Listen free for 30 days
-
The Secret World of Christoval Alvarez
- The Chronicles of Christoval Alvarez, Volume 1
- Narrated by: Jan Cramer
- Series: The Chronicles of Christoval Alvarez, Book 1
- Length: 10 hrs and 3 mins
- Categories: Literature & Fiction, Action & Adventure
People who bought this also bought...
-
The Bookseller's Tale
- Oxford Medieval Mysteries, Book 1
- By: Ann Swinfen
- Narrated by: Philip Battley
- Length: 9 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Oxford, Spring 1353. When young bookseller Nicholas Elyot discovers the body of student William Farringdon floating in the river Cherwell, it looks like a drowning. Soon, however, Nicholas finds evidence of murder. Who could have wanted to kill this promising student? As Nicholas and his scholar friend Jordain try to unravel what lies behind William's death, they learn that he was innocently caught up in a criminal plot.
-
-
A lovely tale set in a wonderful place
- By D. J. Wilkinson on 21-03-18
-
The Ashes of London
- By: Andrew Taylor
- Narrated by: Leighton Pugh
- Length: 12 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
London, September 1666. The Great Fire rages through the city, consuming everything in its path. Even the impregnable cathedral of St. Paul's is engulfed in flames and reduced to ruins. Among the crowds watching its destruction is James Marwood, son of a disgraced printer and reluctant government informer. In the aftermath of the fire, a semi-mummified body is discovered in the ashes of St. Paul's, in a tomb that should have been empty. The man's body has been mutilated, and his thumbs have been tied behind his back.
-
-
Mystery and murder in 'the dunnest smoke of hell'
- By Rachel Redford on 27-04-16
-
The King's Justice
- A Stanton and Barling Mystery, Book 1
- By: E. M. Powell
- Narrated by: James Langton
- Length: 8 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
England, 1176. Aelred Barling, esteemed clerk to the justices of King Henry II, is dispatched from the royal court with his young assistant, Hugo Stanton, to investigate a brutal murder in a village outside York. The case appears straightforward. A suspect is under lock and key in the local prison, and the angry villagers are demanding swift justice. But when more bodies are discovered, certainty turns to doubt - and amid the chaos it becomes clear that nobody is above suspicion.
-
-
Great murder mystery
- By KAH on 04-10-18
-
The Angel's Mark
- By: S. W. Perry
- Narrated by: Kris Dyer
- Length: 14 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
LONDON, 1590. Queen Elizabeth I's control over her kingdom is wavering. Amidst a tumultuous backdrop of Spanish plotters, Catholic heretics and foreign wars threatening the country's fragile stability, the body of a small boy is found in the City of London, with strange marks that no one can explain. When idealistic physician Nicholas Shelby finds another body displaying the same marks only days later, he becomes convinced that a killer is at work, preying on the weak and destitute of London.
-
-
Excellent book
- By Kate on 28-10-18
-
A Plague on Both Your Houses
- The First Chronicle of Matthew Bartholomew
- By: Susanna Gregory
- Narrated by: David Thorpe
- Length: 13 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Matthew Bartholomew, unorthodox but effective physician to Michaelhouse college in medieval Cambridge, is as worried as anyone about the pestilence that is ravaging Europe and seems to be approaching England. But he is distracted by the sudden and inexplicable death of the Master of Michaelhouse - a death the University authorities do not want investigated.
-
-
Just brilliant
- By Heidi Harper on 27-08-18
-
The Sanctuary Murders
- Chronicles of Matthew Bartholomew, Book 24
- By: Susanna Gregory
- Narrated by: David Thorpe
- Length: 13 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1360 Edward III issues a call to arms, as sporadic attacks by the French threaten to turn into a full-blown invasion. In Cambridge, fear of the enemy is magnified by the belief that foreign agents are lurking in the area. Tension runs ever higher as rumours and ignorance fan the flames of suspicion amid preparations for war. And then the first murder occurs - of a French scholar living in the town.
-
-
The best yet
- By Kate on 15-08-19
-
The Bookseller's Tale
- Oxford Medieval Mysteries, Book 1
- By: Ann Swinfen
- Narrated by: Philip Battley
- Length: 9 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Oxford, Spring 1353. When young bookseller Nicholas Elyot discovers the body of student William Farringdon floating in the river Cherwell, it looks like a drowning. Soon, however, Nicholas finds evidence of murder. Who could have wanted to kill this promising student? As Nicholas and his scholar friend Jordain try to unravel what lies behind William's death, they learn that he was innocently caught up in a criminal plot.
