An excellent mystery : the eleventh chronicle of Brother Cadfael

Format:

Book

Title:

An excellent mystery : the eleventh chronicle of Brother Cadfael

Author:

Peters, Ellis, 1913-1995, author.

ISBN:

9780688062507

Edition:

First U.S. edition.

Publication:

New York : Williams Morrow and Company, [1985]

Physical Description:

190 pages ; 22 cm

Number in series:

Summary:

In the sunny month of August, A.D. 1141, Brother Cadfael is presented with a double mystery set against the larger drama enacted by King Stephen and his arch-enemy, cousin, and rival claimant to the throne, the Empress Maud. In the bloody struggle for the crown, Henry of Blois, Bishop of Winchester and papal legate, is drawn into a contretemps that will result in a town laid waste, a nunnery burned to the ground, churches razed, and the priory of Hyde Mead engulfed in flames. Hence the arrival of Brothers Humilis and Fidelis to the abbey of St. Peter and St. Paul at Shrewsbury. Humilis, the elder of the pair, has entered the cloister because of the profound injuries he suffered during the Crusades. His companion and friend is a retiring youth whose perfect devotion to Humilis is made all the more poignant by his muteness. Concerned with the fragile condition of Humilis's health, Cadfael comes to his assistance with his prodigious skills as an herbalist -- and as a friend. - Jacket flap.

Subject(s):

Cadfael, Brother (Fictitious character) -- Fiction.

Herbalists -- Fiction.

Monks -- Fiction.

Great Britain -- History -- Stephen, 1135-1154 -- Fiction.

Shrewsbury (England) -- Fiction.

Geographic Term:

Great Britain -- History -- Stephen, 1135-1154 -- Fiction.

Shrewsbury (England) -- Fiction.

England -- Shrewsbury.

Great Britain.

Genre:

Detective and mystery fiction.

Holds:

Available:*

Library	Call Number	Status
Searching... Mount Angel Public Library	PETERS Brother Cadfel #11	Searching... Unknown

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Summary

In 1141, England is still in the midst of the strife caused by the struggle for the throne between King Stephen and the Empress Maud. Among its victims the Abbey of Hyde Meade, totally destroyed. Two of its brothers seek refuge in Shrewsbury: Brother Humilis, who abandoned his intended and joined the cloister after crippling injuries received on the Crusade; and his devoted attendant, the mute Fidelis. All is well until Humilis' former squire decides to pay court on his own account to the girl who was his lord's affianced bride.

Author Notes

Ellis Peters is the pseudonym for Edith Pargeter, who was born in Horsehay, Shropshire. She was a chemist's assistant from 1933 to 1940 and participated during World War II in the Women's Royal Navy Service. The name "Ellis Peters" was adopted by Edith Pargeter to clearly mark a division between her mystery stories and her other work. Her brother was Ellis and Petra was a friend from Czechoslovakia, thus the name. She came to writing mysteries, she says, "after half a lifetime of novel-writing." Her detective fiction features well-rounded, knowledgeable characters with whom the reader can empathize.

Her most famous literary creation is the medieval monk Brother Cadfael. The blend of history and the formula of the detective story gives Peters's works their popular appeal. As detective hero, Brother Cadfael remains faithful to the requirements of the formula, yet the historical milieu in which he operates is both fully realized and well textured. Peters received the Mystery Writers of America's Edgar Award in 1963 and the Crime Writers Association's Silver Dagger Award in 1981.

(Bowker Author Biography)

Reviews (1)

Kirkus Review

Eleventh of the author's civilized, imaginative forays into 12th-century England and, once again, we have the clever sleuthing of warm, wise Benedictine monk Brother Cadfael (The Sanctuary Sparrow, etc.). Driven out by civil war in the north, Brother Humilus--hero of the Crusades, now dying of old wounds and devotedly attended by young, mute Brother Fidelis--finds refuge in Cadfael's abbey at Shrewsbury. Humilus had released his promised bride, Julian Cruce, three years before, upon entering the brotherhood. Now his protÉgÉ and one-time lieutenant Nicholas Harnage seeks to marry her and finds she has disappeared--her family thinking her safe in the convent she had decided to enter, the convent knowing nothing of her. How the lost is found, with numerous surprising ramifications that bear on the puzzle, tests Cadfael's wits and ingenuity to the limit and provides the reader with unflagging tension, which builds to a sweeping, satisfying climax. Peters never disappoints--her absorbing, superbly crafted stories are one of the oases in a desert of mediocrity. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.