Ellis Peters' Brother Cadfael novels are beloved for good reason. Brother Cadfael is a monk with a past. On retiring to a monastery, he took up the post of infirmarian. With his vast knowledge of herbcraft, he tends not only to the monks' ills, but to those of the townfolk. His worldly past and his hard-won wisdom about people and their motivations often puts him at odds with his brethren who believe monks should be more rigid in their adherence to the monastic rule. It also makes him particularly able to sort out the tangle of lies and conflicts surrounding a case of murder.
Who else has read these mysteries, and which is your favorite?
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Ellis Peters
- Margaret
- Bibliomaniac
- Posts: 2440
- Joined: August 2008
- Interest in HF: I can't answer this in 100 characters. Sorry.
- Favourite HF book: Checkmate, the final novel in the Lymond series
- Preferred HF: Literary novels. Late medieval and Renaissance.
- Location: Catskill, New York, USA
- Contact:
Ellis Peters
Browse over 5000 historical novel listings (probably well over 5000 by now, but I haven't re-counted lately) and over 700 reviews at www.HistoricalNovels.info
I love them all!
Also didn't mind Sean Pertwee as Sir Derek's (aka Bro. Cadfael) sidekick. Nice bit of eye-candy there (okay it was awhile ago!).
Also didn't mind Sean Pertwee as Sir Derek's (aka Bro. Cadfael) sidekick. Nice bit of eye-candy there (okay it was awhile ago!).
"For my part, I adhere to the maxim of antiquity: The throne is a glorious sepulchre."
Women of History
Women of History
I've read about half of them, and like them very much, chiefly because Cadfael is such an attractive character. I think my favourite of the ones I've read is One Corpse Too Many (partly because of Hugh Berenger).
PATHS OF EXILE - love, war, honour and betrayal in Anglo-Saxon Northumbria
Editor's Choice, Historical Novels Review, August 2009
Now available as e-book on Amazon Kindleand in Kindle, Epub (Nook, Sony Reader), Palm and other formats on Smashwords
Website: http://www.carlanayland.org
Blog: http://carlanayland.blogspot.com
Editor's Choice, Historical Novels Review, August 2009
Now available as e-book on Amazon Kindleand in Kindle, Epub (Nook, Sony Reader), Palm and other formats on Smashwords
Website: http://www.carlanayland.org
Blog: http://carlanayland.blogspot.com
[quote=""Carla""]I've read about half of them, and like them very much, chiefly because Cadfael is such an attractive character. I think my favourite of the ones I've read is One Corpse Too Many (partly because of Hugh Berenger).[/quote]
I've got them all and read them all. Carla (owe you an e-mail but will be next week at least!) One Corpse Too Many is my favourite too - due to Hugh Berenger. I confess to reading the mysteries not for Cadfael and the whodunnit, but for my Hugh fix.
. I also very much enjoyed The Virgin in the Ice and St Peter's Fair. The earlier ones IMO are better than the later ones.
I like Sean Pertwee but he was not ideally cast as Hugh Berenger in the TV series. He's nothing like the personality in the book and that was disappointing for me. Then again Derek Jacobi ain't nothing like the Cadfael in the book!
I've got them all and read them all. Carla (owe you an e-mail but will be next week at least!) One Corpse Too Many is my favourite too - due to Hugh Berenger. I confess to reading the mysteries not for Cadfael and the whodunnit, but for my Hugh fix.

I like Sean Pertwee but he was not ideally cast as Hugh Berenger in the TV series. He's nothing like the personality in the book and that was disappointing for me. Then again Derek Jacobi ain't nothing like the Cadfael in the book!
Les proz e les vassals
Souvent entre piez de chevals
Kar ja li coard nI chasront
'The Brave and the valiant
Are always to be found between the hooves of horses
For never will cowards fall down there.'
Histoire de Guillaume le Mareschal
www.elizabethchadwick.com
Souvent entre piez de chevals
Kar ja li coard nI chasront
'The Brave and the valiant
Are always to be found between the hooves of horses
For never will cowards fall down there.'
Histoire de Guillaume le Mareschal
www.elizabethchadwick.com
- Margaret
- Bibliomaniac
- Posts: 2440
- Joined: August 2008
- Interest in HF: I can't answer this in 100 characters. Sorry.
- Favourite HF book: Checkmate, the final novel in the Lymond series
- Preferred HF: Literary novels. Late medieval and Renaissance.
- Location: Catskill, New York, USA
- Contact:
I think Edith Pargeter (Ellis Peters was a pen name) once lamented that she didn't do villains well. She had a lot of sympathy for all her characters, so had a hard time creating characters who were just plain mean. I wonder if this might not actually be one of the reasons why so many readers loved her Brother Cadfael mysteries. In the thread about villains, I was talking about how I don't usually care for novels with villains who are evil through-and-through, because I just don't find them interesting or particularly credible.
Browse over 5000 historical novel listings (probably well over 5000 by now, but I haven't re-counted lately) and over 700 reviews at www.HistoricalNovels.info
I've never read any books under the Peters name but I loved The Heaven Tree trilogy under Edith Pargeter. Not the fastest paced book, but the writing is gorgeous. Funny there's this book about a master stone mason building a great cathedral written twenty some years before..... well you know what book.
I actually discovered Caedfael first on the PBS series, and yes, Berenger was a favorite. Loved Derek Jacobi in the lead. Ended up reading all of them (with Jacobi's voice in my head); I can't think of one that is outstanding as a favorite; perhaps the one with the woman who kills herself after a priest blasts her for daring to confess her pregnancy to him? They were all good btw.
I remember several years ago visiting a replica of Caedfaels monastery and gardens; it should be in Shrewsbury, but now I am not remembering and can't find it. Any clues?
I remember several years ago visiting a replica of Caedfaels monastery and gardens; it should be in Shrewsbury, but now I am not remembering and can't find it. Any clues?