To Kill or Cure: The Thirteenth Chronicle of Matthew Bartholomew

By Susanna Gregory

Book Overview

For the twentieth anniversary of the start of the Matthew Bartholomew series, Sphere is delighted to reissue all of the medieval monk's cases with beautiful new series-style covers.

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The winter of 1353 has been appallingly wet, there is a fever outbreak amongst the poorer townspeople and the country is not yet fully recovered from the aftermath of the plague. The increasing reputation and wealth of the Cambridge colleges are causing dangerous tensions between the town, Church and University.

Matthew Bartholomew is called to look into the deaths of three members of the University of who died from drinking poisoned wine, and soon he stumbles upon criminal activities that implicate his relatives, friends and colleagues - so he must solve the case before matters in the town get out of hand...

In the year 1357, Cambridge University is in dire financial straits: the town's landlords are demanding an extortionate rent rise for the students' hostels and the plague years have left the colleges with scant resources. Tension between town and gown is at boiling point and soon explodes into violence and death.

Into this maelstrom comes a charismatic physician whose healing methods owe more to magic than medicine - but his success threatens Matthew Bartholomew's professional reputation, and his life ...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0751569534
• ISBN13: 9780751569537
• Release Date: March 2018
• Publisher: Sphere
• Length: 448 Pages
• Weight: 0.66 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 5.2" x 7.7"

Customer Reviews

Great story lines

I have read some of her other works and the first I tried her mysteries. Very good and accurate depictions of life in a college town at that period. Worth it for diversionary fun.

Great Medieval!

I know that the general consensus is that there is no one out there that is able to take the crown of the best Medeival mystery author since the death of the estimable Ms. Ellis Peters. I have to agree that she left big shoes to fill, but my opinion is that Susanna Gregory has slipped into those shoes while no one was paying attention. Her books are much longer than Ms. Peters' and there is a lot more murder and mayhem in them, but they are wonderful. I am a long term lover of her Matthew Bartholomew series, and this latest in this collection is another winner. This is the thirteenth book in this series, and I highly recommend that anyone thinking of reading these books should start at the beginning and work their way through. This is the only way to get the full benefit of Ms. Gregory's wonderful writing. She uses true historical figures and happenings, and builds her stories around these. In this book, set in Cambridge in the spring of 1357, someone appears to be going around killing academics, and Brother Michael and Matthew are trying to unravel the mysteries. At the same time the city of Cambridge is under great unrest and the division between "Town and Gown" is very apparent. The situation in the streets is explosive. These books are authentic, and the characters are real. It feels like you're right there in the middle of the action as you read.