The Chronicles of Brother Cadfael Volume One: A Morbid Taste for Bones, One Corpse Too Many, and Monk's Hood

by Ellis Peters

Overview

The first three novels in the award–winning medieval mystery series featuring the Welsh monk, herbalist, and crime-solver.

Benedictine monk Brother Cadfael, “wily veteran of the Crusades,” has a deep knowledge of herbalism he picked up in the Holy Land, and a skill for observing human nature—both blessings in dire situations (Los Angeles Times). This volume includes the first three books in the series that earned its author a CWA Silver Dagger Award:

A Morbid Taste for Bones

At Shrewsbury Abbey, Brother Cadfael tends herbs and vegetables in the garden—but now there’s a more pressing matter. He is to serve as translator for a group of monks heading to a Welsh town to collect the holy remains of Saint Winifred, which Prior Robert hopes will boost the abbey’s reputation as well as his own. But when they arrive in Gwytherin, some object to disturbing the grave—and one of them is killed by an arrow. Some believe Saint Winifred herself delivered the deadly blow, but Brother Cadfael knows better . . .

“Irresistible . . . compelling.” —The Washington Post

One Corpse Too Many

In 1138, war between King Stephen and the Empress Maud takes Brother Cadfael from his quiet garden into a battlefield of passions, deceptions, and death. Not far from the abbey, Shrewsbury Castle falls, leaving its ninety-four defenders to hang as traitors. With a heavy heart, Cadfael agrees to bury the dead, only to make a grisly discovery: one extra victim who’s been strangled, not hanged . . .

“A colorful and authentic medieval background.” —Publishers Weekly

Monk’s Hood

Gervase Bonel is a guest of the abbey when he suddenly takes ill. Skilled herbalist Brother Cadfael hurries to the man’s bedside, only to be confronted with two surprises: In Master Bonel’s wife, the good monk recognizes a woman he loved before he took his vows—and Master Bonel has been fatally poisoned by monk’s-hood oil from Cadfael’s stores . . .

“Each addition to the series is a joy.” —USA Today

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781504077040
Publisher:	MysteriousPress.com/Open Road
Publication date:	08/30/2022
Series:	Brother Cadfael Series
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	683
Sales rank:	47,127
File size:	19 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Ellis Peters is a pseudonym of Edith Mary Pargeter (1913–1995), a British author whose Chronicles of Brother Cadfael are credited with popularizing the historical mystery. Cadfael, a Welsh Benedictine monk living at Shrewsbury Abbey in the first half of the twelfth century, has been described as combining the curious mind of a scientist with the bravery of a knight-errant. The character has been adapted for television, and the books drew international attention to Shrewsbury and its history.   Pargeter won an Edgar Award in 1963 for Death and the Joyful Woman, and in 1993 she won the Cartier Diamond Dagger, an annual award given by the Crime Writers’ Association of Great Britain. She was appointed officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1994, and in 1999 the British Crime Writers’ Association established the Ellis Peters Historical Dagger award, later called the Ellis Peters Historical Award.
Ellis Peters is a pseudonym of Edith Mary Pargeter (1913–1995), a British author whose Chronicles of Brother Cadfael are credited with popularizing the historical mystery. Cadfael, a Welsh Benedictine monk living at Shrewsbury Abbey in the first half of the twelfth century, has been described as combining the curious mind of a scientist with the bravery of a knight-errant. The character has been adapted for television, and the books drew international attention to Shrewsbury and its history.
 
Pargeter won an Edgar Award in 1963 for Death and the Joyful Woman, and in 1993 she won the Cartier Diamond Dagger, an annual award given by the Crime Writers’ Association of Great Britain. She was appointed officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1994, and in 1999 the British Crime Writers’ Association established the Ellis Peters Historical Dagger award, later called the Ellis Peters Historical Award.