan 22, 2019

      Righteous
      8 min read

    • Article

      His Lordship’s LAST GAME

      Jan 10, 2024

      His Lordship’s LAST GAME
      9 min read

    • Article

      A summer WEDDING

      Aug 2, 2023

      A summer WEDDING
      6 min read

    • Article

      The Way Things TURN OUT

      Jun 3, 2020

      The Way Things TURN OUT
      7 min read

    • Article

      A balancing ACT

      Nov 23, 2021

      A balancing ACT
      6 min read

    • Article

      Proverbs Of A Faceless Time

      Dec 1, 2023

      Proverbs Of A Faceless Time
      9 min read

    • Article

      The perfect HUSBAND

      Mar 1, 2022

      The perfect HUSBAND
      4 min read

    • Article

      Just The Way YOU ARE

      Feb 7, 2023

      Just The Way YOU ARE
      9 min read

    • Article

      That takes THE BISCUIT!

      Jan 6, 2021

      I can explain everything,’ said Mr Dear hastily. There are two ways in which a husband of long-standing can say these words. The first is with a long sigh as – yet again – he goes over the rudiments of the offside rule, the finer points of leg befor

      3 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for No. 17

    3/5

    14 ratings3 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 2/5
      It wasn't awful, but it isn't great and it hasn't aged well. I wasn't a fan of the lead character Ben, either as a mystery lead or as a character in general: he is to men of the road what Dick van Dyke's Bert is to chimney sweeps. The mystery itself isn't very strong either, although the denouement is better that some of the earlier parts. I've enjoyed several of Farjeon's other novels, and I'll read more of them, but I won't be revisiting the Ben the Tramp series.
    • 1/5
      Once more the inmates of the room missed something through lacking eyes in the backs of their heads. The passage door slowly and softly opened, and a figure crouched in the aperture. A big, broad-shouldered figure, with one shoulder higher than the other.‘Now, then, don’t pretend you don’t know anything about these diamonds,’ rasped Brant. ‘The telegram mentioned them—’‘Oh, what’s the use?’ muttered Henry.Oh, what's the use indeed. This one was pretty bad, but it was made even worse by knowing that Farjeon was actually a terrific writer as evidenced by his other books Mystery in White and Thirteen Guests. This book, however, ... If the convoluted plot about a jewel robbery hadn't been enough to make my eyes roll, then the really insipid conversations between the characters which seemed to consist mostly of catch-phrases and idioms but no clearly articulated trains of thought, would have been enough to make me reach for the wine. And of course, we also have the main character, Ben the Tramp, the former merchant seaman, to whom I just couldn't warm up to. There is nothing I could see that makes him out as rounded character - he seems to remain a caricature throughout the book.This is one 1930s mystery series that I am going to give a miss.
    • 2/5
      It wasn't awful, but it isn't great and it hasn't aged well. I wasn't a fan of the lead character Ben, either as a mystery lead or as a character in general: he is to men of the road what Dick van Dyke's Bert is to chimney sweeps. The mystery itself isn't very strong either, although the denouement is better that some of the earlier parts. I've enjoyed several of Farjeon's other novels, and I'll read more of them, but I won't be revisiting the Ben the Tramp series.