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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.… (more)
An entertaining read, with very good setting and characterization (although the way of thinking of some of the character was not very medieval). On the other hand, the mystery was somewhat lackluster. Few ingenious deductions in this one. ( )
Prior Robert of Shrewsbury Abbey convinces his fellow monks that they need the bones of Welsh Saint Winifred as a relic for the Abbey. Several of the brothers are selected to go to Wales to retrieve Saint Winifred’s remains, and Brother Cadfael is chosen because he speaks Welsh. The Shrewsbury party meets with some opposition from Rhisiart, an influential landowner, and then Rhisiart is killed. Brother Cadfael believes there is more to the murder than meets the eye, but he must tread carefully in his quest to unmask the killer lest his efforts cause more harm than good.
I started reading this series with the second book, One Corpse Too Many, because it was the first one that came into my hands. I was told by other LT members at the time that this was probably a good thing, because this first book lacks some supporting characters who make their first appearance in One Corpse Too Many. Having finally read the first book, I now know that the advice I received was spot on. This turned out to be a great way to experience this series – start with book #2 and treat book #1 as a prequel to pick up somewhere along the journey. ( )
I'm not sure why I picked up this book, it's certainly not my typical genre of reading. However, I was pleasantly surprised. This was a fun, easy little murder mystery that takes place in 12th century Wales. The local Welsh lord has been killed and all signs point to divine intervention. Brother Cadfael teams up with the lord's daughter to find the real killer.
I rarely read mysteries, but am glad this is a series because I would easily pick up another one for a change of pace. ( )
I've been vaguely aware of this series for years, but never actually picked one up. I lucked in to a bulk lot of the series, and picked this one up and read it in an afternoon. I really enjoyed it. There was enough mystery without there being excessive focus on the death, the characterisation was fabulous. Some aspects of what was going on were incredibly well telegraphed, while others I missed entirely.
And the title is a lovely pointed comment, but whether it is specifically the author, or Brother Cadfael, I never did pick. ( )
Pretty entertaining. I liked the historical setting a lot and the mystery stuff keeps the suspense up. Worth noting the mystery stuff is definitely not like a solvable puzzle or anything but it also doesn't pull any big tricks on you or anything so it's still interesting as a mystery. The characters are pretty charming and well written. I did find the regular extolling of the virtues of the Welsh pretty funny ( )
On the fine, bright morning in early May when the whole sensational affair of the Gwytherin relics may properly be considered to have begun, Brother Cadfael had been up long before Prime, pricking out cabbage seedlings before the day was aired, and his thoughts were all on birth, growth and fertility, not at all on graves and reliquaries and violent deaths, whether of saints, sinners or ordinary decent, fallible men like himself.
Quotations
“When I want to hear my echo,” said Brother Cadfael, “I will at least speak first.”
“God resolves all given time,” said Cai philosophically and trudged away into the darkness. And Cadfael returned along the path with the uncomfortable feeling that God, nevertheless, required a little help from men, and what he mostly got was hindrance.
Great darkness and constant, feeble light, the slow flowing of time from far beyond his conception to far beyond his power to follow, the solitude about him and the troubled and peopled world within, all these settled into their perpetual pattern, a steady rhythm as perfect as sleep.
“Both men and women partake of the same human nature, Huw. We both bleed when we're wounded. That's a poor, silly woman, true, but we can show plenty of poor, silly men. There are women as strong as any of us, and as able.”
He made a mistake, and there should be provision for everybody to make one fresh start.
Meet every man as you find him, for we're all made the same under habit or robe or rags.
“It's a kind of arrogance to be so certain you're past redemption.”
“When harried, we go as far as we dare, and with those we're sure of we dare go very far, knowing where forgiveness is certain.”
Miracles have nothing to do with reason. Miracles contradict reason, they strike clean across mere human deserts, and deliver and save where they will. If they made sense, they would not be miracles.
... virtually senile but doctrinally safe ... had the capacious if capricious memory of the very old
Last words
His bed-fellow won't grudge him a leaf or two from her garland!
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.
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Book description
(from the back of the book) In the remote Welsh mountain village of Gwytherin lies the grave of Saint Winifred. Now, in 1137, the ambitious head of Shrewsbury Abbey had decided to acquire the sacred remains for his Benedictine order. Native Welshman Brother Cadfael is sent on the expedition to translate and finds the rustic villagers of Gwytherin passionately divided by the Benedictine's offer for the saint's relics. Canny, wise, and all too worldly, he isn't surprised when this taste for bones leads to bloody murder. The leading opponent to moving the grave has been shot dead with a mysterious arrow, and some say Winifred herself held the bow. Brother Cadfael knows a carnal hand did the killing. But he doesn't know that his plan to unearth a murderer may dig up a case of love and justice... where the wages of sin may be scandal or Cadfael's own ruin.
Haiku summary
A body is found Cadfael finds strange circumstance And finds the killer - GS
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