Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

  • Death at the Priory

  • Love, Sex and Murder in Victorian England
  • By: James Ruddick
  • Narrated by: Alistair Petrie
  • Length: 6 hrs and 17 mins
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (202 ratings)
Offer ends May 1st, 2024 11:59PM GMT. Terms and conditions apply.
£7.99/month after 3 months. Renews automatically.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Death at the Priory cover art

Death at the Priory

By: James Ruddick
Narrated by: Alistair Petrie
Get this deal Try for £0.00

Pay £99p/month. After 3 months pay £7.99/month. Renews automatically. See terms for eligibility.

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £20.99

Buy Now for £20.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Listeners also enjoyed...

The Poisonous Solicitor cover art
The Anatomy Murders cover art
Murder by Gaslight cover art
The Case of the Murderous Dr. Cream cover art
Murderesses in Victorian Britain cover art
Supper with the Crippens cover art
Great and Horrible News cover art
Gazetteer of British Ghosts cover art
The Wallace Case cover art
The Dublin Railway Murder cover art
Jack the Ripper's Streets of Terror cover art
Court Number One cover art
A Bit of a Stretch cover art
Mortal Monarchs cover art
Starvation Heights cover art
The Bloody Century cover art

Summary

It took three tortured days in 1876 for Charles Bravo to die from the poison that burned its way through his body. The subsequent investigation revealed many people with a grudge against the young barrister. The dramatic inquest was covered in sensational detail by the press, but no one was convicted of his murder. Over a century later, James Ruddick draws on new evidence to solve one of the most famous murders in criminal history.
©2009 James Ruddick (P)2009 Oakhill Publishing Ltd

More from the same

What listeners say about Death at the Priory

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    122
  • 4 Stars
    54
  • 3 Stars
    21
  • 2 Stars
    3
  • 1 Stars
    2
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    110
  • 4 Stars
    38
  • 3 Stars
    9
  • 2 Stars
    2
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    105
  • 4 Stars
    35
  • 3 Stars
    14
  • 2 Stars
    3
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

A really compelling listen

This is a really interesting audiobook about a true life case of a Victorian poisoning. It's a classic "whodunnit", and the author clearly presents the evidence in an engaging way that leaves you guessing until the end. This is light enough not to require too much of your attention, but riveting enough to keep you listening until the end. A great listen for while you are driving around in the car - I kept finding excuses to put it on so that I could find out what happened! Highly recommended.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

Fascinating

I listened to this in one sitting. It was fascinating. The reader is superb and the writing too! I urge you to try it if you enjoy a crime story.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Don't miss this fascinating true storey

Of all the books I have listened to, this is, without doubt, one of the best. A true storey, excellently narrated by James Ruddick, who's voice has all the necessary levels and precise diction to hold your attention. The storey keeps you guessing until the very end. So good in fact, I will most probably listen again. Don't miss it.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Brilliant!

Factual, historical, gripping and informative. I loved every minute of it. Beautifully read.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Suspicious Death Investigated

This is an excellent book, which compares well with The Suspicions of Mr Whicher, placing it in a similar social context, of police officers being unable to do their work fully because of power structures within society. It is, like Summerscale's text, about identified people, where there are very long standing repercussions across time and place, where effects are fully recognised. Murder is often trivialised: not in this book. It is read with careful tone, not dramatised, with attention to meaning, I really enjoyed this audio book, and can highly recommend it those interested in social history, as well as true crime accounts.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent

I
This is the best book I've read on the bravo mystery. Full of detail, not coy. Thoroughly researched and well narrated. Superb, thank you.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

excellent.

well vresearch ed book. a crime not heard of before today. great narrator. very gripping.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Passion, parsimony and poison...

This is a brilliant audiobook. It's gripping from start to finish. It tells the true story of the hideous drawn-out death of Barrister at Law Charles Bravo whose intestines were literally melted by antimony poisoning. The culprit was never identified, but it is not hard to see why his passionate, headstrong young wife wished to be rid of him. Their torturous union certainly wasn't a match made in heaven and in the moral climate of Victorian Britain, women (even wealthy ones) were treated as second class citizens. Mrs Bravo was rich and beautiful but irrevocably tainted by a (geriatric) sex scandal - hence the hasty, ill fated union with a cold-blooded control freak who clearly married her to elevate his social standing and get his grasping mitts on her money. One can't help wondering whether her first husband's untimely death was due to alcoholism, but as with all the best domestic murder mysteries - we shall never know...

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Gripping

I will listen to this again as it was so good. Well read, well written, well researched. An intriguing in site into Victorian life.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Very Good Read

I really enjoyed this a good story and good narration. Very often reviewing of "evidence" with true stories of this type both so long after the events and from a more current mindset I find myself thinking the analysis is not always explained very well and is often flawed in some way. James Ruddick does very well in explaining how he approaches his subject and does so from predominantly from his knowledge of attitudes of the time ... in other words from what what iknown then as opposed to what we know now. I liked that.



Alistair Petrie is very easy on the ear and I enjoyed his narration style nothing there to irritate a very picky listener :)

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful