A Poisonous Plot: The Twenty First Chronicle of Matthew Bartholomew

Matthew Bartholomew #21

by Susanna Gregory

The twenty first chronicle in the Matthew Bartholomew series.

In 1358, over a century after its foundation in Cambridge, the college of Michaelhouse is facing a serious shortfall of funds and competition from upstarts rivals such as Zachary Hostel. Their problems are made no easier by the hostility of the town's inhabitants who favour the university moving away to the Fens.

This simmering tension threatens to break into violence when a well-known tradesman is found dead in one of the colleges. Matthew Bartholomew knows he was poisoned but cannot identify the actual substance, never mind the killer. He also worries that other illnesses and deaths may have been caused by the effluent from his sister's dye works.

Torn between loyalties to his kin and to his college, he fears the truth may destroy both his personal and professional life, but he knows he must use his skills as a physician to discover the truth before many more lose their lives entirely.

'A first-rate treat for mystery lovers' ( Historical Novels Review )

'Susanna Gregory has an extraordinary ability to conjure up a strong sense of time and place' ( Choice )

Genres: Historical Fiction, Mystery, Medieval, Historical Mystery, Crime, Audiobook, Fiction

400 pages, Paperback

First published June 4, 2015

About the author

Susanna Gregory is the pseudonym of Elizabeth Cruwys, a Cambridge academic who was previously a coroner's officer. She is married to author Beau Riffenburgh who is her co-author on the Simon Beaufort books.

AKA Simon Beaufort

She writes detective fiction, and is noted for her series of mediaeval mysteries featuring Matthew Bartholomew, a teacher of medicine and investigator of murders in 14th-century Cambridge.
These books may have some aspects in common with the Ellis Peters Cadfael series, the mediaeval adventures of a highly intelligent Benedictine monk and herbalist who came to the Benedictine order late in an eventful life, bringing with him considerable secular experience and wisdom combined with a deal of native wit. This sets him apart from his comparatively innocent and naíve monastic brethren. His activities, both as a monk and a healer, embroil him in a series of mysterious crimes, both secular and monastic, and he enthusiastically assumes the rôle of an amateur sleuth. Sceptical of superstition, he is somewhat ahead of his time, and much accurate historical detail is woven into the adventures. But there any resemblance to the comparatively warm-hearted Cadfael series ends: the tone and subject matter of the Gregory novels is far darker and does not shrink from portraying the harsh realities of life in the Middle Ages. The first in the series, A Plague on Both Your Houses is set against the ravages of the Black Death and subsequent novels take much of their subject matter from the attempts of society to recover from this disaster.
These novels bear the marks of much detailed research into mediaeval conditions - many of the supporting characters have names taken from the documentation of the time, referenced at the end of each book - and bring vividly to life the all-pervading squalor of living conditions in England during the Middle Ages. The deep-rooted and pervasive practice of traditional leechcraft as it contrasts with the dawning science of evidence-based medicine is a common bone of contention between Matthew and the students he teaches at Michaelhouse College (now part of Trinity College, Cambridge), whilst the conflict between the students of Cambridge and the townsfolk continually threatens to escalate into violence.
Another series of books, set just after the Restoration of Charles II and featuring Thomas Chaloner, detective and former spy, began with A Conspiracy of Violence published in January 2006, and continues with The Body in the Thames, published in hardback edition January 2011.

Reviews

[Clemens Schoonderwoert · Rating 5 out of 5]

This delightful mystery is the 21st volume of the excellent "Matthew Bartholomew Chronicles" series from the wonderful author, Susanna Gregory.

Story-telling from this author is of a superb quality, all the figures who are featuring in this medieval mystery, whether they are real historical or great fictional, come vividly to life, while also the atmosphere, hostilities and natural surroundings of Cambridge are wonderfully described in these pages of mayhem and murder.

At the beginning of the book you'll find a well-drawn map of Cambridge, England, in the AD 1350s, where this mystery is taking place, while at the end you'll notice a very well documented Historical Note concerning thuis thrilling mystery.

The book starts off with a short prologue in September, AD 1358, that will show us the shortcomings of a physician called, Nigellus de Thornton, and these will play a significant part within the main story.

The main story begins in November, AD 1358, when quite early on when there are several deaths after having been consulted by Junior Physician, Nigellus, and suspicions and investigations about these lucrative consults will follow soon.

