The Scold's Bridle

By: Minette Walters

Narrated by: Sharon Williams

Mathilda Gillespie's body was found nearly two days after she had taken an overdose and slashed her wrists with a utility knife. But what shocked Dr. Sarah Blakeney the most was the rusted metal cage obscuring the dead woman's face - a medieval instrument of torture called a scold's bridle grotesquely adorned with a garland of nettles and Michaelmas daises. What happened at Cedar House in the tortured hours before Mathilda's death?

Detective Sergeant Cooper, an elderly policeman nearing retirement, is under pressure from his superiors to bring in a verdict of suicide. And even Mathilda's daughter and granddaughter insist that illness drove her to commit the desperate, final act. Only Sarah and her husband, Jack, refuse to believe that the Mathilda they knew would have taken her own life. Then comes the reading of Mathilda's Last Will and Testament, which shocks her family into a stunned and bitter silence. For Dr. Sarah Blakeney has inherited everything.

©2007 Minette Walters (P)2009 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

Entertaining

Would you listen to The Scold's Bridle again? Why?

Not again but was well worth listening to one time. The story is good but sometimes I was unsure what the author wanted me to feel for the main character, although perhaps that was the point.

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

It wasn't exciting but isn't wasn't predictable either.

What does Sharon Williams bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

I have read the book. I found Sharon Williams voices to be very entertaining. She does an upper class voice like no other!

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

No, the book just toddles along. Enjoyable to listen to but did not evoke any particular emotion.

Not sure if the novel is overwrought

Or the reading. The strangled vowels of the American narrator would better suit a stilted 1950s beeb drama rather than a contemporary story. I was too irritated to listen attentively. Where was the director? Back in a baronial hall circa 1952?

Enjoyable!

When sharp-tongued, Mathilda dies in her home with a scold's bridle over her head, it looks like an apparent suicide, but the detective assigned to the case doesn't think it really is a suicide. Mathilda's GP, Dr. Sarah Blakeney is another that doesn't believe Mathilda would kill herself. After meeting Mathilda's daughter and granddaughter, both the detective and Sarah are even less inclined to believe the old women would kill herself. After the will is read, everything people thought they knew about Mathilda, change.
This was a well paced thriller that goes from the beauty of a doctors care to the cruelty within in a single family with too many secrets. Well written and read, this was an enjoyable mystery that will keep you guessing with all the twists.

hard to follow

the story was hard to follow as an audio book. The character voices weren't very distinctive. Also the flashback narrative at the end of each chapter should have been set apart somehow. I am happy that it was released as an audible book, however, because it was recommended to me buy a friend who was reading the physical book.

Very good story and good narrator

But, I’ve taken one star away because in the first two or three chapters the narrator’s voice kept echoing which was distracting. I was on the verge of giving up and requesting money back. However, I got hooked by story and hoped echo would disappear soon. It did and I was able to enjoy book.