-
-
A lovely tale set in a wonderful place
- By D. J. Wilkinson on 21-03-18
-
The Ashes of London
- By: Andrew Taylor
- Narrated by: Leighton Pugh
- Length: 12 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
London, September 1666. The Great Fire rages through the city, consuming everything in its path. Even the impregnable cathedral of St. Paul's is engulfed in flames and reduced to ruins. Among the crowds watching its destruction is James Marwood, son of a disgraced printer and reluctant government informer. In the aftermath of the fire, a semi-mummified body is discovered in the ashes of St. Paul's, in a tomb that should have been empty. The man's body has been mutilated, and his thumbs have been tied behind his back.
-
-
Mystery and murder in 'the dunnest smoke of hell'
- By Rachel Redford on 27-04-16
-
The King's Justice
- A Stanton and Barling Mystery, Book 1
- By: E. M. Powell
- Narrated by: James Langton
- Length: 8 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
England, 1176. Aelred Barling, esteemed clerk to the justices of King Henry II, is dispatched from the royal court with his young assistant, Hugo Stanton, to investigate a brutal murder in a village outside York. The case appears straightforward. A suspect is under lock and key in the local prison, and the angry villagers are demanding swift justice. But when more bodies are discovered, certainty turns to doubt - and amid the chaos it becomes clear that nobody is above suspicion.
-
-
Great murder mystery
- By KAH on 04-10-18
-
The Angel's Mark
- By: S. W. Perry
- Narrated by: Kris Dyer
- Length: 14 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
LONDON, 1590. Queen Elizabeth I's control over her kingdom is wavering. Amidst a tumultuous backdrop of Spanish plotters, Catholic heretics and foreign wars threatening the country's fragile stability, the body of a small boy is found in the City of London, with strange marks that no one can explain. When idealistic physician Nicholas Shelby finds another body displaying the same marks only days later, he becomes convinced that a killer is at work, preying on the weak and destitute of London.
-
-
Excellent book
- By Kate on 28-10-18
-
A Plague on Both Your Houses
- The First Chronicle of Matthew Bartholomew
- By: Susanna Gregory
- Narrated by: David Thorpe
- Length: 13 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Matthew Bartholomew, unorthodox but effective physician to Michaelhouse college in medieval Cambridge, is as worried as anyone about the pestilence that is ravaging Europe and seems to be approaching England. But he is distracted by the sudden and inexplicable death of the Master of Michaelhouse - a death the University authorities do not want investigated.
-
-
Just brilliant
- By Heidi Harper on 27-08-18
-
The Sanctuary Murders
- Chronicles of Matthew Bartholomew, Book 24
- By: Susanna Gregory
- Narrated by: David Thorpe
- Length: 13 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1360 Edward III issues a call to arms, as sporadic attacks by the French threaten to turn into a full-blown invasion. In Cambridge, fear of the enemy is magnified by the belief that foreign agents are lurking in the area. Tension runs ever higher as rumours and ignorance fan the flames of suspicion amid preparations for war. And then the first murder occurs - of a French scholar living in the town.
-
-
The best yet
- By Kate on 15-08-19
-
The Seeker
- Damian Seeker 1
- By: S. G. MacLean
- Narrated by: Nicholas Camm
- Length: 10 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
London, 1654. Oliver Cromwell is at the height of his power and has declared himself Lord Protector. Yet he has many enemies at home and abroad. London is a complex web of spies and merchants, priests and soldiers, exiles and assassins. One of the web's most fearsome spiders is Damian Seeker, agent of the Lord Protector. No one knows where Seeker comes from, who his family is, or even his real name. All that is known of him for certain is that he is utterly loyal to Cromwell and that nothing can be long hidden from him.
-
-
A Dark-Cloaked Figure
- By Simon on 10-12-16
-
The Last Protector
- James Marwood & Cat Lovett, Book 4
- By: Andrew Taylor
- Narrated by: Leighton Pugh
- Length: 12 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Brother against brother. Father against son. Friends turned into enemies. No one in England wants a return to the bloody days of the Civil War. But Oliver Cromwell’s son, Richard, has abandoned his exile and slipped back into England. The consequences could be catastrophic. James Marwood, a traitor’s son turned government agent, is tasked with uncovering Cromwell’s motives. But his assignment is complicated by his friend - the regicide’s daughter, Cat Lovett - who knew the Cromwells as a child and who now seems to be hiding a secret of her own about the family.
