Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

  • A Vein of Deceit

  • The Fifteenth Chronicle of Matthew Bartholomew
  • By: Susanna Gregory
  • Narrated by: David Thorpe
  • Length: 15 hrs and 45 mins
  • 4.7 out of 5 stars (148 ratings)
Offer ends May 1st, 2024 11:59PM GMT. Terms and conditions apply.
£7.99/month after 3 months. Renews automatically.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
A Vein of Deceit cover art

A Vein of Deceit

By: Susanna Gregory
Narrated by: David Thorpe
Get this deal Try for £0.00

Pay £99p/month. After 3 months pay £7.99/month. Renews automatically. See terms for eligibility.

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £16.99

Buy Now for £16.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Listeners also enjoyed...

A Plague on Both Your Houses cover art
A Conspiracy of Violence cover art
The Chelsea Strangler cover art
The Executioner of St Paul's cover art
The Wolves of Savernake cover art
Cathedral of Bones cover art
The Unquiet Bones cover art
The First Horseman cover art
The Seeker cover art
Ironfoot cover art
A Time for Swords cover art
The Bookseller's Tale cover art
Wine of Violence cover art
The Queen's Head cover art
The Ashes of London cover art
A Mortal Bane cover art

Summary

There is something very amiss in the finances of Michaelhouse. Despite a new influx of well-heeled students, there is an acute lack of funds for the upkeep of the buildings, even for decent provisions. It is only when the brother in charge of the account books dies unexpectedly that some sort of explanation is revealed: he has been paying large amounts of money for goods the college itself has never received.

Although shocked by this evidence of fraud, Matthew is more concerned with the disappearance from his herbarium of a quantity of pennyroyal, a preparation known to cause a woman to miscarry, and a pregnant visitor to his sister's household has died from an overdose of pennyroyal. Had she meant to abort her child, or had someone else wanted to ensure she was unable to provide an heir to her husband's wealthy estates?

When Matthew learns that it was her husband who had received Michaelhouse's money for undelivered goods, he begins to search for other connections and exposes a very treacherous vein of deceit.

©2010 Susanna Gregory (P)2017 Little Brown Book Group

What listeners say about A Vein of Deceit

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    104
  • 4 Stars
    37
  • 3 Stars
    7
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    115
  • 4 Stars
    20
  • 3 Stars
    2
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    90
  • 4 Stars
    36
  • 3 Stars
    10
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

More of the same

This is the fifteenth Matthew Bartholomew book so most people listening to this book will know exactly what to expect - a decent and enjoyable historical murder mystery but not 'great literature'.

I thought the story drifted around a bit in this book and isn't as strong as some of the others. The whole thing seemed a bit too far-fetched and contrived. Plenty of foundation laying for future books.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

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

Enjoyable plot but too many murderers !

I always enjoy a brother Michael and matthew plot but I have to say I got a little lost on the number of murderers. Prefer fewer baddies and a less intricate plot.
Don’t listen to this unless you have read or listened to some of the earlier books.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

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

The history and atmosphere of medieval Cambridge and Suffolk.

Too many murders! Was murder so prolific in those days? Also, Matthew is unusually lucky in evading injury or death!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

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

Very Enjoyable tale.

Unlike most stories this did involve the death of a pregnant women and her unborn baby. Was the cause poison or suicide?
Also a lot more evil doings taking place, with a large number of suspects
I very much enjoyed this book.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

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

good listen

Another complex adventure for Brother Michael and doctor Matthew. Truly enjoyed listening to this book.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

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

The Journey is the Enjoyment

This is my fifteenth Matthew Bartholomew listen/read. In these I like the steady progression and enjoy the wait for the complicated knot of goings-on that test the listener/reader in unravelling who really did what. The narrator/performer is crystal clear in diction though I do find his characterisations outside of main repeating characters can sound in the family of these. It is not an issue limited to this performer, and Susanna Gregory does provide so many new characters to include, so perhaps it is hardly surprising. Speaking of which there were several surprises, the biggest surprise in this chronicle was really so and then left slipping off the end of a cliff at the chronicles conclusion. (Do not cheat!) I have steeled myself not to rush into the next next chronicle to see if I learn more, and I really want to. Listeners to the series are often wedded to them from start to finish, There is much that is rewarding, though you have to accept that daily medieval existence was austere.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

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

Another medieval murder trail

Perhaps not my favourite story inbthe series, and left with an odd ending. vut I guess thats what keeps me comung back for more to see what happens next.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

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

What??

A very complicated mystery but also very enjoyable. I love the characters in these novels but apart from the main protagonists they don’t seem to last longer than a few books so don’t get used to them!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!