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Dark Fire
- A Matthew Shardlake Mystery
- Narrated by: Steven Crossley
- Length: 18 hrs and 53 mins
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Publisher's summary
Winner of the CWA Ellis Peters Historical Dagger Award, Dark Fire revisits acclaimed master of historical fiction C. J. Sansom's colorful and rapier-witted lawyer, Matthew Shardlake.
Set in 1540, this beguiling tale of murder and mayhem is set against a rich backdrop of medieval London. Here, hunchbacked Matthew Shardlake is called upon to investigate the peculiar case of a young woman accused of murder.
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The much-feared and hated Eudo - the Lord Bishop of Winchester's clerk - is bludgeoned to death in Pershore Abbey and laid before the altar in the attitude of a penitent. Everyone who had contact with him had reason to dislike him, but who had reason to kill him? The Sheriff of Worcestershire's thief taker, wily Serjeant Catchpoll, and his new and unwanted superior, Undersheriff Hugh Bradecote, have to find the answer. And as the walls of the abbey close in on the suspects, the killer strikes again....
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Medieval armchair mystery
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By: Sarah Hawkswood
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The Counterfeit Madam
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Gil Cunningham had hoped that the first time he set foot in the brothel on the Drygate it would also be his last, but by the time all was settled he felt quite at home within its artfully painted chambers. The bawdy house, along with the neighbouring property and two more in Strathblane, are all part of a deal offered to Gil and his wife Alys by the forceful Dame Isabella.
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The Midwife's Tale
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It is 1644, and Parliament’s armies have risen against the King and laid siege to the city of York. Even as the city suffers at the rebels’ hands, midwife Bridget Hodgson becomes embroiled in a different sort of rebellion. One of Bridget’s friends, Esther Cooper, has been convicted of murdering her husband and sentenced to be burnt alive. Convinced that her friend is innocent, Bridget sets out to find the real killer.
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Only so so
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Shadowmarch
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For generations the misty Shadowline has marked the boundary between the lands of men and the lost northern lands that are the lair of their inhuman enemies, the ageless Qar. But now that boundary line is moving outward, threatening to engulf the northernmost land in which humans still live - the kingdom of Southmarch.
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It's the characters that matter...
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The Innocent Mage
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"The Innocent Mage is come, and we stand at the beginning of the end of everything." Being a fisherman like his father isn't a bad life, but it's not the one that Asher wants. Despite his humble roots, Asher has grand dreams. And they call him to Dorana, home of princes, beggars, and the warrior mages who have protected the kingdom for generations. Little does Asher know, however, that his arrival in the city is being closely watched by members of the Circle, people dedicated to preserving an ancient magic.
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Heroic Fantasy well written
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The Strangler Vine
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India, 1837: William Avery is a young soldier with few prospects except rotting away in campaigns in India; Jeremiah Blake is a secret political agent gone native, a genius at languages and disguises, disenchanted with the whole ethos of British rule, but who cannot resist the challenge of an unresolved mystery.
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Don't Waste Time Reading Reviews-Just Buy the Book
- By Tracey Rains on 03-09-17
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Green Darkness
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The marriage of the Englishman Richard Marsdon and his young American wife, Celia, slowly turns tragic as Richard withdraws into himself and Celia suffers a debilitating emotional breakdown. A wise mystic realizes that Celia can escape her past only by reliving it. She journeys back four hundred years to her former life as the servant girl Celia de Bohun during the reign of Edward VI - and to her doomed love affair with the chaplain Stephen Marsdon.
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A different narrator would have made all the difference.
- By J on 06-04-15
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The Seven Wonders
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USA Today hails Steven Saylor as a “modern master of historical fiction.” Rich in intrigue and period detail, his novels set in ancient Rome have garnered acclaim the world over. A prequel to his epic Roma Sub Rosa series, The Seven Wonders follows series star Gordianus the Finder as an 18-year-old traveling the Mediterranean to witness the wonders of that fabled age. At each stop, the young investigator finds a beguiling mystery that pushes his powers of deduction to the limit.
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Interesting History, Not much of a story
- By Mark on 08-10-12
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The Widow's Kiss
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Lady Guinevere Mallory has been married four times in 12 years, and each of her husbands has died mysteriously. Adept in the laws of property, she has secured the land of each of her late spouses, vastly increasing her personal wealth. After the death of her fourth husband, this trend raises some eyebrows at the royal court, and Hugh of Beaucaire is sent to investigate these puzzling events.
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Not bad, but veeerryyy ssslllooowwww narration.
- By I like to shop on 08-31-18
By: Jane Feather
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What listeners say about Dark Fire
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Bill
- 08-03-12
Murder & Intrigue ~ Lawyers & Psychopaths
This is a terrific historical mystery, enveloping you in two great mysteries (and several minor ones) played out in the world of Tudor England.
This is an exceptionally well-told tale. Listening, you are almost overcome by the stench of 16th Century London, with its uncapped, seeping cesspools and brown Thames. You are confronted by the hardened bullies and thugs who dominate its streets and its halls of justice, by the frightened and harried peasants worn down by a decade of "reform" and a lifetime of toil, and by a few everyday heros who try to do right against extraordinary odds.