-
-
Riveting historical fiction
- By Max on 07-04-20
-
Cathedral of Bones
- Ela of Salisbury Medieval Mysteries, Book 1
- By: J. G. Lewis
- Narrated by: Madeleine Brolly
- Length: 8 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Salisbury, 1226. A young pregnant woman is found tangled in reeds in the river Avon, her identity a mystery. Grieving widow Ela Longespée is determined to succeed her husband as sheriff of Salisbury, and quickly takes charge of the investigation. She soon finds herself in the thick of a neighborhood scandal and a struggle to maintain her authority. With multiple suspects, can she identify the true killer?
-
The Unquiet Bones
- By: Mel Starr
- Narrated by: Steven Crossley
- Length: 8 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Hugh of Singleton, fourth son of a minor knight, has been educated as a clerk, usually a prelude to taking holy orders. However, feeling no certain calling despite a lively faith, he turns to the profession of surgeon, training in Paris and then hanging out his sign in Oxford. A local lord asks him to track the killer of a young woman whose bones have been found in the castle cesspit. She is identified as the impetuous missing daughter of a local blacksmith, and her young man, whom she had provoked very publicly, is in due course arrested and sentenced at the Oxford assizes.
-
-
Shardlake's Younger Brother, the surgeon
- By Mr. Stephen Gould on 20-09-20
-
Heresy
- By: S. J. Parris
- Narrated by: Laurence Kennedy
- Length: 14 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Oxford, 1583. Giordano Bruno, a radical thinker fleeing the Inquisition, is sent undercover to Oxford to expose a Catholic conspiracy against Queen Elizabeth. But he has his own secret mission at the University, which must remain hidden at all costs. When a series of hideous murders are committed, Bruno is compelled to investigate. What he finds makes it brutally clear that the Tudor throne itself is at stake....
-
-
Good enjoyable lightweight read
- By S Price Sinclair on 08-02-15
-
The Crossing Places
- By: Elly Griffiths
- Narrated by: Jane McDowell
- Length: 8 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When she's not digging up bones or other ancient objects, Ruth Galloway lectures at the University of North Norfolk. She lives happily alone in a remote place called Saltmarsh overlooking the North Sea and, for company; she has her cats Flint and Sparky, and Radio 4. When a child's bones are found in the marshes near an ancient site that Ruth worked on ten years earlier, Ruth is asked to date them.
-
-
Gripping
- By Heli on 12-11-11
-
Eye For An Eye
- DI Gilchrist , Book 1
- By: T. F. Muir
- Narrated by: David Monteath
- Length: 9 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
One psychopath. One killer. The Stabber. Six victims, all wife beaters. Each stabbed to death through their left eye. Six victims, all wife beaters. Each stabbed to death through their left eye. The cobbled lanes and backstreets of St Andrews provide the setting for these brutal killings.
-
-
Looking for more
- By Karen on 24-04-13
-
The Harper's Quine
- Gil Cunningham Mysteries
- By: Pat McIntosh
- Narrated by: Andrew Watson
- Length: 8 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At the May Day dancing at Glasgow Cross, Gil Cunningham sees not only the woman who is going to be murdered, but her murderer as well. Gil is a recently qualified lawyer whose family still expect him to enter the priesthood. When he finds the body of a young woman in the new building at Glasgow Cathedral he is asked to investigate, and identifies the corpse as the runaway wife of cruel, unpleasant nobleman John Semphill. With the help of Maistre Pierre, the French master-mason, Gil must ask questions and seek a murderer in the heart of the city.
-
-
An unusual 'detective' story set in medieval times
- By sams247 on 04-03-17
-
This Rough Ocean
- By: Ann Swinfen
- Narrated by: Philip Battley
- Length: 23 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It is December, 1648, and England faces one of the greatest crises in its history. Bands of renegade soldiers and broken men roam the countryside, looting, burning, and raping. In Parliament, former allies are torn apart after six years of bloody conflict. John Swynfen, a rising young MP and one of the leaders of the moderate party, is working for peace, but only if safeguards can be established to protect Parliament and control the powers of the king. Ranged against him and his friends are Oliver Cromwell and his son-in-law Henry Ireton, intent on seizing power by the sword.
