Death at the Priory cover art

Death at the Priory

Love, Sex and Murder in Victorian England

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Death at the Priory

By: James Ruddick
Narrated by: Alistair Petrie
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About this listen

 It took three tortured days in 1876 for Charles Bravo to die from the poison that burned its way through his body. The subsequent investigation revealed many people with a grudge against the young barrister. The dramatic inquest was covered in sensational detail by the press, but no one was convicted of his murder. Over a century later, James Ruddick draws on new evidence to solve one of the most famous murders in criminal history.©2009 James Ruddick (P)2009 Oakhill Publishing Ltd Murder True Crime Exciting Inspiring Scary Thought-Provoking

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All stars
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Of all the books I have listened to, this is, without doubt, one of the best. A true storey, excellently narrated by James Ruddick, who's voice has all the necessary levels and precise diction to hold your attention. The storey keeps you guessing until the very end. So good in fact, I will most probably listen again. Don't miss it.

Don't miss this fascinating true storey

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Factual, historical, gripping and informative. I loved every minute of it. Beautifully read.

Brilliant!

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A new take on a previously known story, at least to those with an interest in Victorian crime. This is a good listen if you enjoy books like that.
I enjoyed it but I may have been prejudiced as I knew the case before & also the area where it took place.

Re-run of a Victorian true crime

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As far a novels about past murders go, this one is good. The murder of Charles Bravo was never solved at the time but James has come up with a solution and it does hold water. I found it illuminating and intriguing and so good to have the back story revealed in detail. This was a different world with women at the very bottom of the chain when it came to justice and the need for a husband absolutely essential should one not have private money. But even with that, our 'heroine' could so easily have been found guilty and hung! Thank goodness the world has moved on. Am certain that DNA would have disclosed our murderer but alas, it was to be many years before that would be possible. So if you like to delve into mysteries of the past, then this one might just be for you.

A hundred year old murder mystery

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I really enjoyed this a good story and good narration. Very often reviewing of "evidence" with true stories of this type both so long after the events and from a more current mindset I find myself thinking the analysis is not always explained very well and is often flawed in some way. James Ruddick does very well in explaining how he approaches his subject and does so from predominantly from his knowledge of attitudes of the time ... in other words from what what iknown then as opposed to what we know now. I liked that.



Alistair Petrie is very easy on the ear and I enjoyed his narration style nothing there to irritate a very picky listener :)

Very Good Read

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What did you like best about Death at the Priory? What did you like least?

The 'performance' was great. Didn't know about the events it is based on so enjoyed finding out about that. Gave me lots of opportunity to think and ask questions, which is always good, such as, "Why didn't he find out more about X?" "What about Y?" "What happened about Z?"

Would you ever listen to anything by James Ruddick again?

Probably not, unless he stops putting himself into the centre of everything and stops presenting the act of researching as more important than finding stuff out.

Which scene did you most enjoy?

The bits where the story was actually elaborated, rather than him going, "And I have found stuff out no one knew about." (Which I'm not sure he did...)

If this book were a film would you go see it?

Yes. But only if someone else wrote the screenplay. Would actually make a brilliant film.

Any additional comments?

I think the problem with this for me was I was expecting something between Serial and Did She Kill Him? from the write up and the rave reviews and I just got quite a boasty author saying, "I rejected the sources everyone else has relied on and went to the original sources," but then the sources he 'rejected' were those of the trial, which he actually used quite a lot, and the 'fresh sources' seemed to be great, great nieces being interviewed about what their great aunt said about...


He makes a big deal about having been an English Literature graduate (he came across this story while preparing 'seminar papers' but I think he just meant he was an undergraduate at York University and this sets the tone for his boastful pomposity) so I think historical research may be out of his realm. He is also not just a journalist, but a 'broadcast journalist'...


The most pointless bit was where he said he went to The Priory and spent ages on how he persuaded the current tenants to let him in (clever him), how one of them was having a shower (like, so what?), it was 'a dark and stormy night', and he spent wafty time on his impressions of the place (but failed quite to get over the layout) and then he measured the rooms.No idea why this latter action was important. Maybe I fell asleep and missed something but nothing about room measurements seemed to have anything to do with his quite obvious conclusions, both in terms of the crime and his 'take' on historical analysis of women in Victorian Britain. This 'analysis' is a tiny bit embarrassing since he seems to present his 'insights' here as some kind of additional 'revelation'. Perhaps his discoveries about the socio-economic position of women in Victorian society were for him but his surprise that women had limited property rights and lacked liberty with regards their sexuality might not be for others.


Anyway, do get this if you like real-life crime stuff, but don't get too excited and try to ignore all the bits where he bangs on about his research processes. No great revelations but the story is interesting in itself and probably deserves a better elucidation down the line.

Not quite sure why people are so in love with this

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For anyone with an interest in crime mysteries this is a throughly engrossing experience! I absolutely recommend Death at the Priory!

Superb!

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This is an excellent book, which compares well with The Suspicions of Mr Whicher, placing it in a similar social context, of police officers being unable to do their work fully because of power structures within society. It is, like Summerscale's text, about identified people, where there are very long standing repercussions across time and place, where effects are fully recognised. Murder is often trivialised: not in this book. It is read with careful tone, not dramatised, with attention to meaning, I really enjoyed this audio book, and can highly recommend it those interested in social history, as well as true crime accounts.

Suspicious Death Investigated

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I
This is the best book I've read on the bravo mystery. Full of detail, not coy. Thoroughly researched and well narrated. Superb, thank you.

Excellent

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As well as the mystery surrounding Charles Bravo’s death, which is itself a story full of twists and turns, this book talks about Victorian life in a most interesting way. I could easily go back and listen again!

Fascinating insight into Victorian life

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