This is the third book in the series, and I highly recommend reading the first two as well, though it is unnecessary. All the books stand alone as murder mysteries, it is just worth reading the others because they are good.
This felt like a cheat pick to me, because I had already read the first two and new I liked the author. With that said, I really enjoyed the book and hope the rest of the book club did too! Without giving anything away, I have to say that I guessed relatively early on who did it, but still liked to see how Cadfael put together the pieces to find the culprit. The Welsh Court proceedings were a bit of a surprise. And I loved the ending, when he reflects on what could have come out of the experience (Richildis) and seems quite content it hadn't. I look forward to your comments.
I hope to have The Cat, the Poison, and the Professor by this weekend. I am just waiting for it to come ILL since none of our local libraries had it.
I did like this book. What I liked best was that it was good old-fashioned sleuthing with no techno-gadgets.
I guessed too who the murderer was. There were some big clues but it was nice to see how it all came along and everything tied up nicely at the end.
I liked throughout the references to "house of Joy" rather than "Joy's house". It just reads and sounds so medieval but sophisticated or something. I just like it.
And I liked the horse chase scene. I could easily picture ALL of that.
Some comments: Chapter 3: "a strong trail... reeked enough to lure the rawest of pups"
Chapter 9: "the sheep's wool and milk were of more value than their meat." It's just nice that an animal's worth is not just to feed humans.
Chapter 11: "orgy of remembrances" WHAT a great PHRASE!
Lots of vocab for me:
capuchon: Cloak with hood frowarded: not easily controlled reliquary: a container for relics (boy do I have a lot of reliquaries!) defile: a narrow valley sententiously: with few words scrip: a small bag seisin: legal possession cantrips: pranks
So M, do the other books also feature Cadfael as the "sleuth" or are they all someone different?
I got my book used from Amazon and on the last page is a hand-written note "I will be sorry when I have read all of her books because they are so good". So someone else enjoys these too M! Good pick! It was a nice change of pace!
Well, M sent me this book in the mail and it has disappeared into the construction zone that is my house. I can't find it anywhere! I'll do another round of searching tomorrow night and then I might have to borrow Joy's. Uggggh!!
I enjoyed the book very much. I got a large print edition from the library and must admit that made the reading go faster for these old eyes.
I liked the colorful descriptions the author used for people and for events. The characters came to life for me with her humorous phrases. I especially liked the way she described Edwin and Edwy's boisterous tousling when they were together. So typical of young boys who are firm friends.
I am not a good mystery sleuth so I didn't guess the culprit until I was well into the story. I guess in a way that is an advantage because the book held my interest longer waiting to discover the murderer.
I was so glad that the author decided in the end to let Abbot Roberts be set straight. I hate it when someone uppity gets away with it.
I, too, loved this book! Peters did a great job giving the feel of 12th century England without making the language inaccessible to modern readers. I really like Cadfael’s approach to religion, sin, and just humanity in general. Really drives home the point that monks are people first. AND there was a map at the front of the book! =)
As far as the mystery itself, I had an idea who the culprit was but I didn’t feel confident in my guess until about ¾ through, which is just perfect. I want to feel smart enough to figure it out but not ruin the novel by knowing too early. I’ve always thought that it must be a hard balance for mystery writers to strike, giving away enough but not too much.
Agree with J that it’s nice to not have all the “tech” involved – a major reason why I enjoy the Dortmunder series by Donald Westlake.
I had also marked the phrases “lure the rawest of pups” and “orgy of remembrances”
I looked up a lot of vocab in the first few pages: Sacristan – kind of like the groundskeeper for the church Almoner – distributes relief to the poor Cellarer – in charge of food and other supply requisitioning Precentor – leads worship and acts as choir director Hospitaller – military officer, like a Knight Templar Tonsure – cutting or shaving some or all of your scalp Villein – feudal tenant
I can’t wait to devour more in this series. Right away I feel like Cadfael, Mark, Petrus, etc are my friends and I want to read more about them.
PS - turns out that M sent me the first 2 in the series, not this one, so I am eager to start reading them and will pass along to J when I'm done. Thanks M!