These unexplained deaths, also some murders and the animosity between town and gown after revelations by an ingenious strategist poisoner of bodies and minds that the University needs to move to the Fens, will result that our formidable duo of Physician, Matthew Bartholomew and his friend, the Benedictine monk, Brother Michael, will have to come into action again to solve these mysterious cases of death and at the same time to avert the trouble that is simmering in Cambridge.

What is to follow is an intriguing, action-packed and gripping mystery, where Matthew and Michael will have to do their utmost in their quest to identify the strategist who's behind all these deadly troubles, and so finally after some twists and turns, followed by a very well worked-out plot they will be able to reveal and catch the surprising culprit(s) in the end.

Highly recommended, for this another excellent addition to this formidable series, and what this volume is concerned I like to call it: "A Tremendous Lethal Mystery"!

[Pamela Shropshire · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even though I'm a fan of the series, I have to admit some of them are very much alike. This one basically continued the previous book - more conflict between the Colleges; between the Colleges and the Hostels; and between the University and the town.

Ms. Gregory throws an extra wrinkle in this one when she has Bartholomew's newly-widowed sister open a dyeworks and hire the town's prostitutes, er, now-former-prostitutes, to work in it. Both University and townspeople are upset because a) the smell is horrendous, and b) Edith sometimes dumps the waste products in the River Cam and several townspeople have recently died from unknown causes.

I have to say that I actually figured out the cause of the accidental deaths (as opposed to the murdered victims) fairly early on - Yay, me. I did not suspect the identity of the Strategist, however.

I'm almost caught up, and in spite of the similarities in the plot, I will keep reading this series because I do love the characters.

[Michael Gallagher · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s 1358 in Cambridge, there’s a brisk black-market trade in an expensive white powder called sucura, the townsfolk are up in arms about the scholars (so nothing new there, then), and people are dying in their droves. I enjoyed dipping my toe into the first Susanna Gregory book I’ve read.

[Carol · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was one of the best of the Series I have read. The plot trang true in terms of the conflicts between the scholars and the townsfolk and the superstitions of the Middle Ages in regard to illness, disease transmission and therapy as well as environmental pollution was fascinating. It was a good book also in that there were no major romantic intrigues to confuse the characters

[Nance Roepke · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ho-hum. After 22 books in the series, the stories are getting stale. It is just the same old silly characters running around pretty ineffectually until the end. Susan Gregory does a good job of maintaining the suspense but it is not enough to lead me to give it a higher rating.

[Katy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not bad if it's the only one of the series that you've read, but it increasingly feels like reading the same story over and over again.

[Suroor · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have been reading Susanna Gregory's Matthew Bartholomew series for years now (rationing them out), and this is one of my favourite crime series. Not least because of the detailed historical research that goes into each one of her books. They paint a vivid picture of Cambridge in the 1300s: the way people actually lived as well as the politics. It is a fascinating period because this was the beginning of science which came up against folk remedies and superstition.

This is brought to the fore by the main character, Matthew Bartholomew, who is a medic and a teacher of medicine, and who is constantly battling superstition, trying to give his poor clients the best care he can. His closest friend is Brother Michael, the Proctor of the university, and together they investigate murders.

In this book, someone is determined to set town and gown against each other. The town needs the university but also resents the scholars, and it does not take much for tensions to ignite.

I actually prefer these to the Cadfael series because they are more detailed and darker.

[Sharon Weyant-Muir · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anyone for apple wine?

Matthew's sister Edith, now widowed, has started a dyeworks employing the Frail Sisters. The stench and pollution to the river is causing trouble with the colleges and the townspeople both. A number of people have died from a debilitas thought to be caused by the dyeworks. Factions in the college have also arisen with many houses wanting to move out to the Fens. As always, Brother Michael and Matthew face numerous dangers, follow many false trials, but in this case the true hero might actually be Dickon! The one drawback I am having with this series is how Michael house is forever scraping by--one story they may be slightly better off, but in this they are almost doomed financially to closure. Imagine eating barley cakes made with sawdust! Beware: multiple deaths, multiple murderers! Great read!

