Chains of Folly

A Magdalene la Batarde Mystery, Book 4

De: Roberta Gellis

Narrado por: Susan Duerden

That Nelda Roundheels had been murdered would have been of little interest to anyone - except that her body turned up in the bishop of Winchester's bedchamber with a letter to the bishop, from the king's most important enemy, rolled up in her breastband. The bishop and his knight, Sir Bellamy of Itchen, realize immediately that the purpose of putting the body in Winchester's bedchamber is to embarrass and discredit the bishop. And the reason for this attack on Winchester is his calling of a convocation to chastise the king for acting high-handedly against the bishop of Salisbury. Had the king himself ordered this outrage? Had the king's favorite, Waleran de Meulan, ordered it? Unfortunately the answer is not so simple to find; there are many other noblemen who want the king's favor and might attack Winchester to get it.

To save Winchester's reputation it is urgently necessary to discover who killed the woman and who placed her in Winchester's bedchamber. Bell, to his mingled joy and distress, is ordered to ask Magdalene la Batarde, whoremistress of the Old Priory Guesthouse, once his lover but now estranged, to help him solve the mystery.

©2006 Roberta Gellis (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

Still worth the listen.

I do love Roberta Gellis, so I bought this despite the negative review about the narration. It's not Susan Duerden's best, but I found that it improved as it went along and I did enjoy it.

I miss Nadia May's reading

Good story but this narrator is too sing-song-y for my taste. Every sentence seems to have the same rhythm, the same inflection. It's soporific and makes it very hard to follow the actual story line.

Deserves more credit than it's getting

I grabbed CHAINS OF FOLLY as soon as I saw it was available, in spite of the beating the new reader was taking from listeners. The Magdalene la Batarde series is a delight for medieval mystery lovers, and CHAINS OF FOLLY is no exception. I wish Gellis had continued the series after this.

It is the rare reader who can produce both male and female voices faithfully, and this reader's voice is especially high. She shouldn't even try to sound male. The more successful strategy is to create the character by temperament, not timbre. However, her comprehension of the author's intention seems superior.

The Narrator is Awful

The story is fine, especially if you are familiar with Roberta Gellis's other Magdalene stories. But the narrator! Oh, the narrator! She places the same emphasis on every sentence, thereby ruining the cadence of the story. Everything is said with a breathless disbelief that makes something simple such as "set the bread on the table" sound like she's calling a horse race. It's awful.

Great book. A real shame about the narrator.

Would you consider the audio edition of Chains of Folly to be better than the print version?

Sadly, no, the print edition is much better. This is a wonderful story - much more involving that the first three books. (As hard as that is to believe! The first three were amazing!) The narrator made this recording painful.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Chains of Folly?

I would have to re-read the book. Thinking back at the recording I've just finished, I keep grinding my teeth at the painful "personality" the reader tried to give the characters, and can't get past them. I think perhaps the early battle scene where Bel protects the Bishop?

What didn’t you like about Susan Duerden’s performance?

Her narration was sing-song. Her characterizations were massively irritating. The Bishop always snarled. Bel always hissed and drawled. Magdalene sounded continuously air-headed. Diot sounded like a back alley tough. Although everyone was "speaking" French, one character had an affected French accent. Right up until the narrator forgot who was talking, then the wrong painful "voice" said the next line which didn't belong to them.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

A lighthearted bit of slap and tickle is a lot of fun - right up until someone steals the state secrets.

Any additional comments?

Re-Record? Please?