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Book Description
Brother Cadfael's abilities are tested to the limit in this reissue of the second Cadfael chronicle.
Product Description
In the summer of 1138, war between King Stephen and the Empress Maud takes brother Cadfael from the quiet world of his garden to the bloody battlefield. Not far from the safety of the Abbey walls, Shrewsbury Castle falls, leaving its ninety-four defenders loyal to the empress to hang as traitors. With a heavy heart, Brother Cadfael agrees to bury the dead, only to make a grisly discovery: ninety-five bodies lie in a row, and the extra corpse tells Cadfael that the killer is both clever and ruthless. But one death among so many seems unimportant to all but the good Benedictine. He vows to find the truth behind disparate clues: a girl in boys' clothing, a missing treasure, and a single broken flower - the tiny bit of evidence that Cadfael believes can most easily expose a murderer's black heart . . .
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The second Cadfael novel. A year has passed. In 1138 Shrewsbury is paying a heavy price for siding more with Empress Maud than King Stephen as the two battle for the throne. Hitherto Stephen's leniency has been misinterpreted as weakness. No misunderstanding this time - all 94 captured from the castle are promptly hanged.
The Abbey insists due respect be paid to the dead, Cadfael delegated to supervise. Suddenly a puzzle. 95 bodies? Shockingly the war has been used as a cover for murder. Stephen is outraged. Cadfael vows to track down the culprit. With the town in such turmoil, this is quite a task....
Cadfael himself is one of literature's happiest creations - tending herbs at the Abbey a far cry from his decades as soldier and ship captain (complete with romantic interludes). Very much of the world, he is no fool - an acute observer who sees things as they truly are.
Ellis Peters clearly has a great regard for the period, it portrayed with a wealth of detail that fascinates. As in the first novel, she skilfully interweaves two love stories and a killing that intrigues. Especially well handled is the cat and mouse game played by Cadfael and his prime suspect - its outcome surprising. The hard to please may accuse her of rose-coloured spectacles, the times perhaps a little idealized. They may declare the last minute witness a cliche, the climax melodramatic.
Most, however, will savour an exceptionally enjoyable read, its end immensely satisfying.
Warmly recommended.
The Abbey insists due respect be paid to the dead, Cadfael delegated to supervise. Suddenly a puzzle. 95 bodies? Shockingly the war has been used as a cover for murder. Stephen is outraged. Cadfael vows to track down the culprit. With the town in such turmoil, this is quite a task....
Cadfael himself is one of literature's happiest creations - tending herbs at the Abbey a far cry from his decades as soldier and ship captain (complete with romantic interludes). Very much of the world, he is no fool - an acute observer who sees things as they truly are.
Ellis Peters clearly has a great regard for the period, it portrayed with a wealth of detail that fascinates. As in the first novel, she skilfully interweaves two love stories and a killing that intrigues. Especially well handled is the cat and mouse game played by Cadfael and his prime suspect - its outcome surprising. The hard to please may accuse her of rose-coloured spectacles, the times perhaps a little idealized. They may declare the last minute witness a cliche, the climax melodramatic.
Most, however, will savour an exceptionally enjoyable read, its end immensely satisfying.
Warmly recommended.
Format:Paperback
Apparently, after writing A Morbid Taste for Bones, Ellis Peters was not planning to use her detective, Brother Cadfael, again. However, having devised the plot for One Corpse Too Many, she realised how useful he could be and thus the 21 volume series was born.
In this book civil war is raging with Stephen and Maud battling for the crown. Stephen is besieging Shrewsbury Castle and, incensed by their defiance, once he has broken in he has all the garrison hanged from the ramparts. Brother Cadfael is sent by the Abbot to arrange a seemly burial for the executed rebels. On counting the corpses, he finds there is one too many and that one has been garrotted, not hanged.
As the new helper in his herbarium is the disguised daughter of one of Maud's most powerful supporters and her father escaped from the besieged castle, Cadfael is drawn into the murder mystery and the reader experiences a version of mediaeval life which is alluring if not perhaps totally realistic. Here noble men are incorruptible, justice is always done and even the beggars and lepers seem sanitised.
But nobody who has wandered into Cadfael's herbarium or smelt the crushed herbs on a warm summer afternoon in his garden will be over-critical of Ellis Peter's version of twelfth century England/Wales. It is an irresistible journey into the past.
In this book civil war is raging with Stephen and Maud battling for the crown. Stephen is besieging Shrewsbury Castle and, incensed by their defiance, once he has broken in he has all the garrison hanged from the ramparts. Brother Cadfael is sent by the Abbot to arrange a seemly burial for the executed rebels. On counting the corpses, he finds there is one too many and that one has been garrotted, not hanged.
As the new helper in his herbarium is the disguised daughter of one of Maud's most powerful supporters and her father escaped from the besieged castle, Cadfael is drawn into the murder mystery and the reader experiences a version of mediaeval life which is alluring if not perhaps totally realistic. Here noble men are incorruptible, justice is always done and even the beggars and lepers seem sanitised.
But nobody who has wandered into Cadfael's herbarium or smelt the crushed herbs on a warm summer afternoon in his garden will be over-critical of Ellis Peter's version of twelfth century England/Wales. It is an irresistible journey into the past.
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