[Mikeh5972 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another pleasant tale set in the Cambridge of the fourteenth century where many of the residents seem to have odd surnames. Cambridge seems to have been an extremely dangerous place at that time, the number of murders beating Midsomer Murders by the dozen. The townsfolk really did not like the university and the animosity between Town and Gown is drawn very clearly in this story. One wonders how Cambridge University ever survived. The number of characters in all these books is sometimes a bit baffling but this book was a pleasant if somewhat gruesome read.

[Shannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75 stars. Pretty good, lots of fun, nothing we haven't seen before. As is becoming common in the latter books of this stuff, the mystery leaves a lot to be desired, especially the why of everything and any clues we were supposed to get to help us solve it. There were some parts of the mystery that were painfully obvious and other parts for which there were no clues at all and we had no way to guess. I still really enjoyed the back and forth between everyone, but can we get back to Matilde one of these books please?

[Volare · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think this is one of the best books in the series. The action takes place almost entirely in Cambridge and involves many well-known characters. The false premise that the University will be leaving Cambridge to move to the Fens and Edith's new dyeworks shop cause much turmoil in the town between academics and townspeople. There are a lot of threads to untangle and some red herrings to deal with but as the Bard tells us, all's well that ends well.

[Sharon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Matthew and Brother Michael are concerned about numerous illnesses and deaths occurring in the town as well as the university. Tempers flare and tensions rise between citizens and scholars. The latest sweetener, sucura, has been taxed at 90% by the king but smuggled sucura is to be had in Cambridge at a price most folk can afford. Many are developing a sweet tooth.

[Jo Black · Rating 5 out of 5]

Twisty and Delightful

Another delightful book about the adventures of Matthew and Michael. I do so wish Edith’s story line showed her to be a bit less implacable. Her mission with the sisters was a wonderful twist - but she’s smart enough in previous books to know compromise is critical. Let’s see where she goes with the new business venture!

[Elissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm drawn to the medieval time period for some reason. This is a nice series about a 1300's Cambridge physician who gets drawn into murder with abnormal but interesting frequency. I love the historical tidbits I pick up along the way.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Good Read

Another memorable jaunt through the intrigue and violence of medieval Cambridge. Matthew and Brother Michael are like o!d friends and their adventures never fail to satisfy.

[Virginia Tican · Rating 5 out of 5]

People were dying of some undetected poison that could not be proven though all the victims exhibited the same symptoms before their deaths. At the same time, succura smuggling was rampant in Cambridge and was used to season food and drink. But in the course of Michael's and Matt's investigations, apparently the deaths were not just in Cambridge... the inmates at Barnwell Priory (known for their ale) just outside the town also had the same symptoms before they died. These tragedies were the product of a vengeful and warped mind deprived of delusional entitlement and given that there were no overt signs of poison on the victims' bodies... Michael again asked Bartholomew to do autopsies on the bodies.

[pauline holbrook · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great read

Another great read from Susanna Gregory. I have been reading these books for at least twent years and I never get tired of them. I love the characters Bartholomew and Michael. These characters are like old friends.

[Joan · Rating 2 out of 5]

The usual scenario. Town vs university. Matt and Michael go back and forth asking the same questions of the same people with the same answers until suddenly the villain is revealed by their own actions two chapters from the end.

[Jan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have not given this my usual 5 stars as I found the plot quite repetitive and I got slightly bored with all the different suspects

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another great mystery from Susanna Gregory, just didn't like it quite as well as some of the other books in the series.

[Gail · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'll be sad when I finish this series. It's become like visiting an old familiar friend.

And ohmygoodness Dickon! No spoilers, but he's such a great character!

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent historical murder mystery circa 1358 CE.

[Alison · Rating 3 out of 5]

Too long

[Own Timis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great Matthew Bartholomew tale. Again I was kept guessing until the end.

[Margaret · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just the thing to curl up with over Christmas. Susanna Gregory is masterful at conjuring up medieval Cambridge. The cold , the damp and the awful conditions(to us anyway) many of the fellows and students lived in. The main characters, a Benedictine monk, Michael, Senior Proctor to the university and his trusted friend, physician and corpse examiner, Matt, solve crimes on a very regular basis. The plots are sound and the characters are well drawn and often amusing. In this book people are dying for no apparrant reason and Matt`s sister is blamed because she has opened a dye works and is polluting the already hugely polluted river. Of course the doughty two finally solve the mystery very
satisfactorily.

