• Blood Royal

  • A True Tale of Crime and Detection in Medieval Paris
  • By: Eric Jager
  • Narrated by: Rene Auberjonois
  • Length: 8 hrs and 50 mins
  • 4.3 out of 5 stars (226 ratings)

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Blood Royal  By  cover art

Blood Royal

By: Eric Jager
Narrated by: Rene Auberjonois
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Publisher's summary

A riveting true story of murder and detection in 15th-century Paris, by one of the most brilliant medievalists of his generation.

On a chilly November night in 1407, Louis of Orleans was murdered by a band of masked men. The crime stunned and paralyzed France since Louis had often ruled in place of his brother King Charles, who had gone mad. As panic seized Paris, an investigation began. In charge was the Provost of Paris, Guillaume de Tignonville, the city's chief law enforcement officer - and one of history's first detectives. As de Tignonville began to investigate, he realized that his hunt for the truth was much more dangerous than he ever could have imagined.

A rich portrait of a distant world, Blood Royal is a gripping story of conspiracy, crime and an increasingly desperate hunt for the truth. And in Guillaume de Tignonville, we have an unforgettable detective for the ages, a classic gumshoe for a cobblestoned era.

©2014 Eric Jager (P)2014 Hachette Audio

What listeners say about Blood Royal

Average customer ratings
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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Could not stop listening

This book was excellently researched and excellently written. It is a subject, medieval justice, that I don't read much about. I found it fascinating and the narration is some of the best I have ever listened to.

I highly recommend this book

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5 people found this helpful

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

An epic tale and a B+ for René Auberjonois

A good police thriller is made by the quality of the the villain. In this History the victim AND the villains are fantastically callous and despicable individuals , only their remoteness in time makes them safe for reading.
The story is fascinating, wonderfully alien in people's daily dealings of the occult and the holy. At one time a woman brings in a grievously wounded man and rather than tending to the man's wounds, she rushes out to find a priest so his immortal soul can be saved.
This story is made for the big screen, certainly an epic tale worthy of your time.

For me the story matters more than the reader but for this French medieval detective story a person with command of French is appreciated . René Auberjonois, of Deep Space Nine fame, with that French sounding name gives you momentary hope, that it will be perfection. It is not; but René is an American with notions of French so many pronunciations of names and place names are pretty good so B+!

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

eh.

What did you like best about Blood Royal? What did you like least?

The story started and ended really well, it was the 6 hours in between that really lost me. I was following happily and then so many characters where introduced and the plot diverted so many times that I was just lost. Very confusing non-fiction.

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

This non-fiction really wanted to be a novel. It would have been a great novel. It might even have been a great series about the rise and fall of this branch of the french royal family.
I think a stronger narrative would have been enjoyable, sticking to some aspect of dissecting the forensic story.

Which character – as performed by Rene Auberjonois – was your favorite?

I honestly don't know who any one was at this point. I love Rene Auberjonois, and his narration was the reason I chose this book.

Could you see Blood Royal being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

The book would need some serious reworking to fit an even more narrative plot, but I think that Iwan Rheon and Gaspard Ulliel would work well in roles.

Any additional comments?

Probably a great book to read. Probably amazing for travel. Terrible audio book.

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4 people found this helpful

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

Fascinating

What made the experience of listening to Blood Royal the most enjoyable?

Rene Auberjonois is a fantastic narrator for this book because he is able to pronounce the French names without stumbling.

What other book might you compare Blood Royal to and why?

Blood Royal reads almost like some of Ann Rule's true crime novels. It does a great job of laying the foundation for the crime and discussing the climate and culture of the times.

Any additional comments?

I thought the book was very interesting. In some ways it was more like a thriller than a nonfiction work.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

True Crime Medieval Style

The narrator isn't bad but certainly brilliant--it has a rather monotone delivery. I found this book a little hard to follow and I am somewhat familiar with the time period. It's interesting to see how crime was handled at the end of the middle ages in what we consider modern detecting. However, the point of the book is to show how the murder of the duke leads to Agincourt and Joan of Arc and how the murder was precipitated by the madness of the king.

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2 people found this helpful

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

A very good book, just not the book advertised.

I enjoyed the book, probably more than I would have enjoyed the book I thought I was getting. It’s a pretty straightforward history of France at the dawn of the 15th century and well told for someone, like me, who knew only the barest details. I enjoyed it, learned a bit and the narration was fine. But darned if I wasn’t tempted to take of a star or more for what feels like some pretty shady and deceptive advertising that appears intent to pander to the true-crime craze at the moment. I don’t think it’s spoiling much to say the actual “mystery” the blurb trumpets is hugely anticlimactic. Even the attempts at feints on different lines on inquiry feel pretty half-hearted, as if an editor or publisher was nudging the writer for more podcast-worthy material. And the so-called “unforgettable detective for the ages” is pretty much the dictionary definition of “le functionaire” — not a genius, not a toady, just a civil servant doing a job amid political headwinds. He also vanishes from the story for about the last quarter before a brief cameo at the end, so it's hard to call him the protagonist. It was a really ejoyable narrative history book, with both broad geopolitics and some really interesting, if brief, glimpses into everyday Parisians at the time. But calling it a “riveting true story of … detection” is annoyingly misleading.

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1 person found this helpful

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

Intriguing and educational

A well constructed story that keeps your interest all the way through. I want to go to France to visit all these places now

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1 person found this helpful

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

historical true crime - great!

This book combines two of my most-read genres, true crime and history. Events from long ago, especially those involving cover-up at the highest level, often lack enough detail to be informative and certainly not enough to fill a book. But Jager has enough material to document the terrible crime, and to set the events and the characters within their social and political context. Everything is recounted in rivetting detail.Jager has obviously conducted a great deal of painstaking research, and the writing is excellent, as is the narration by Auberjonois whose voice and delivery are just perfect for the story.

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1 person found this helpful

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

Fun, fast paced and engaging

Another great book by Jager. I loved the characters, the back stories and all details of life. I never knew medieval France was so interesting!
Side note: I don’t know why so many people beefed about the narrator’s French pronunciations- I thought he did a good job with pace and emotion. No issues from my end.

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

Medieval French police work

I was surprised at how much police work has not changed; asking questions, following up leads, paperwork etc. However, I am relieved we have moved on a bit from Medieval “justice.” I also enjoyed seeing how that one murder lead to Agincourt. Thoroughly enjoyed it.
I normally enjoy Rene Auberjonois but thought him terribly ponderous and, at times, overly dramatic in the events leading up to the murder. He seemed to reign that in though as the novel continued.

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