The Spiral Staircase by Ethel Lina White

[Charybdis]

I've just finished listening to the audiobook version of "The lady vanishes", and that way any archaic slang etc. sped by without my noticing. The narrator had a lovely English voice, which suited the book very much. The "heroine", Iris, is totally British and, unfortunately, totally obnoxious. So much so that I began to hate the narrator's voice. I wonder why authors won't make an effort to create likeable main characters. Then again, perhaps she wanted to let us see real people, who never are completely nice. Indeed, I think she wished to portray how the British people behave in certain circumstances, which could have been quite humorous if Ms. White had been thus talented. Iris' being selfish and rude may also have been necessary to the plot, so the other people were more inclined to disbelieve her when she professed her coach companion, Ms. Froy, was missing.
So I credit Ms. White for coming up with a nice little suspense story, but in my opinion the execution could have been done much better. Which is probably why people remember Hitchcock's adaptation and do not even know who Ethel Lina White is.