An unusual 'detective' story set in medieval times

Where does The Harper's Quine rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

This is an easy listen, the story flows well, the characters are built up so that you feel you know them, and the backgrounds are described well, you can put yourself in the times that the story is set

What other book might you compare The Harper's Quine to, and why?

I have not read a book like this previously

What does Andrew Watson bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?

I love the varying accents, he brings warmth to the characters

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Not really, the unfolding of the mystery and the story was at a pace I was happy with

Any additional comments?

I enjoy a mystery and wanted to try something different, I enjoyed this, it was fascinating to glimpse some of the ways people lived in that time, and I will certainly be reading more from this author

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4 people found this helpful

An exciting start to the series

We are introduced to Gilbert Cunningham and meet his future wife as they puzzle through murders that happen in Glasgow in 1492 around the building of the Cathedral. A gripping tale with an unexpected end and really well read. It's good to k ow how to pronounce some of the words I read in the book

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3 people found this helpful

Good story with loads of characters.

I struggled with this story at times with the characters and their names and positions . This isn't an issue with the story but my inability to remember lots of things and listen in a busy house !

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Good story, well written

As far as I can tell the narrators pronunciations are accurate. For example, plaid in Scotland was/is pr. played, it’s the English that use plad. I liked the easy way in which the languages used by characters in the story (Latin, Gaelic and French) are clearly noted but don’t involve efforts of translation by the reader. The narrator is excellent, the author knows her history, writes well and spins a good tale. Somewhat like Cadfael, but set in 15th century Scotland. I enjoyed this first novel and look forward to reading the rest in the series.

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Guid Glesca Gear

I enjoyed this book. Looking forward to more of the same. I got immersed in the story very quickly.

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Highly enjoyable

Being familiar with Glasgow made this a very enjoyable book. The narrator mispronounced a few words, but did a good job overall. If you enjoy Brother Cadfael, this will appeal to you. Left me anticipating the next story, which is a positive with in itself!

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1 person found this helpful

Deserved a better narrator

While for me it falls a good bit short of the Brother Cadfael standard and was overheavy on technical law terms that were hard to follow, especially when just listening, I thought the story and setting were quite interesting, and I would be tempted to buy more in the series. However, I see they have the same narrator, whom I found very distracting. While a strong Glaswegian accent would obviously be over the top, I felt there should definitely be more of a Scots lilt to the telling, but the worst thing was the grating mispronunciations -- plaid as played(!), Euphemia with the stress on the i, prebend like some industrial process for pipes (pre-bend), and kerCHIEF sounding like a sneeze. I think I will have to stick to just the Kindle versions if I want more Gil Cunningham.

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Not for me

Did not finish as it was not enjoyable. Narration was without characterisation. Good for sending you to sleep.

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