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    The Devils of Cardona
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    The Devils of Cardona
    Unavailable
    The Devils of Cardona
    Audiobook13 hours

    The Devils of Cardona

    Written by Matthew Carr

    Narrated by Robertson Dean

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    The gripping story of the dangerous high-stakes worlds of politics and religion in sixteenth-century Spain as a mysterious Muslim killer retaliates against the Catholic Church.

    In March 1584, the priest of Belamar de la Sierra, a small town in Aragon near the French border, is murdered in his own church. Most of the town's inhabitants are Moriscos, former Muslims who converted to Catholicism. Anxious to avert a violent backlash on the eve of a royal visit, an adviser to King Philip II appoints local magistrate Bernardo de Mendoza to investigate. A soldier and humanist, Mendoza doesn't always live up to the moral standards expected of court officials, but he has a reputation for incorruptibility.

    From the beginning, Mendoza finds almost universal hatred for the priest. And it isn't long before he's drawn into a complex and dangerous world in which greed, fanaticism, and state policy overlap. And as the killings continue, Mendoza's investigation is overshadowed by the real prospect of an ethnic and religious civil war.

    By turns an involving historical thriller and a novel with parallels to our own time, The Devils of Cardona is an unexpected and compelling read.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateJun 14, 2016
    ISBN9780735284609
    Unavailable
    The Devils of Cardona
    Author

    Matthew Carr

    Matthew Carr is author of several books of nonfiction, including Blood and Faith: The Purging of Muslim Spain, and a novel, The Devils of Cardona. He has written for a variety of publications, including the New York Times, The Observer, The Guardian, and others. He lives in the United Kingdom.

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    Reviews for The Devils of Cardona

    3.5/5

    24 ratings3 reviews

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    • 5/5
      I can always tell when I like a book, because as soon as I finish, I go back and read the ending again. The Devils of Cardona by Matthew Carr fits the bill.This historical thriller set in late 16th century Spain sends Bernardo de Mendoza to a small town in the the Pyrenees to investigate the murder of the local priest and a series of nasty murders. As Medoza and his team investigates, they must fend off bandits, a rapacious local baron, and the Inquisition. Refreshingly, the book doesn't go all "CSI" on the subject, sticking to criminal investigation procedures from the 16th century.By turns puzzling and thrilling, Mendoza's adventures culminate in a wild series of events that include a small battle and an ambush. But Mendoza is determined to bring justice to the area of Cardona and in the end, he succeeds.
    • 4/5
      A first novel but a fine one. Licentiate Mendoza, an investigating judge, is sent by court officials to investigate the brutal murder of what turns out to be a totally corrupt priest in Aragon. The plot, although it starts slowly at first, turns out to be immensely complex as the Marquis de Villareal is using/manipulating corrupt baron and his henchmen to try to acquire a huge estate/region (Cardona) that is run by a countess whose husband the Marquis had had murdered several years earlier. Stirring up the plot further are the tensions and suspicions of the New Christians, converts from Islam, Moriscos, by the Old Christians and the Inquisition. These are also manipulated and boil over. Mendoza, his adventurer cousin, his young ward (a Morisco he had rescued in Granada as a baby, and several others must figure out the complex plot that is tearing northeastern Spain (by the Pyranees) apart. A terrific read!
    • 3/5
      The Devils of Cardona sounded like a possible Name of the Rose, it's written by an academic who knows the period well. Unfortunately it often read like a comic book, jumping from one action scene to the next. Still it has a few redeeming features, such as showing how wars of religion are often about something else: money and power. Some period costume details. But it was so caught up in being a thriller it can only be classified as a light work of entertainment.