The Tarnished Chalice cover art

The Tarnished Chalice

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The Tarnished Chalice

By: Susanna Gregory
Narrated by: Andrew Wincott
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About this listen

 On a bitter winter evening in 1356, Matthew Bartholomew and Brother Michael arrive in Lincoln - Michael to accept an honour from the cathedral, and Bartholomew to look for the woman he wants to marry. It is not long before they learn that the friary in which they are staying is not the safe haven they imagine - one guest has already been murdered.

It soon emerges that the dead man was holding the Hugh Chalice, a Lincoln relic with a curiously bloody history. Bartholomew and Michael are soon drawn into a web of murder, lies and suspicion in a city where neither knows who can be trusted...

©2006 Susanna Gregory (P)2007 W F Howes Ltd Crime Fiction Historical Mystery Abraham Lincoln Fiction Crime Middle Ages

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All stars
Most relevant
to be honest I would not have listened to this all the way through, except for the fact that I didn't want to miss anything in the ongoing story outside this case. I complained in the past about the previous narrator being too slow, but, I apologize because I want him back. I did not like this narrator and I think it was because of him I have not enjoyed this and the previous book.

bit slow

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Despite pronouncing Cynric’s name properly in the previous audiobook Wincott now seems to have forgotten how to say it.
His attempt at a Welsh accent is appalling too...
And if he says “grih-MACE” instead of “grih-MISS” one more time I am going to scream.
I can’t wait for David Thorpe to come back in the next instalment.
A great book spoiled by a mediocre narrator.

I cannot

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Is there anything you would change about this book?

The body count, the ridiculous conclusion, and the wooden performance.

Has The Tarnished Chalice put you off other books in this genre?

Only ones written by the same author.

What didn’t you like about Andrew Wincott’s performance?

Wooden in the extreme! Sententious, slow, over-emphasised in way too many places.

Did The Tarnished Chalice inspire you to do anything?

Only to never listen to anything by the same author or the same reader again!

Any additional comments?

This was the first book I have listened to from Audible that was thoroughly disappointing in almost every aspect. The situation was the only redeeming feature, along with the characters of Matt and to a certain extent Michael. I have wasted a lot of hours hoping that the wooden performance would prove worth struggling through, and gave up on it half an hour before the end when the most ridiculously unlikely person proved to be behind the inordinately unlikely body count.

Very disappointing

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Bit slow
Over all okay
Not much of a plot in the end
Hopefully the next one will be better

Bit slow

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This was a very hard one to review objectively because while the story itself is interesting, in the Audible version it is, in my opinion, spoiled by the narrator. The narrator, Andrew Wincott, has an annoying overly dramatic style which renders the characters unbelieveable and the descriptive scenes forgettable. I've given this 4 stars because it is not fair to penalise Susanna Gregory for the short-comings of the narrator, but because the narrator ruined the audio-book, I cannot give 5 stars. This is a prime example of where a narrator's style can intrude on the story and ruin it. The narrator should be an enhancement, not a distraction.

Hard one to review objectively

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