[Nick · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have a lot of books on my to-read list so it is rare that I am "waiting" for a book to come out. However, I find myself growing excited when I hear a new Matthew Bartholomew novel is due for release, and for the first time in quite a few years, found myself dropping it straight to the top of my read pile on release.

Gregory does not disappoint. The twenty-first entry in the ongoing mystery series and Matthew is showing every bit of the wear from the previous books, completely disillusioned with love and personal matters but holding strong to the core of him, the love of healing.

Cambridge is once again nearly aflame as the always-simmering tensions between town and university are once again encouraged, this time by a devious and remarkably clever antagonist. With half of the university pushing to decamp from cambridge for the fens, and a large portion of the town calling for exactly the same thing, everyone is at each other's throats. Add to this a strange disease running rampant through the town, an arrogant but incompetent doctor recently arrived, a noxious dyeworks opened in the city by Bartholemew's own sister, Michaelhouse's near financial ruin and a steadily increasing bodycount, and the stage is set for what could well be the end of the university, if not the entire town.

With such high stakes, and tempers flaring all over Cambridge, not even priests are safe from attack.

There is a lot to love in this book for fans of the rest of the series, with one stand-out being a more visible role being played by Dickon, the Sheriff's wild son, now ten years old and dying his face red like a devil, with his hair fashioned into two tiny horns. He patrols by day with his father, terrifying scholar and townsman alike.

Anyone who is a fan of historical crime novels will love this book, though if you've never read any of this series before do yourself a favour and begin, as they say, at the beginning. The journey is worth it.

[Lorraine Montgomery · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the twenty-first book in Susanna Gregory's Matthew Bartholomew series. A Poisonous Plot takes place entirely in Cambridge after the death of Matthew's brother-in-law and revolves around tension between the various colleges and rioting over Matthew's sister's efforts to dye her own cloth rather than sending it out to be done, resulting in a dreadful stench in a respectable area of the town.

It is Hallow-Tide and time for a special debate called the disceptatio in which Michaelhouse is to take part against a new foundation called Zachery Hostel. There is great rivalry involved and members of the committee cannot agree on a topic — just as well since some members of the committee plan to give advance notice to the members of their debating team. Meanwhile, a new resident doctor has joined Zachery Hostel although his credentials are not the best — several of his prominent patients have died recently despite, or possibly because of, his care. People in the town and colleges are also dying (no pun intended) of poisoning as diagnosed by Matt, and townsfolk, students, and masters alike are inclined to blame Edith's new dye works. Fights are breaking out everywhere and Michael's hands are full trying to keep the peace while he and Matthew try to solve the mysterious death of a well-known brewer.

As always, Gregory evokes all the sights, smells, and bustle of medieval Cambridge and leads the reader on a merry and convoluted chase as clues and motives harry off in one direction after another, and, as usual, the mastermind is the last person you would suspect. Very much a 'comfort' read for me, usually devoured in a day.

[Jackie Cain · Rating 3 out of 5]

This series, detective stories set in the Middle Ages in the early years of Cambridge University, remind me that I am glad to be alive now not then! I really enjoy the little historical notes at the end of the book.
This episode had many of the ingredients of the series but it was a remarkably sad and miserable book, all about people sowing the seeds of discontent to try to achieve what they see as a greater goal. So, I can 't say I completely enjoyed this book.
I wonder if the author was drawing some parallels with recent politics in the UK but it was published well before Brexit and its campaign so I'm probably reading that into it!

[deni Tomgirl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well did find this hard going , but persevered and the ending wasn't bad, although I'd dissed out about halfway what the poison was. There were an awful lot of characters some with strange medieval names, so that confused me, also all the fighting and arguing between the colleges and with the towns people did annoy me, no one seemed to get on with work, except the women in the dye works, and the odd lecture and debate, they were just at each other's throats constantly. Ordered first in series from the library in hopes I can get some idea of the main characters, who really didn't come across well in this book.

[Beverly · Rating 2 out of 5]

Seems like Bartholomew and Brother Micheal spend all their time going off to interrogate someone but get stopped on the way by some other character and go off in pursuit of another line of inquiry. No real action until near the end.