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  • Deadly Inheritance

  • Sir Geoffrey Mappestone, Book 6
  • By: Simon Beaufort
  • Narrated by: Matt Addis
  • Length: 11 hrs and 10 mins
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (209 ratings)
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Deadly Inheritance cover art

Deadly Inheritance

By: Simon Beaufort
Narrated by: Matt Addis
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Summary

Murder, intrigue and marriage in the Welsh Marches of old...

When Sir Geoffrey’s unpopular brother, Henry, is murdered, he unwillingly inherits Goodrich Castle in the Welsh Marches. Immediately, his sister pushes him towards a marriage that will provide an heir and stability for the family. But when Geoffrey survives attempts on his own life, he wonders whether they are linked to Henry’s death, to his potential brides, or even to the rumoured murder of the Duchess of Normandy, as a Welsh revolt against the English looms.

©2009 Simon Beaufort (P)2014 Audible Studios

What listeners say about Deadly Inheritance

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

naive and shallow

I've foundthis book difficult to listen to. The historical background is so superficial. The characters seems contemporary people dressed in the period outfit. Relations between people from different social backgrouds sound untrue. Everything is composed to fit the plot even if unprobable must happen.

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8 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Well read but very silly plot elements

First the good stuff, I think this is well read and I find the hero and his family interesting characters. I also like Hilde, one of his potential brides, and his bishop friend and find his weird squire quite darkly amusing.
On the downside there's a lot going on that doesn't make much sense. Firstly, the behaviour of the protagonists servants who think that the hero is a violent dangerous man, possibly even more violent than his brother before him who was their previous master and whom they were terrified of, it for a large proportion of the book they are constantly badmouthing him and being insubordinate. That just doesn't hold water.
The portrait of the mad for blood Welsh woman is frankly very Boudicca and her ability to sway and influence so many men is very hard to swallow. She's the daughter of a minor Welsh land owner and it's highly unlikely her bile would have has such an influence. A man with more power and equal bile is more likely to have been listenee to. Frankly at that time period her Da would have more likely have given her a cuff round the ear and told her to keep her mouth shut.
Even the best of masters in those days would not have stood for that kind of response in their servants and they were really very badly behaved. T
Also, the excuse given for his sister keeping on a servant who she knows is a thief, simply because he's good with horses, also doesn't hold water. It was the countryside a lot of people would have been good with livestock including horses. There would have been plenty of alternatives for her to choose from in point of fact the protagonist actually witnesses for himself that this particular groom very badly treats a horse in his care demonstrating the he wasn't actually all that good at his job anyway.
I won't reveal too much about the plot except to say that there are several different motives for the crimes that take place one of them in particular is very feeble. We are expected to believe that somebody, who is very cowardly, takes quite considerable risks with their own safety just to carry out several crimes purely out of spite and jealousy and nothing much else.
One of the other crimes, and the heroes decision in relation to it, again doesn't hold much water as we are expected to believe that the protagonist (an experienced investigator in murders and a battle hardened warrior) readily accepts that somebody strangled another person by accident even though the murderer isn't physically very strong and it would actually take a lot of effort and quite a bit of time on the part of that person to strangle somebody else. Such a man as the protagonist would be fully aware of this fact and would not accep by any means that the murder was accidental. The excuse is given that the victim is older than their attacker and that is why they are killed easily is nonsense, we've already learnt that the victim is still so young they don't have grey hair and they are young enough to have children so they are probably only in their 30s, hardly a feeble elderly person! In fact many women in their 30s can be healthier and stronger than women in their 20s or late teens. Also why both victim and their killer are in the particular place where the crime occurs is never explained, neither would have a particular reason for being there!
There's a lot of talk about historical events and people but you don't get much of a sense of the time period apart from that.
The portrait of the vengeful Welsh woman is a bit 2D she's just a force of nature and not a person at all and it's really very hard to believe that her Da wouldn't just give her a clip round the ear and tell her to shut up. Honestly, atvthat time period I find it very hard to believe that a woman of a relatively poor family of low level nobility could have that much clout and have that much influence. If she was the only hard to believe character in an extraordinary situation I could let it go but there are just so many of them from the blind girl who is so readily accepted as a potential bride by several Norman noble men when a lot of families in those days had to deal with the stigma of disability when it was manifested in their children. As it was often seen as a manifestation of sin. Additionally there are two other characters with forms of disability, intellectually of very low intelligence. These are two different noble Norman families again they are treated as almost normal with an expectation that the son who suffer from this condition can marry and the daughter who suffers from it can also marry. In fact it's highly unlikely that either would have been deemed eligible for marriage and certainly not eligible for inheritance. That's not to say that they wouldn't have been treated well by their families many disabled people were treated well by families but the fear was that they would pass on their disability to their offspring. Even on occasion people who were not actually born blind but became blind due to a disease or accident were often precluded from marrying as it was still believed among some that they could pass on their disability, despite it not being a birth defect.

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7 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Plenty of plot twists and turns, I found the characters interesting and the story flowed along very well.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Not Great!

Ending just compounded the whole book for me. Far from a classic. Not a slog due to narration, probably. It's just about okay.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

A really interesting if sometimes confusing book!

This is the first time I have found a good story set in Britain at the start of the 11th century and I was not disappointed.

There a raft of characters and lots constantly going on in the book. I look forward to reading more.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Such a good factual book

Thoroughly gripping ♥️ I totally enjoyed this book and can’t wait to find another by Simon Beaufort x

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Why start with book 6?


Why audible think it’s a good idea to start at book 6 and miss out the first five is a sign that someone else should be making these decisions. The book itself I really enjoyed. The historical side of it felt authentic and I think Mark Addis did an excellent job with the narration. I really hope we get to enjoy the earlier books the story feels incomplete without them.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent

Wonderful historical “detective” story with flawed but engaging hero. You really want to find out who the baddies are. Brilliantly read by Matt Addis, who makes everything he narrates a joy to listen to. I wish the entire Sir Geoffrey series was available on Audible; why just the last three books? Simon Beaufort writes so well, I would love Matt Addis to record all his books. I await them eagerly

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Historical whodunnit.

Very much enjoyed a break from the modern whodunnit by trying a 12thC one. Great narrator made it even more enjoyable. On to the next one!

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

fun

I enjoy history and found that the storyline was stunning, authentic and excellent. I enjoy whodunits, and found this fun.

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