In exchange for keep for life for himself, his wife and two servants, Gervase Bonel assigned his manor of Mallilie to the abbey of St Peter and St Paul at Shrewsbury. But within too short a time, Master Bonel was dying, poisoned by a concoction of Brother Cadfael's making. Whose hand did the deed, and why? Summoned to the bedside, Cadfael recognises Bonel's wife immediately: Richeldis, the girl Cadfael himself left to find glory on the battlefields of the Holy Land. Past misdeeds find present and deadly reckonings in this, the third chronicle of Brother Cadfael, Ellis Peter's marvellously created mediaeval detective.
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A more attractive and preposessing detective would be hard to find -Sunday Times
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Book Description
Past misdeeds find present and deadly reckonings in the third chronicle of Brother Cadfael, Ellis Peters' marvellously created medieval detective.
--This text refers to the
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First Sentence
On this particular morning at the beginning of December, in the year 1138, Brother Cadfael came to chapter in tranquility of mind, prepared to be tolerant even towards the dull, pedestrian reading of Brother Francis, and long-winded legal haverings of Brother Benedict the sacristan. Read the first page
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On this particular morning at the beginning of December, in the year 1138, Brother Cadfael came to chapter in tranquility of mind, prepared to be tolerant even towards the dull, pedestrian reading of Brother Francis, and long-winded legal haverings of Brother Benedict the sacristan. Read the first page
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
By Nicholas Casley
TOP 500 REVIEWER
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
This is the third instalment of the Cadfael series, written in 1980. It's now December 1138 and we swap the besieged town of Shrewsbury that was the centre of action in `One Corpse Too Many' for a Shrewsbury in peacetime. "It was a better world than it had looked in the spring, and an ending that improves on its beginning is always good news."
Monk's-hood is a poison, otherwise known as wolfsbane, which hints at the type of murder involved in this instalment. Without giving too much of the plot away, circumstances point to the murderer being a fourteen-year-old boy, but Cadfael considers that, "A hot-tempered, proud, affronted boy seemed to him a possible suspect had Bonel [the victim] been struck down with a fist or even dagger, but a very unlikely poisoner"; a poisoner's temperament is "secret, dark and bitter."
This Cadfael tale also has interesting complications arising when English and Welsh law meet over the question of inheritance.
As usual, Ellis Peters guides the narrative well in a good naturalistic style and natural justice runs its course at the end.
Monk's-hood is a poison, otherwise known as wolfsbane, which hints at the type of murder involved in this instalment. Without giving too much of the plot away, circumstances point to the murderer being a fourteen-year-old boy, but Cadfael considers that, "A hot-tempered, proud, affronted boy seemed to him a possible suspect had Bonel [the victim] been struck down with a fist or even dagger, but a very unlikely poisoner"; a poisoner's temperament is "secret, dark and bitter."
This Cadfael tale also has interesting complications arising when English and Welsh law meet over the question of inheritance.
As usual, Ellis Peters guides the narrative well in a good naturalistic style and natural justice runs its course at the end.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By Lorna
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Brought this for my Nan for Christmas and it arrived on time with no damage.
My Nan was very happy :)
My Nan was very happy :)
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
What can I say really? This book is about a gentleman who moves his family into the care of the monks at the price of him leaving his estate to them when he passes away. This naturally upsets the current benefactor of the will and suspicions arise when the gentleman is murdered by ingesting a poison which is part of a remedy created by brother Cadfael.
The story is well written - as usual - and is well paced. Well worth reading!
Format:Paperback
The third Cadfael novel. It is still 1138, Shrewsbury calmer now no longer the battleground between King Stephen and Empress Maud. The Abbey is without its gentle, aged Abbot Heribert - he summoned to London and almost certainly to be relieved of his post. Prior Robert deputizes - undoubtedly efficient, but ambitious and without warmth. A sudden death in one of the Abbey's guesthouses causes concern and embarrassment. Monk's-Hood is to blame, the ointment produced by Cadfael used to poison a partridge. Murder! Instantly the hunt is on for the victim's stepson Edwin, the two having just quarrelled. Edwin really the culprit? Cadfael is not so sure....
As ever, the novel delights - the humour, there in the first book, less so in the second, now more in evidence. Admittedly readers on this occasion may be ahead of Cadfael in identifying the killer but are far less likely to anticipate what happens after guilt is proved.
A particular strength is the characterization. Edwin and kindred spirit Edwy are fun. Cadfael himself is shown in a new light - unexpectedly faced with his great love of forty two years earlier. Especially appealing is his young assistant Brother Mark - gawky and shy when with others but blossoming under Cadfael's guidance, now a chatty source of interesting gossip and with a crucial part to play. Aloof Prior Robert, so cold and demanding, proves a formidable presence - aided and abetted by odious talebearing sycophant Brother Jerome. Even minor characters come over strongly - as when in Wales for the novel's dramatic climax.
Ellis Peters is adept at tying up loose ends. When we think she has finished, there is still one to come.... Read more ›
As ever, the novel delights - the humour, there in the first book, less so in the second, now more in evidence. Admittedly readers on this occasion may be ahead of Cadfael in identifying the killer but are far less likely to anticipate what happens after guilt is proved.
A particular strength is the characterization. Edwin and kindred spirit Edwy are fun. Cadfael himself is shown in a new light - unexpectedly faced with his great love of forty two years earlier. Especially appealing is his young assistant Brother Mark - gawky and shy when with others but blossoming under Cadfael's guidance, now a chatty source of interesting gossip and with a crucial part to play. Aloof Prior Robert, so cold and demanding, proves a formidable presence - aided and abetted by odious talebearing sycophant Brother Jerome. Even minor characters come over strongly - as when in Wales for the novel's dramatic climax.
Ellis Peters is adept at tying up loose ends. When we think she has finished, there is still one to come.... Read more ›
Format:Paperback
This was my first Ellis Peters book and once I got into it I finished it within two days, so it's a page-turner. It has some well-observed flashes of insight regarding human foibles such as pride and vanity, pleasantly in contrast with the supposedly relgious, uplifting context of the monastery. I take it that Ellis Peters is a pseudonmym for Edith Pargeter, certainly the text as a woman's touch that's hard to pin down; a certain indulgent attitude to the characters perhaps, the young men are described from the opposite sex's point of view (ahem! from my point of view that is) all bland and earnest and boisterous, perhaps there's a certain bitchery towards Prior Robert, who covets the position of Father Abbot.
The plot goes off piste for the final third, away from the monastery, and it perhaps lost me a little. Overall the writing reminded me of another medival book, Company of Liars, and while I got through it, I can't say I felt any worthier for it; it's a bit of a gossip of a book, a bit soft-edged, but I guess that's churlish seeing as like devouring a whole chocolate orange to yourself, you enjoy it at the time.
The plot goes off piste for the final third, away from the monastery, and it perhaps lost me a little. Overall the writing reminded me of another medival book, Company of Liars, and while I got through it, I can't say I felt any worthier for it; it's a bit of a gossip of a book, a bit soft-edged, but I guess that's churlish seeing as like devouring a whole chocolate orange to yourself, you enjoy it at the time.
By I. Holder
Format:Paperback
My first Brother Cadfael mystery. A very interesting, and entertaining, who-dunnit. I love the setting [12th Century] and Ellis Peters writes very well.
1 of 4 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Mass Market Paperback
I enjoyed reading this book, but it's not much of a murder mystery. The identity of the killer was obvious from quite early on, and it's so unconvincing that even Peters herself doesn't seem to believe it.
But on the plus side the unusual setting and protagonist gives it a lot of charm.
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