Easy listening

This book requires little concentration, so I could get on with cooking while it played in the background. The book content is Interesting and feels more like a podcast than an anthology; each story is self contained with almost no reference to the others in the book.
The delivery was quite odd. Almost robotic. However, it was easy to listen to once I got used to it.
I would have enjoyed this book if I had bought it, but it's free to read at the moment so it is well worth downloading.

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Great tales

I really enjoyed this book, fascinating insight into some pretty ghastly individuals. Well narrated and flowed well.

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Interesting but lacks depth

Not always clear where information comes from (newspaper reports, police statements or court records) so it's hard to know whether you're listening to facts or opinions. The descriptions of the women are off-putting and cynical, descriptions of unattractive women give the impression they are lucky any man would agree to marry them, the women with options are purely driven by money. Early in the book he states that the other characters realise the woman is a s**t, he does not make it clear how he knows this. Where did they state this or what recorded actions would lead us to assume they thought this?
Without sources it's hard to gauge whether the author is presenting the views of the time or whether he really does have such a poor opinion of women.

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Facinating

Narrator was brilliant.. Stories excellent.. I really loved this little snatch back in time. Well worth a listen and highly interesting.

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Excellent

Well researched, balanced and very nicely narrated. The writer humanises the participants from victims to perpetrators to judges to give depth to each episode.

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Engaging and enjoyable

A Gallery of Poisoners follows takes the reader through thirteen cases of historical murder via poisoning. Each account is written in an easy to follow, very enjoyable to read summary of the people involved, motives, events both obvious and underlying, and a brief look at the time the people lived in.

This book was written in the early nineties and, as such, language/views of the time creep in. There's an instance of the author making light of a woman's weight and saying such things as 'the man could have done better as, by all accounts she wasn't much of a looker'. Such things do sound crass and unenjoyable to read or hear, but they are mercifully few.

On the whole, the book gives a detailed look at how people went about their poisoning, what made them think they could get away with it, and how each case was unravelled at the time.

For anyone who enjoys true crime, history, or a healthy mix of the two, this book is certainly one you should pick up. It's very well researched and, the audio version is incredibly well narrated. I practically inhaled this one. My main critique would be that I wish it were longer.

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ignore the bad accents!

great book with just the right amount of detail and commentary for casual listening.
the narrator does let it down at many points with terrible accents and mispronounced place names, but overall does a fair job.

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1 person found this helpful

Five For Content But Zero For The Performance

This is everything you need to quench your macabre thirst for late nineteenth and early twentieth century poisonings. It has been well researched and is set out perfectly. This scores a five.
Here is where the audiobook lets itself down.
I don’t wish to verbally bash Mr Grindell, but there were so many parts I had to rewind because I just couldn’t get my head around the facts first time around. I found his voice off putting and his regional accents are appalling, which is something of a surprise as he states he is an actor.
Worth a listen just for the content but didn’t enjoy it as much as I should have.

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Awful accents shouldn’t put you off

A great adventure into the world of poisoners. The reader does not have a good understanding of playing regional or foreign accents though. This gives the narration a bit of unnecessary silliness.

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Good book. Narrator could do better

Fascinating book. Shows how Victorian society produced poisoners. The theatre of the courtroom is very well portrayed. It would have been ok without the attempted accents.

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