Chains of Folly cover art

Chains of Folly

A Magdalene la Batarde Mystery, Book 4

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Chains of Folly

By: Roberta Gellis
Narrated by: Susan Duerden
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About this listen

That Nelda Roundheels had been murdered would have been of little interest to anyone - except that her body turned up in the bishop of Winchester's bedchamber with a letter to the bishop, from the king's most important enemy, rolled up in her breastband. The bishop and his knight, Sir Bellamy of Itchen, realize immediately that the purpose of putting the body in Winchester's bedchamber is to embarrass and discredit the bishop. And the reason for this attack on Winchester is his calling of a convocation to chastise the king for acting high-handedly against the bishop of Salisbury. Had the king himself ordered this outrage? Had the king's favorite, Waleran de Meulan, ordered it? Unfortunately the answer is not so simple to find; there are many other noblemen who want the king's favor and might attack Winchester to get it.

To save Winchester's reputation it is urgently necessary to discover who killed the woman and who placed her in Winchester's bedchamber. Bell, to his mingled joy and distress, is ordered to ask Magdalene la Batarde, whoremistress of the Old Priory Guesthouse, once his lover but now estranged, to help him solve the mystery.

©2006 Roberta Gellis (P)2012 Audible, Inc. Historical Mystery Fiction

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All stars
Most relevant  
enjoyed every book in the series and hope there will be many more to follow 😄

recommended

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Terrible reading! Awful breathy sing songy style with poor intonation gives for an irritating and boring delivery. Sorry to have to say this but it all but ruined the content. This author deserved a better reader.

See below. Great story but I had to give up.

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The story was ok, set back in London with the familiar characters, but the narrator was terrible. The text sounded very robotic, the female characters like whiny children, and the men just shouty. The final showdown was very hard to listen to because of the way it was narrated

Endured the narration for the story

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This was to be my third book in the series, and i could not finish it as the Narrator was terrible . Totally spoiled this book , so annoyed.

Terrible Narrative, Spoils this Book

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got through this book on two days, brilliant as are the other books.makes doing boring jobs in the garden a breeze.

conpusive reading

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The new narrator sounds like a child, or somebody trying to appear the cliché dumb blonde. There's more politics- good- that at least has to follow facts to some extent!
The plot line however is more implausible and previous howlers continue (there was no slavery in England in this period, at least of Christians, thanks to St Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury who had no fear of Henry I, father of Empress Matilda and uncle of the Stephen who play an important background rôle in these tales. Villeins, apprentices, "serfs", but not slaves. I have no bias in pointing this out, as a Scot!)
I'm very sceptical about the sub-plot of opium addiction in 12th century London. The powerful analgesic properties of poppy derivatives were known in antiquity and that knowledge was conserved and developed by the great Arab physicians, whose works, rather later, rejuvenated medical practice.
I'm OK with Cadfael - who went to the Crusades - using poppy juice cautiously for therapeutic reasons - but doubtful that a random apothecary would know all about it (no medical journals, no printing, and European stuff in Latin, the lingua franca of all European scholarship, Arab stuff in Arabic, another writing system).
Mea culpa, I've listened to a third of these books, in spite of my revulsion at the premise of this brothel of utterly beautiful whores, who bath to 21st century standards, never get pregnant or seek out hazardous termination of pregnancy, don't catch STDs - not even pubic lice! - menstruate, lose their teeth, get wrinkled - even though the madam must be into her 30s, old by 12th standards.
Maybe she does feel that, in the short term, she's independent.
For women with a dowry there was at least one career path - the convent - where strong intelligent women could be educated and fulfilled, make a permanent contribution to human culture as individuals; probably the only way except for Queens.

Fantasy history - shoddy

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These stories are nice, light tales and are easy to listen to. Unfortunately the narration on this one is appalling and really spoiled it.

Good story but terrible narration

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previously loved Nadia May narrate. Duerden proved frustrating, over emphasising and nearly gave up.

great story annoying narration

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Liked period of history. Magdalene and her ladies. Very good listening. Male hero meshed nicely with Magdalene.

Characters

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I had to stop listening from time to time because the narrator’s voice grated on my nerves. Most of the female characters were reduced to squeaking whining creatures! Very disappointing.

Good story ruined by the narration

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