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A Poisonous Plot
- The Twenty First Chronicle of Matthew Bartholomew
- Narrated by: David Thorpe
- Length: 13 hrs and 59 mins
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A Poisonous Plot
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Summary
In 1358, over a century after its foundation in Cambridge, the college of Michael House is facing a serious shortfall of funds and competition from upstarts rivals such as Zachary Hostel. Their problems are made no easier by the hostility of the town's inhabitants, who favour the university moving away to the Fens.
This simmering tension threatens to break into violence when a well-known tradesman is found dead in one of the colleges. Matthew Bartholomew knows he was poisoned but cannot identify the actual substance, never mind the killer. He also worries that other illnesses and deaths may have been caused by the effluent from his sister's dye works.
Torn between loyalties to his kin and to his college, he fears the truth may destroy both his personal and professional lives, but he knows he must use his skills as a physician to discover the truth before many more lose their lives entirely.
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What listeners say about A Poisonous Plot
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Anthony M. Padgett
- 24-09-17
A surfeit of voices?
Would you consider the audio edition of A Poisonous Plot to be better than the print version?
yes
What aspect of David Thorpe’s performance might you have changed?
His vocal characterisations
Did you have an emotional reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?
Laugh. If Ms. Gregory's history is correct, I wonder how the Middle Ages ever became the 'latter ages'.
Any additional comments?
Although I've listened to the whole series of Mathew Bartholomew I have in general, preferred the vocal characterisations of David Thorpe.However, after Andrew Wincott took over for two of the books, ( I was not over enamoured of his work), David seemed to lose his characterisations. Simrick in particular seemed to forget that he was Welsh and Agnes lost her rough edge. Even Michael was hard to recognise at times.In addition the Geography of Cambridge went awry at times. "The Angel" seemed to move itself from South of the "Brazen George" to East of the "Cardinal's Cap".. It can be quite disconcerting.However, I still enjoy the series. Thank you Ms. Gregory.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 15-10-24
Voices changing.
Don’t wish to be pedantic but this narrator did so well creating the characters voices in previous recordings. One would think the production team might have realised the changes.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
- Arcticangel.
- 03-07-15
Good read
Good read, as always from this author, but falls a little short of some of her other work. I was interested, but not rivetted.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Mrs Marion D Westlake
- 28-02-20
Great narration
A very good narrator and a joy to listen to. Good tale too a long tale I’d say but a good one.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Electrogirl
- 29-07-22
Enjoyable as ever
All the classic hallmarks of a Bartholomew book… puzzling poisonings, Cambridge on the brink of yet another riot between scholars and townsfolk and our hero and Michael trying to save the day by identifying the killers, protect his sister and avert seemingly certain doom… what’s not to love?
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Nicola
- 04-04-18
Great story
Back on form. Voices back to the previous books so no confusion about which character is speaking, and I loved the use of Dickon, the sheriffs son!
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7 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- shirley
- 05-10-15
excellent story.
Well written and read story. I have always loved the characters and they were really brought to life by the narrator
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3 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- CRL
- 07-08-19
Narration
David Thorpe is a narrator par excellence! Every book he reads he sounds as though he is thoroughly enjoying the read himself and that has a knock on effect for the listener. However that is not to diminish the fine quality of this series of books. Gregory is a story teller of quality and I love the historical facts and notes in the text.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 17-03-22
Great fun
This has proved to be one of my favourites in the series. The mix of historicity, absurdity, mystery and drama is a brought forth as wonderfully as Matthew Bartholomew's 'royal broth' by the narrator. His brilliant mix of voices, which he juggled seemlessly, really draws the listener into the drama, and I laughed out loud on more than one occasion. The narrator acts the story not just read it. Brilliantly done.
Many of the characters have become like friends you know well, a gang of eccentrics and misfits the Michael House gang maybe but their presence is vital to the mix and I always prefer the stories set in Cambridge itself. the appendix is always interesting as well as the author uses names who actually lived in Cambridge in the 14th century to base characters on.
love these stories.
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Sarah Fellows
- 21-05-17
Good story, awful narrator
I'm a big fan of Susanna Gregory. I've read (and listened to) all of her Thomas Chaloner books and read most of her Matthew Bartholomew series. I've read this book in print so I know the story's good, but I struggled to finish the audio book.
The narrator is terrible. He sounds like he's shouting at you despite speaking at normal volume. He reads like he's never read out loud before. It's strangely disjointed and almost impossible to get lost in the story.
It's such a shame, I would have loved to listen to all of the Matthew Bartholomew books, but I can't get passed the narrator.
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1 person found this helpful