Brother Cadfael medieval mysteries

The "irresistible" and "compelling" first novel in the historical mystery series featuring a Welsh Benedictine monk in the twelfth century (The Washington Post).
A Welsh Benedictine monk living at Shrewsbury Abbey in western England, Brother Cadfael spends much of his time tending the herbs and vegetables in the garden—but now there's a more pressing matter. Cadfael is to serve as translator for a group of monks heading to...

Silver Dagger Award Winner: In this medieval mystery, Brother Cadfael faces suspicion when one of his herbal ingredients is used to kill a man.
Gervase Bonel is a guest of Shrewsbury Abbey of Saint Peter and Saint Paul when he suddenly takes ill. Luckily, the abbey boasts the services of the clever and kindly Brother Cadfael, a skilled herbalist. Cadfael hurries to the man’s bedside, only to be confronted with two surprises: In...

Brother Cadfael must travel to the heart of a leper colony to root out the secret to a savage murder Setting out for the Saint Giles leper colony outside Shrewsbury, Brother Cadfael has more pressing matters on his mind than the grand wedding coming to his abbey. But as fate would have it, Cadfael arrives at Saint Giles just as the nuptial party passes the colony's gates.   He sees the fragile bride looking like a prisoner between her two stern guardians...

On a spring evening in 1140 Shrewsbury, the midnight matins at the Benedictine abbey suddenly reverberate 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 in 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...

Brother Cadfael must intervene when a prisoner exchange is interrupted by love and murder, in the Silver Dagger Award–winning medieval mystery series.
In February of 1141, men march home from war to Shrewsbury, but the captured sheriff Gilbert Prestcote is not among them. 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...

A late spring in 1142 has the Abbey monks dismayed, for there may be no roses by June 22nd. For three years, the wealthy young widow Judith Perle has rented her house to the monks for the price of a single rose each year. When nature finally complies, a pious monk is sent to pay the rent—and found murdered beside the hacked rose-bush. Without a rose, the monks' rental contract becomes void, adding greatly to the widow's dowry. But before Brother...

A monk’s journey of amends leads to murder in this “thoroughly entertaining medieval mystery” in the Silver Dagger Award–winning series (Publishers Weekly).
Winter arrived early in 1142, bringing with it a heavy snowfall. The safety of the guest-hall roof at the Benedictine Abbey of St. Peter and St. Paul comes into jeopardy, and the brothers are called upon to effect repairs. But the icy and treacherous...

The medieval monk digs for clues when a body is unearthed by a plow: “His detecting talents are as dazzling as ever” (Publishers Weekly).
When 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,...

Twelfth-century sleuth Brother Cadfael must solve a puzzling murder case and locate the sacred bones stolen from the Benedictine Abbey of Saint Peter and Saint Paul in Shrewsbury

Three vintage tales reveal how a former crusader became literature's greatest mystery-solving monk "Brother Cadfael sprang to life suddenly and unexpectedly when he was already approaching sixty, mature, experienced, fully armed and seventeen years tonsured." So writes Ellis Peters in her introduction to A Rare Benedictine-three vintage tales of intrigue and treachery featuring the monastic sleuth who has become the best-loved ecclesiastical detective...