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A Mortal Bane

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A Mortal Bane

By: Roberta Gellis
Narrated by: Nadia May
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About this listen

 Magdalene la Batarde is the madam of the Old Priory Guesthouse in Southwark. She and her women are expected to engage in a number of sinful activities, but bloody murder isn't one of them until Baldassare, the messenger, dies. Though Baldassare isn't a regular client of the Old Priory Guesthouse, Magdalene and her women refuse to allow his death to go unavenged. Of course, their efforts aren't completely altruistic. Chances are if they don't find the killer, they will be assumed guilty, because they are whores, and will be gutted and hanged.

Into this sea of intrigue steps the handsome Sir Bellamy of Itchen. The bishop of Winchester, who was served for many years by Baldassare, has put Bellamy, his most trusted knight, in charge of the murder investigation and ordered him to prove Magdalene is the killer. Bellamy is instantly captivated by his chief suspect but also convinced that she is hiding something. Sure that she is involved in the messenger's death right up to her beautiful eyebrows but unable to believe she's a killer, Bellamy must find out how and why Baldassare died, or watch the mysterious Magdalene meet her fate on the gallows.

©1999 Roberta Gellis (P)2002 Blackstone Audiobooks Detective Historical Mystery Traditional Detectives Fiction Murder Crime

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Critic reviews

"In this top-notch production Nadia May uses different cadences to effectively denote different characters. Her mellifluous voice and accents are perfect for the story. The authentic historical detail, mystery, romance, and well-defined characters work together to create a memorable story." ( AudioFile)
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I stumbled across Roberta Gellis by accident and have become hooked. This is an easy listen with strong characters and a good storyline. Really well read by Nadia May. I have all of the available Gellis novels and hope one day that the final one in the series will be available on Audible. It is one of the books that I listen to often - it never fails to please.

A Really Good Listen

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A lovely 'light' read, nice easy plot with twists and turns and an excellent reader. What more could one want on a wet afternoon. I am looking forward to the next book in the series.

Lovely book

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A really enjoyable account of how medieval women's lives were restricted and despised, yet greedy, scheming men cannot manage without them.

A lively story of medieval loyalties and intrigues

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… but I did - I really did. I usually read books from the historical mystery genre, but I tend to avoid all such with female main protagonists. I am a woman myself so no claims of misogyny please - it's just that their behaviour tends to annoy me as a fellow female, so I just steer clear. I took a chance on this, and I loved it. There was a teensy bit of what I don't like (stupid simpering behaviour when a man they are keen on is around), but not too much.

The performance of the narrator was outstanding and she brought the tale to life. The book had many male characters and she dealt with these extremely well, giving a different voice to each, and never making any of them sound like a woman trying to sound like a man. An all-round good story, and the mild sexual tension between the two main characters didn't intrude into the mystery too much. Again, I hate that sort of thing in my historical mystery fiction. I'm looking for Agatha Christie, not Barbara Cartland!

Didn't expect to enjoy it...

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A good performance pleasant mystery enjoyed the characters and the old English vocabulary and etiquette

Historical

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