-
-
A great storyteller, thoroughly enjoyed it
- By SMC on 14-11-18
-
The Apothecary Rose
- By: Candace Robb
- Narrated by: Stephen Thorne
- Length: 10 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It is the year of our Lord 1363. And in the cathedral city of York people are dying in mysterious circumstances. But there seems to be a common thread - the herbal remedies dispensed by Nicholas Wilton, Master Apothecary. The first victim is an anonymous pilgrim. But when a highborn nobleman dies after taking the same potion the authorities decide to act. Dispatched to York, in disguise, to unravel the mystery, Owen Archer, former Captain of Archers, apprentices himself to the Apothecary.
-
-
The first of a great series
- By Amazon Customer on 10-04-13
-
Belvoir's Promise
- The Savernake Novels, Book 1
- By: Susanna M. Newstead
- Narrated by: Charlie Farrow
- Length: 10 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The date is 1191. Aumary Belvoir is 17. Seventeen and bound by an oath so holy, he dare not break it. Unexpectedly thrust into the position of the warden of the Savernake, a woodland of 150 square miles in Wiltshire, will Aumary succeed in stamping his authority on the forest? He has also acquired a half brother he did not know he had. With the help of his experienced staff and his willing family, things go well. The surprise brother, Robert, proves a worthy assistant. Then the deaths begin.
-
-
Loved the tale
- By Mr. Frank M. Houston on 27-04-20
-
The Waringham Chronicles, Volume 1: The Runaway
- An Audible Original Drama
- By: Rebecca Gablé
- Narrated by: Jonathan Firth, Philip Franks, Raj Ghatak, and others
- Length: 11 hrs and 20 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
England in the 14th Century. Twelve-year-old Robin’s world is turned upside down when his father, the Earl of Waringham, dies in disgrace. His inheritance lost and his family name dishonoured, the penniless Robin must begin a new life as a peasant on his own estate. He soon makes an enemy in Mortimer, the spoiled young son of the new Earl. As the years pass and the boys enter adulthood, Robin flees Waringham to seek his fortune abroad.
-
-
Irritating music
- By Cianda on 05-02-20
Summary
It is the year 1586. England is awash with traitors, plotting to assassinate the Queen and bring about a foreign invasion. The young physician Christoval Alvarez, a refugee from the horrors of the Portuguese Inquisition, is coerced into becoming a code-breaker and agent in Sir Francis Walsingham's secret service. In the race to thwart the plot, who will triumph - the ruthless conspirators or the equally ruthless State?
More from the same
What listeners say about The Secret World of Christoval Alvarez
Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Longedge
- 13-04-20
It hasn't gripped me - see how I go with the next.
I've come to this series having first finished the "Oxford Medieval Mystery" series which I really enjoyed. This first book has been something of a disappointment by comparison and I'm not at all sure that I'll finish the series but I'll give the next one a chance and see how it goes.
I got to the end thinking that there were several major questions that hadn't been addressed at all. I much prefer to get the back story rather than just be given a bald fact without any sort of explanation or expansion.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- The Curator
- 04-05-18
So predictable
Sadly the plot was predictable, the characters pretty one dimensional and the twist could be seen from page one. As mentioned by another reader, the narration was made uncomfortable by the sound of swallowing.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Wren
- 17-06-17
Good Story, Somewhat Distracting Narration
The story is good. It takes a bit to get interested in the main character but once it gets well established is interesting. The setting is well detailed and researched. The inclusion of actual events and historical figures was fascinating. Nice subplots.
The narration was overall a B- for me and I had to keep the sound turned down below what was comfortable because of the mouth noises (saliva and audible swallowing etc) of the reader. Otherwise I would not have been able to listen. That's something that REALLY bothers me. The narrator did an excellent rendering of English and other dialects in a subtle and believable way.
8 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Jennifer Olson
- 12-07-16
More please ...
When are the rest of the books coming to Audible? Very good and looking forward to the rest.
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Joann F. Teegarden
- 13-04-19
Boring
I have never written a review before but I found that this book is incredibly boring. Not only is the story a rehash of the one that has been told ad nauseum, but the monotone of the narrator adds to the problem. Don't waste your credits.
2 people found this helpful