Ellis Peters

On an expedition to acquire a saint's remains, Brother Cadfael instead finds intrigue and murder It is 1137, and the ambitious head of Shrewsbury Abbey wishes to acquire the remains of Saint Winifred for the glory of his Benedictine order. Brother Cadfael is part of the expedition sent to the saint's final resting place in Wales, where he finds the villagers divided over the Benedictines' quest. When the leading opponent to moving the grave is shot dead with a mysterious arrow, some believe Winifred herself delivered the blow. Brother Cadfael knows that an earthly hand did the killing. But he doesn't know that his plan to root out a murderer may dig up a case of love and justice, where the waves of sin may be scandal—or his own ruin.

A Morbid Taste for Bones

The fourth anniversary of the transfer of Saint Winifred's bones to the Abbey at Shrewsbury is a time of celebration for the 12th-century pilgrims gathering from far and wide. In distant Winchester, however, a knight has been murdered. Could it be because he was a supporter of the Empress Maud, one of numerous pretenders to the throne? It's up to herbalist, sleuth, and Benedictine monk Brother Cadfael to track down the killer in the pious throng.

The Pilgrim of Hate

When he comes to the aid of his old friend, Sheriff Hugh Beringar, twelfth-century sleuth Brother Cadfael becomes embroiled in a case involving a mysterious treasure, murder, and charges of heresy

The Heretic's Apprentice

When the monks inherit the field of a local potter and discover the corpse of a murdered woman while plowing, Brother Cadfael is called upon to solve the mystery

The Potter's Field

In honor of her husband, young, beautiful, and wealthy widow Judith Perle donates a house to the Abbey at Shrewsbury--for the annual rent of one white rose. Judith has no shortage of suitors, and if she remarries, her dowry would be all the greater if the house were returned due to non-payment of rent. So when a priest charged with delivering the rose is found murdered, and the rose bush is found hacked to pieces, Brother Cadfael finds he must root out a killer.

The Rose Rent

English monk and detective Brother Cadfael welcomes the excitement of a diplomatic excursion to Wales until he is captured by a vengeful Danish prince

The Summer of the Danes

The year is 1142, and all England is in the iron grip of a civil war. And within the sheltered cloisters of the Benedictine Abbey of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, there begins a chain of events no less momentous than the political upheavals of the outside world. First, there is the sad demise of Richard Ludel, Lord of Eyton, whose ten year old son and heir, also named Richard, is a pupil at the Abbey. Supported by the Abbot Radulfus, the boy refuses to surrender his new powers to Dionysia, his furious, formidable grandmother. A stranger to the region is the hermit Cuthred, who enjoys the protection of Lady Dionysia, and whose young companion Hycacinth, befriends Richard. Despite his reputation for holiness, Cuthred's arrival heralds a series of mishaps for the monks. When Richard disappears and a corspe is found in Eyton forest, Brother Cadfael is once more forced to leave the tranquility of his herb garden and devote his knowledge of human nature to tracking down a ruthless murderer.

The Hermit of Eyton Forest

In the winter of 1142, snow blankets the Bendictine Abbey of Saint Peter and Saint Paul causing damage to the guest hall, and the brothers must repair its roof before the danger worsens. The treacherously icy conditions are to prove nigh fatal for Brother Haulin when he slips from the roof in a terrible fall, sustaining such grave injuries that he makes his deathbed confession to the Abbot and Brother Cadfael. A startling story of trespasses hard for God or man to forgive emerges. But Haulin does not die. On his recovery, he sets out on a journey of expiation, with Cadfael as his sole companion. An arduous trip, it leads to horrifying discoveries, and to murder...

The Confession of Brother Haluin

The Leper of Saint Giles

During the bitter November of 1139, civil war brings refugees to Shrewsbury in search of sanctuary. But two orphans and their companion, a nun, do not arrive from Worcester as planned, and Brother Cadfael is despatched from the Abbey to try and locate them.

The Virgin In The Ice

In the hot, dry August of 1141, England is still torn by civic strife. Amidst the carnage the Abbey of Hyde Meade is totally destroyed;its resident brothers dispersed, finding refuge in the Abbey of Shrewsbury. But Brother Cadfael realizes that two of these refugees are not all that they appear to be.

An Excellent Mystery

In the autumn of 1140 the Benedictine monastery at Shrewsbury finds its new novice Meriet Aspley a bit disturbing. The younger son of a prominent family, Meriet is meek and biddable by day, but his sleep is rife with nightmares so violent that they earn him the name of "Devil's Novice". Shunned by the other monks, Aspley attracts the concern of Brother Cadfael. Then a body appears, that of a young priest last seen at the Aspley estate. Can Meriet be involved in the death? As events take a sinister turn, it falls to Brother Cadfael to detect the truth.

The Devil's Novice

In the battle of Lincoln, 1141, the Sheriff of Shropshire is captured by the Welsh forces of the Empress Maud. The county proposes to exchange him for a young Welsh nobleman. But when the Sheriff is murdered only Brother Cadfael can save the captive from retaliation.

Dead Man's Ransom

November, 1145. The bitter rift between King Stephen and Empress Maud at last has a chance of reconciliation. Brother Cadfael is faced with a shocking revelation: one of the hostages is his illegitimate son.

Brother Cadfael's Penance

In the gentle Shrewsbury spring of 1140 the midnight matins at the Benedictine abbey suddenly reverberates with an unholy sound - a hunt in full cry. Pursued by a drunken mob, the quarry is running for its life. 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. Accused of robbery and murder is Liliwin, a wandering minstrel who performed at the wedding of the local goldsmith's son. But his supposed victim, the miserly craftsman, is still alive, although a strongbox lies empty. Brother Cadfael believes that 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

In early 1145, subsiding flood waters reveal a robbery has been committed on church grounds, and Brother Cadfael thinks the robbery is connected to a murder.

The Holy Thief

When a merchant bound for St. Peter's Fair is found with a slender dagger piercing his heart, Brother Cadfael is on the case. Two murders later, he realizes that no one--least of all the merchant's lovely niece--is safe. "Colorful, convincing details on the workings of a medieval fair".--Kirkus Reviews.

Saint Peter's Fair

Christmas 1138, a local dignitary is poisoned with one of the herbalist's own concoctions and Brother Cadfael has to defend himself against charges of murder.

Monk's Hood

Gervase Bonel, with his wife and servants, is a guest of Shrewsbury Abbey of Saint Peter and Saint Paul when he is suddenly taken ill. Luckily, the Abbey boasts the services of clever and kindly Brother Cadfael, a skilled herbalist. Cadfael hurries to the man's bedside, only to be confronted by two very different surprises. In Master Bonel's wife, the good monk recognises Richildis, whom he loved many years ago before he took his vows. And Master Bonel has been fatally poisoned by a dose of deadly monk's-hood oil from Cadfael's herbarium. The Sheriff is convinced that the murderer is Richildis' son Edwin, who had reasons aplenty to hate his stepfather. But Cadfael, guided in part by his tender concern for a woman to whom he was once betrothed, is certain of her son's innocence. Using his knowledge of both herbs and the human heart, Cadfael deciphers a deadly recipe for murder . . .

Ellis Peters

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