Amid a flood of pilgrims seeking solace in a saintly celebration, Brother Cadfael seeks the killer of a dear friendIn the year of our Lord 1141, civil war over England’s throne leaves a legacy of violence—and the murder of a knight dear to Brother Cadfael. In the name of justice Cadfael decides to uncover the strange and twisted tale that accompanies these travelers.

. And with gentle bud-strewn may, a flood of pilgrims comes to the celebration of Saint Winifred at the Abbey of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, carrying with it many strange souls—and perhaps the knight’s killer. Brother cadfael’s shrewd eyes see all: the prosperous merchant who rings false, his beautiful dowerless sister, an angelic lame boy, and two wealthy penitents.

Instead he unearths a quest for vengeance, witnesses a miracle, and finds himself on a razor’s edge between death and the absolution of love.

An Excellent Mystery The Chronicles of Brother Cadfael Book 11

As brother humilis’s health fails—and nothing can stop death’s lengthening shade—Brother Cadfael faces a poignant test of his discretion and his beliefs as he unravels a secret so great it can destroy a life, a future, and a holy order. Two monks seeking refuge bring with them a troubling mystery that will test Brother Cadfael’s beliefsIn the year of our Lord 1141, August comes in golden as a lion, and two monks ride into the Benedictine Abbey of Saint Peter and Saint Paul bringing with them disturbing news of war—and a mystery.

The strangers tell how the strife between the Empress Maud and King Stephen has destroyed the town of Winchester and their priory. What the link is he can only guess. What it will lead to is beyond his imagining. Now brother humilis, gaunt, and brother Fidelis, who is handsome, youthful, and very ill, comely—and totally mute—must seek refuge at Shrewsbury.

From the moment he meets them, Brother Cadfael senses something deeper than common vows binds these two good brothers.

Dead Man's Ransom The Chronicles of Brother Cadfael Book 9

Elis, a young welsh prisoner, is delivered to the Abbey of Saint Peter and Saint Paul to begin a tale that will test Brother Cadfael’s sense of justice—and his heart. The sheriff, ailing and frail, is brought to the abbey’s infirmary—where he is murdered. Suspicion falls on the prisoner, who has only his Welsh honor to gain Brother Cadfael’s help.

Brother cadfael must intervene when a prisoner exchange is interrupted by love and murder, in the Silver Dagger Award–winning medieval mystery series. But regaining her father means losing her lover. What no one expects is that good-natured Elis will be struck down by cupid’s arrow. In february of 1141, men march home from war to Shrewsbury, but the captured sheriff Gilbert Prestcote is not among them.

. By good fortune, it seems, the prisoner can be exchanged as Sheriff Prestcote’s ransom. The sheriff’s own daughter holds him in thrall, too, and she, is blind with passion. And cadfael gives it, not knowing the truth will be a trial for his own soul.

The Devil's Novice The Chronicles of Brother Cadfael Book 8

Outside the pale of the abbey of saint peter and Saint Paul, in September of 1140, a priestly emissary for King Stephen has been reported missing. But inside the pale, what troubles Brother Cadfael is a proud, secretive nineteen-year-old novice. Only brother cadfael believes in meriet’s innocence, and only the good sleuth can uncover the truth before a boy’s pure passion, not evil intent, leads a novice to the noose.

. Meriet, meek by day, is so racked by dreams at night that his howls earn him the nickname “the Devil’s Novice. Shunned and feared, Meriet is soon linked to the missing priestly emissary’s dreadful fate. Brother cadfael has never seen two men more estranged than the Lord of Aspley and Meriet, the son he coldly delivers to the abbey to begin a religious vocation.

From the edgar award–winning author: when a troubled novice is blamed for a priest’s disappearance, Brother Cadfael seeks to save his soul—and his life.

The Raven in the Foregate The Chronicles of Brother Cadfael Book 12

The housekeeper’s nephew, benet, is quite different—a smiling lad, as Brother Cadfael soon discovers, but, a hard worker in Cadfael’s herb garden, an impostor. Father ailnoth brings with him a housekeeper and her nephew—and a disposition that invites murder. Brother cadfael quickly sees that father Ailnoth is a harsh man who, striding along in his black cassock, looks like a doomsaying raven.

. Now brother cadfael is gathering clues along with his medicinals to treat a case of unholy passions, tragic politics, and perhaps divine intervention. When a harsh priest is drowned, brother cadfael discovers a long list of suspects, including a young man who isn’t who he claims to beIn a mild December in the year of our Lord 1141, a new priest comes to the parishioners of the Foregate outside the Abbey of Saint Peter and Saint Paul.

And when ailnoth is found drowned, suspicion falls on Benet, though many in the Foregate had cause to want this priest dead.

The Rose Rent The Chronicles of Brother Cadfael Book 13

When nature finally complies, a pious monk is sent to pay the rent—and is found murdered beside the hacked rosebush. He knows the lovely widow’s dowry is far greater with her house included, and she will likely wed again. The abbey’s wise herbalist, Brother Cadfael, follows the trail of bloodied petals.

Before cadfael can ponder if a greedy suitor has done this dreadful deed, another crime is committed. On that day the young widow perle must receive one white rose as rent for the house she has given to benefit the abbey, or the contract is void. Now the good monk must thread his way through a tangle more tortuous than the widow’s thorny bushes.

