An Unholy Alliance (Matthew Bartholomew Chronicles) [Mass Market Paperback]

Susanna Gregory (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 2003 | Series: Matthew Bartholomew Chronicles (Book 2)

In 1350, Cambridge lies ravaged by the Black Death. Crime flourishes too—three harlots are found with slit throats and branded feet, a friar dies rifling a strongbox full of college chronicles, and the Vice Chancellor of the University vanishes from his sick chamber with all its furnishings. Now the Chancellor calls on the deductive skill of Matthew Bartholomew, Master of Medicine. Busy enough already with the teaching and practice of new techniques, Bartholomew welcomes the investigative help of portly Brother Michael—a shrewd and merry monk, not unduly shocked by sins of the flesh. And soon—from an exotic poison to a surge of devil worship, from a grisly exhumation to a sweetheart's dying words—they are on a tangled and perilous trail of conspiracy and obsession.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In mid-14th century Cambridge, still reeling in the aftermath of the Black Death, an uneasy town-gown relationship deteriorates with the murders of three prostitutes and armed attacks on merchants. But it is the mysterious death of a Dominican friar in the tower of St. Mary's Church, killed while rifling the Cambridge University chest, iron-bound repository of University secrets and valuables, that pulls physician Matthew Bartholomew and Benedictine Brother Michael unwillingly into the fray. Ordered to solve the mystery by Chancellor Richard de Wetherset, Bartholomew discovers a poisoned blade in the chest's lock. Then Frances de Belem, to whom Bartholomew had nearly been betrothed as a child and who was now a shamefully pregnant longtime widow, is murdered in the same manner as the prostitutes. Rumors of witchcraft and covens meeting in the churches closed by the ravages of the plague combine with charges of corruption on the part of the unpopular sheriff to further complicate the issues. Throughout, Bartholomew attempts to teach the medicine he learned from an Arab physician in Paris to students who consider his notions heretical. The pseudonymous Gregory produces a lively and intelligent tale set vividly in turbulent medieval England.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Still reeling from the effects of the Black Death, the people of Cambridge are jolted by a series of murders. Physician Matthew Bartholomew and Brother Michael investigate the death of a friar, while the town sheriff ineptly scouts for the missing vice-chancellor, a wife-killer, and the slasher of several prostitutes. Bartholomew uses his medical knowledge and acute observation to good effect but must fight ignorance and witchcraft before finding the murderer. A believable medieval Cambridge, with muddy graveyards, fortified universities, and town/student antipathies. Recommended.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 406 pages
• Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group; New edition (June 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0751519359
• ISBN-13: 978-0751519358
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 4.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #252,512 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent part of an excellent series, October 18, 1999

By 

Cynthia L. Mclendon "czaerana" (Memphis, TN USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: An Unholy Alliance (Matthew Bartholomew Mysteries) (Paperback)

I've read all three of Gregory's Dr. Bartholomew mysteries available in the US. "Unholy Alliance," like the other two is fascinating and entertaining. Matthew Bartholomew is an engaging hero. Be aware however that the books have been published out of order in the US. The correct order is "A Plague on Both Your Houses," "Unholy Alliance," and "A Bone of Contention."

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Typical of the series, September 24, 2002

By 

kallan - See all my reviews

This review is from: An Unholy Alliance (Matthew Bartholomew Mysteries) (Paperback)

Two years or so after the events of "A Plague on Both Your Houses", Matthew Bartholomew is displeased to find himself once more investigating murders and mysterious goings on in Cambridge, 1350. This time, his investigations are not a matter of choice; he and his colleague from Michaelhouse, the Benedictine monk Brother Michael, have been ordered by the University Chancellor to get to the bottom of things.
There's a lot to like about Susanna Gregory's series about Bartholomew. She brings medieval Cambridge to life in all its turbulence and dirt, and incorporates all sorts of period detail so that it seems entirely natural, not like you're being given a lecture on how people lived then. She has created many likeable characters, without ever making them seem unrealistically modern in their sensibilities. Bartholomew, the physician and university lecturer and hero of the tales, is the best of these: thoughtful, dedicated, and kind, but also naive, temperamental, and rash. Other recurring characters, even those with bit parts, are similarly engaging. She really uses the University of Cambridge, having her characters investigate according to the rules of logic they have been taught, and making the colleges, students, and masters a strong part of her tales. Gregory also has some real skill at comic writing, which makes for the occasional hilarious interlude.
I read Gregory's books non-stop, they are that compelling, but I am not always satisfied when I finish them. I am not convinced the reader is given enough clues to figure things out. On the other hand, I practically never manage to work out any mystery novels I read, so maybe other readers don't have this complaint. The plots are very convoluted, so it can be hard to keep track of everything that's going on, and sometimes the denouement doesn't seem worth everything that's gone before. But again, that's perhaps just a personal judgement, rather than an actual flaw. The writing could sometimes be a bit more polished, and all the rhetorical questions do get on my nerves after a while.
"An Unholy Alliance" is amongst the best of Gregory's books. It is slightly different in tone to "A Plague on Both Your Houses", but that's not a criticism. It has two intertwined mysteries that it is becoming more and more urgent to have solved: an attempted theft from the University Chest which leads to a mysterious death, and the murders of the town's prostitutes. Bartholomew and Michael get to the bottom of the first mystery in a way they never expected. But will anyone believe Bartholomew when he proposes a solution to the second? The denoument is exciting, and the motives of the criminals and the way everything comes together at the end is believable and satisfying.
One reason I like Matthew Bartholomew as a character so much is because he's not a superman. He often puts the pieces together, but he rarely, if ever, does it all on his own. Nor does he always get it right, or know what to do in every situation, or prove himself able to handle anything and everything. These books are a team effort amongst the characters, and that is one of their strengths.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Second Book in the Series, January 24, 2007

By 

J. Chippindale (England) - See all my reviews

This review is from: An Unholy Alliance (Matthew Bartholomew Chronicles) (Mass Market Paperback)

Susanna Gregory is the pseudonym of a Cambridge academic who was previously a coroner's officer. Her series of mediaeval mysteries have gained a formidable following. This book is the second in the series and introduces the physician Matthew Bartholomew to the reader. There are now a number of books in the series and they are always eagerly awaited by the author's fans.

Besides practising medicine Matthew is also a teacher at a Cambridge University and his sometimes unorthodox treatment of his patients draws accusations of heresy from his more traditional, but less skilled colleagues.

The year is 1350 and we have moved on two years (A Plague on Both Your Houses). The people of Cambridge are struggling to overcome the effect of the Black Death. The countryside is overrun with bands of outlaws and the high death rate of the plague has taken many of the priests and monks and left their parishioners vulnerable to the many cults that are circulating in the wake of the plague.

At Michaelhouse Matthew Bartholomew has got the urgent job of training new physicians to replace those lost to the Black Death, but when the body of a friar is found in massive chest that houses the university's store of precious documents Matthew is called away from his teaching duties to investigate the strange death . . .