Checkmate cover art

Checkmate

The Lymond Chronicles Book Six

 Preview

Audible Standard 1-month free trial

Auto-renews at $8.99/mo + applicable tax after 30-day trial. Cancel Anytime
Try for $0.00
More purchase options

Checkmate

Written by: Dorothy Dunnett
Narrated by: David Monteath
Try for $0.00

$8.99 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $24.84

Buy Now for $24.84

Penguin presents the audio edition of Checkmate by Dorothy Dunnett, read by David Monteath.

It is 1557 and legendary Scottish warrior Francis Crawford of Lymond is once more in France. There he is leading an army to rout the hated English from Calais.

Yet while Lymond seeks victory on the battlefield he is haunted by his troubled past - chiefly the truth about his origins and his marriage (in name only) to young Englishwoman Philippa Somerville.

As the French offer him a way out of his marriage and his wife appears in France on a mission of her own, the final moves are made in a great game that has been playing out over an extraordinary decade of war, love and struggle - bringing the Lymond Chronicles to a spellbinding close.

 Historical Thriller & Suspense Marriage Highlander War
adbl_web_anon_alc_button_suppression_t1

What the critics say

Praise for Dorothy Dunnett
A storyteller who could teach Scheherazade a thing or two about pace, suspense and imaginative invention
Marvellous, breathtaking
A masterpiece of historical fiction
One of the greatest tale-spinners since Dumas
Lashings of excitement, colour and subtlety
Vivid, engaging, densely plotted - are almost certainly destined to be counted among the classics of popular fiction
All stars
Most Relevant
As I said with the first audio book, Game of Kings, I read the set of six back in the 80's and 90's, borrowing them from the local library. I loved the story so much that I ended up purchasing the set of six. I lent them to a friend and she ended up, after reading them, purchasing a set for herself and her brother in Africa. I still have the books. I have read the stories 20 plus times. When I first read the books I realized I needed to leave Checkmate to read last, so that there was no "spoiler". After reading Checkmate I had to re-read the set to see if I could pick up any hints as to the final outcome - I was stunned when I came to the final outcome. Hearing the books has been a delight for me. It has also brought the story to life more - except the one spot when his heart stops for a heartbeat - I think I would have liked to have had local sound at that time - there are no spoken words in this scene - and when his heart misses a beat - the sound could have stopped - and then started up again when his heart started again - just as mine did when I first read that line.
My plans are in the near future is to listen to the books while I read along with the spoken words. I am going to so pamper myself.

so happy

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.