Sansom is a talented historian who brings to real life not just the streets of London but also the intrigue of the Tudor Court, the class pretensions of its aristocracy, and the corruption seeping through its foundations. Against this backdrop play out two engaging mysteries ~ the seemingly straight-forward murder of a young boy and the possible rediscovery, after centuries, of a horrible weapon of war.
Matthew Shardlake, our lawyer-detective, plumbs these mysteries, aided by a charmingly rough-hewn companion. His travails will keep you intrigued and you will be glad that this is a long tale ~ you won't want it to end.
This second Shardlake mystery is a complete success.
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22 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Julie
- 10-14-09
Great Historical Mystery
If you've read Dissolution, you'll know C.J. Sansom is a great mystery and character writer. His books are quite long so I decided to start listening to the audiobooks and I enjoyed the narrator for this one. He does good comical accents for people the listener is supposed to dislike/be suspicious of. I also like the book for the introduction of a new sidekick for Shardlake.
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17 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Wadie
- 05-29-09
Very good
Mathew Shardlake is at it again! Working for Cromwell he tries to solve a mystery that turns out to be a mystery within a mystery! As an aside there is a young woman accused of child murder. This side story turns down a dark, dark lane. While some of the moves are predictable, they are satisfying. I appreciate an author who plays fair with me!
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13 people found this helpful
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- Kathy
- 02-23-11
Great listen!
Well written, great historical details, well developed plot -- a delightful listen!
First rate narration by Steven Crossley too
I have a new Favorite Author / Narrator combo
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11 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Brenda
- 06-28-11
Superb series and narrator!
The Shardlake books are the most enjoyable books I've read/listened to in a long, long time, and Dark Fire is my favorite of the series (all are excellent though). In Shardlake, Sansom has created a personable and compelling entry into the foreign world of Tudor times. Add in amazing plotting and characterization, and you've got a superb series to sink your teeth into. Crossley is one of my favorite narrators; as always, he does an amazing job of bringing to life all the different characters.
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7 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Kirsten
- 04-07-09
Believable yet enveloping
I had read Dissolution, so I understand the narrator's disillusionment with Henry VIII's religious practices. The book provides brief background so it can be read stand-alone. At times, the names of characters can be a little confusing as to who's who, but it'll make sense as you go along. All-in-all, a story that makes you want to stay in your car.
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7 people found this helpful
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- PAM Cook
- 05-28-12
medieval homeroom
What made the experience of listening to Dark Fire the most enjoyable?
Sansom does an amazing job depicting the political intrigue, protestant/catholic tension, the overall nature of Tudor England and the legal world surrounding it. Such a backdrop personalized through sturdy character development makes it that much more consuming. The new relationships Shardlake develops through searching out a murder and all that surrounds it had me bound to the story from beginning to end.
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6 people found this helpful
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- Christy
- 05-01-12
Another enjoyable historical novel from Sansom
This second of Sansom's series that takes place in Henry VIII's reign is quite intriguing. I continue to be amazed at Sansom's ability to combine real historical figures with fiction to create a fascinating mystery.
In this outing, Matthew Shardlake is again drawn into the web of Thomas Cromwell, after disassociating himself with Cromwell a few years before (in Dissolution). The scene is spring of 1540, only a few months before the real Cromwell falls out of favor and finds himself in the Tower, so I was in constant fear of Matthew's being caught up in Cromwell's final fall. However, the story is much more convoluted than that and has two plots going on at once. Plenty to keep you guessing at how Shardlake is going to get himself out of his various predicaments!
The former Brother Guy, the apothecary, makes a welcome return appearance, and a few other characters take the stage who I expect will be back in the next book of the series.
At this point, I must praise the narrator for a most excellent job. He makes sure to differentiate the voices of the different characters with a myriad of accents, enabling the listener to keep everyone straight. I have read complaints from other reviewers about the reader giving Brother Guy an "Eastern European" or "Russian" accent, but I think that the accent is just exotic enough to accurately characterize Guy, who is apparently a Moor with a complicated background.
I also enjoyed the afterword recorded by Sansom at the end, explaining a lot of the historical information and the ways in which he fit his characters into the story.
Looking forward to the next one!
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5 people found this helpful
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- Cheryl
- 12-04-14
Fantastic Historical Fiction . . . loved it!
I enjoyed the first book in the series: "Dissolution", however, after reading the second book, "Dark Fire", I must say that it is as good as or even better than "Dissolution." I really like the main character in "Dark Fire", Shardlake, who is a hunchback, a lawyer and the hero. I also liked getting to know the other characters in the story.
I enjoyed reading all of the details about Tudor London circa 1540 . . . the disgusting smells they lived with; their black teeth from eating sugar that only the rich could afford (there were no dentists); the feasts that would display the confectionery wealth; the guests at the feasts responsible for bringing their own knife; the knowledge that some women painted their teeth black so that they looked like they could afford to buy sugar.
Also interesting was the travel by boat instead of walking through the sewage filled streets! The entertainment mentioned was bear baiting. All of this historical information is included so nicely with the narrative about a deadly weapon of war - Dark Fire. I look forward to reading the next book in the series, Sovereign, book #3 in the Shardlake series.
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4 people found this helpful
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Overall
- G.
- 03-01-09
Not bad....
I really did like this story, but only because the imagery was very good. The beginning drew me in, but I felt the story failed to keep it's momentum. I would recommend this though, since it kept me interested, just don't have a high expectation.
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4 people found this helpful