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The Frost Fair cover art

The Frost Fair

By: Edward Marston
Narrated by: Glen McCready
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Summary

December 1669. During one of the coldest winters in living memory, the Thames freezes over, and a frost fair is held on the thick ice. Architect Christopher Redmayne and puritanical constable Jonathan Bale are both visiting the fair when one of Bale's sons gets into trouble on the ice. They rescue the boy but in the process make a grim discovery - a frozen corpse....

©2003 Edward Marston (P)2004 W. F. Howes Ltd

What listeners say about The Frost Fair

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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  • K
  • 30-03-18

Alright

I apologise for the title but what can one say when it's the perfect word for a reading experience.

The characters are rather two dimensional - I never really felt a meaningful connection with any of them. The main protagonist, Christopher Redmayne is not only an implausible detective, he is implausible romantic hero. He is bland, his lady-love is dull and even the villains are unthreatening and less than interesting. Having said that, the plot was entertaining enough, in a light way and was the reason why I kept going to the end. I should also give credit to the narrator here, too, whose skill probably made the plot and dialogue more interesting.

As an historical novel it’s not instructive. I doubt much research was needed to make this novel sound plausible - you could possibly cut and past most of the description of clothing and put this in any era.

If you want an unchallenging read that might be an antidote to a stressful day then this is the perfect choice.

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6 people found this helpful

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

A pleasant enough romp

Not earth shattering but happy enough to spend a few hours of an annoying convalescence listening to it. I think this was probably the second or third of this particular series that I’ve listened to and I will look out for another if I’m laid up again in the near future. Good narration though.

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5 people found this helpful

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

Great whodunnit.

A fine detective romp, set in the late 1660's. Some nice twists and turns and red herrings, and a very pleasant, easy listen.

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Ho Hum.

Uninspiring characters, difficult to feel much sympathy for them.

The story has been told ten thousand times before.

Excellent narration, perfectly judged.

Pedestrian, but inoffensive

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3 people found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Great medieval yarn

A great story, set with a lot of historical fact intrigue and a very good plot I look forward to reading another in the series!

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1 person found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent narration

I was very impressed with the narration, the narrator brought the story to life, imbuing it with emotions I don't think I would have felt if I was just reading the book. Good story, didn't waste time with "he said, she said" and the narrator was good at changing voices to suit the different characters. Very little description of attire, in fact I found myself drifting into other era's because of that and was only brought back to the era the book was set in by the author occasionally reminding me of the building going on after the great fire. There only appears to be one other audiobook in this series, I hope there will be more ...

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

This is a great historical mystery

Kept me going right until the end - much better than many of the audiobooks I’ve paid for. It’s superb considering it’s free. Narrator is great and has a good range and the world building is also very good. Perfect at Christmas time.

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1 person found this helpful

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

50% mystery 50% Romance

The actual mystery could have been solved in a third of the book. The majority of the book seems to go over how every woman in London wants to marry the main character. Would have preferred more mystery and less fluff.

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1 person found this helpful

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

Really enjoyable book

Thoroughly enjoyed listening to this book. Very good plot and brought to life by the narrator.

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1 person found this helpful

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

Passed the time

Good/ average story, quite good period detail, fairly obvious twists & turns (although the denouement - is that how you spell it? - was more complicated than the rest of the book had promised). Minus marks for slightly off-putting narration: not the worst mouth noises of any narrator, but too many dry-tongued rasps to make for entirely comfortable listening. Was pleased to have the sewing machine going so I could hear the words but the extraneous noises were blocked out a bit! Definitely passed the time, but wasn't riveting.

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1 person found this helpful