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A Poisonous Plot

The Twenty First Chronicle of Matthew Bartholomew

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About this listen

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.

©2015 Susanna Gregory (P)2015 Isis Audiobooks Crime Fiction Fiction Historical Mystery Crime

Critic reviews

"Susanna Gregory writes with fluency and energy, avoids archaic vocabulary, despite her 14th-century setting and, having had a career as an academic, bases the stories in this enjoyable series on careful research." ( Literary Review)
All stars
Most relevant
Well written and read story. I have always loved the characters and they were really brought to life by the narrator

excellent story.

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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.

A surfeit of voices?

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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.

Great fun

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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!

Great story

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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.

Voices changing.

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