A late spring in 1142 brings dismay to the Abbey of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, for there may be no roses by June 22. The sleuthing monk unravels a thorny case of murder in this “accomplished whodunit meticulously wrought with a wealth of medieval detail” Booklist.

The Potter's Field The Chronicles of Brother Cadfael Book 17

With the arrival at the abbey of young Sulien Blount, a novice fleeing homeward from the civil war raging in East Anglia, the mysteries surrounding the corpse start to multiply. . The gifting of a field to the benedictine abbey goes from generous to ghastly when plows turn up a hastily buried bodyWhen a newly plowed field recently given to the Benedictine Abbey of Saint Peter and Saint Paul yields the body of a young woman, Brother Cadfael is quickly thrown into a delicate situation.

The field was once owned by a local potter named Ruald, who had abandoned his beautiful wife, Generys, to take monastic vows. Generys was said to have gone away with a lover, but now it seems as if she had been murdered.

The Heretic's Apprentice The Chronicles of Brother Cadfael Book 16

The mystery that unfolds grows deeper thanks to a mysterious and marvelous treasure chest in Elave’s care. . Charges of heresy and murder are complicated by the contents of a mysterious treasure chestIn the summer of 1143, William of Lythwood arrives at the Benedictine Abbey of St. Paul, but it is not a joyous occasion—he’s come back from his pilgrimage in a coffin.

When a violent death follows, Sheriff Hugh Beringar taps his friend Brother Cadfael for help. William’s body is accompanied by his young attendant Elave, whose mission is to secure a burial place for his master on the abbey grounds, despite William’s having once been reprimanded for heretical views.

An already difficult task is complicated when Elave drunkenly expresses his own heretical opinions, and capital charges are filed. Peter and St.

The Virgin in the Ice The Chronicles of Brother Cadfael Book 6

A monk embarks on a dangerous quest to find a trio of missing travelers in this medieval mystery by an Edgar Award–winning author. Why this holy man has been attacked and what his fevered ravings reveal soon give Brother Cadfael a clue to the fate of the missing travelers. Now cadfael sets out on a dangerous quest to find them.

Among them are two orphans from a noble family, and their companion, a boy of thirteen and an eighteen-year-old girl of great beauty, a young Benedictine nun. Cadfael is afraid for these three lost lambs, but another call for help sends him to the church of Saint Mary. A wounded monk, found naked and bleeding by the roadside, will surely die without Cadfael’s healing arts.

The road will lead him to a chill and terrible murder and a tale of passion gone awry. The winter of 1139 will disrupt Brother Cadfael’s tranquil life in Shrewsbury with the most disturbing of events. The trio never reaches Shrewsbury, having disappeared somewhere in the wild countryside. Raging civil war has sent refugees fleeing north from Worcester.

And at journey’s end awaits a vision of what is best, and worst, in humankind.

The Sanctuary Sparrow The Chronicles of Brother Cadfael Book 7

The cold light of morning, will show his supposed victim, still lives, however, the miserly craftsman, although a strongbox lies empty. Pursued by a drunken mob, the quarry is running for its life. Brother cadfael believes liliwin is innocent, but finding the truth and the treasure before Liliwin’s respite in sanctuary runs out may uncover a deadlier sin than thievery—a desperate love that nothing, not even the threat of hanging, can stop.

The sanctuary sparrow is the seventh book in the Chronicles of Brother Cadfael, featuring a “wily veteran of the Crusades. The historical mystery series earned ellis Peters a Crime Writers’ Association Silver Dagger Award—and a legion of devoted fans Los Angeles Times. In the gentle shrewsbury spring of 1140, the midnight matins at the Benedictine abbey suddenly reverberate with an unholy sound—a hunt in full cry.

Liliwin, a wandering minstrel who performed at the wedding of a local goldsmith’s son, has been accused of robbery and murder. When the frantic creature bursts into the nave to claim sanctuary, Brother Cadfael finds himself fighting off armed townsmen to save a terrified young man. Medieval monk brother cadfael races to save a young man he believes is falsely accused of robbery—in the Silver Dagger Award–winning mystery series.

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The Holy Thief The Chronicles of Brother Cadfael Book 19

Strangers seek refuge at the abbey as floodwaters rise, and a relic vanishes—in this “top drawer” mystery featuring the twelfth-century monk Chicago Sun-Times In the chill, rainy autumn of 1144, a body falls, two groups of visitors seek the hospitality of the Abbey of St. Among the first arrivals is brother Tutilo, a young Benedictine with a guileless face and—to Brother Cadfael’s shrewd eyes—a mischievous intelligence.

All of cadfael’s fears become manifest as rising floodwaters endanger the abbey’s most sacred relic, the remains of Saint Winifred. Peter and St. When the bones disappear and a dead body is found, Brother Cadfael knows carnal and spiritual intrigues are afoot. Now, in a world that believes in signs and miracles, Brother Cadfael needs his prayers answered—as well as some heavenly guidance to crucial clues—to catch a killer hell-bent on murder.

Paul, and brother Cadfael fears trouble has come in with them. The second group, his servant, a ribald French troubadour, and a girl with the voice of an angel, seems to Brother Cadfael a catalyst for disaster.