I made a list of the books written by Ellis Peters about Cadfael. There are 20 plus an introductory book entitled "A Rare Benedictine". I have sent for A Rare Benedictine from a book swap club. Looking forward to reading it. And now I have the list of the other books if and when I want to get them to read.
10 comments:
This is the third book in the series, and I highly recommend reading the first two as well, though it is unnecessary. All the books stand alone as murder mysteries, it is just worth reading the others because they are good.
This felt like a cheat pick to me, because I had already read the first two and new I liked the author. With that said, I really enjoyed the book and hope the rest of the book club did too! Without giving anything away, I have to say that I guessed relatively early on who did it, but still liked to see how Cadfael put together the pieces to find the culprit. The Welsh Court proceedings were a bit of a surprise. And I loved the ending, when he reflects on what could have come out of the experience (Richildis) and seems quite content it hadn't. I look forward to your comments.
I hope to have The Cat, the Poison, and the Professor by this weekend. I am just waiting for it to come ILL since none of our local libraries had it.
I did like this book. What I liked best was that it was good old-fashioned sleuthing with no techno-gadgets.
I guessed too who the murderer was. There were some big clues but it was nice to see how it all came along and everything tied up nicely at the end.
I liked throughout the references to "house of Joy" rather than "Joy's house". It just reads and sounds so medieval but sophisticated or something. I just like it.
And I liked the horse chase scene. I could easily picture ALL of that.
Some comments:
Chapter 3: "a strong trail... reeked enough to lure the rawest of pups"
Chapter 9: "the sheep's wool and milk were of more value than their meat." It's just nice that an animal's worth is not just to feed humans.
Chapter 11: "orgy of remembrances" WHAT a great PHRASE!
Lots of vocab for me:
capuchon: Cloak with hood
frowarded: not easily controlled
reliquary: a container for relics (boy do I have a lot of reliquaries!)
defile: a narrow valley
sententiously: with few words
scrip: a small bag
seisin: legal possession
cantrips: pranks
So M, do the other books also feature Cadfael as the "sleuth" or are they all someone different?
I got my book used from Amazon and on the last page is a hand-written note "I will be sorry when I have read all of her books because they are so good". So someone else enjoys these too M! Good pick! It was a nice change of pace!
Well, M sent me this book in the mail and it has disappeared into the construction zone that is my house. I can't find it anywhere! I'll do another round of searching tomorrow night and then I might have to borrow Joy's. Uggggh!!
I enjoyed the book very much. I got a large print edition from the library and must admit that made the reading go faster for these old eyes.
I liked the colorful descriptions the author used for people and for events. The characters came to life for me with her humorous phrases. I especially liked the way she described Edwin and Edwy's boisterous tousling when they were together. So typical of young boys who are firm friends.
I am not a good mystery sleuth so I didn't guess the culprit until I was well into the story. I guess in a way that is an advantage because the book held my interest longer waiting to discover the murderer.
I was so glad that the author decided in the end to let Abbot Roberts be set straight. I hate it when someone uppity gets away with it.
Good pick.
I, too, loved this book! Peters did a great job giving the feel of 12th century England without making the language inaccessible to modern readers. I really like Cadfael’s approach to religion, sin, and just humanity in general. Really drives home the point that monks are people first. AND there was a map at the front of the book! =)
As far as the mystery itself, I had an idea who the culprit was but I didn’t feel confident in my guess until about ¾ through, which is just perfect. I want to feel smart enough to figure it out but not ruin the novel by knowing too early. I’ve always thought that it must be a hard balance for mystery writers to strike, giving away enough but not too much.
Agree with J that it’s nice to not have all the “tech” involved – a major reason why I enjoy the Dortmunder series by Donald Westlake.
I had also marked the phrases “lure the rawest of pups” and “orgy of remembrances”
I looked up a lot of vocab in the first few pages:
Sacristan – kind of like the groundskeeper for the church
Almoner – distributes relief to the poor
Cellarer – in charge of food and other supply requisitioning
Precentor – leads worship and acts as choir director
Hospitaller – military officer, like a Knight Templar
Tonsure – cutting or shaving some or all of your scalp
Villein – feudal tenant
I can’t wait to devour more in this series. Right away I feel like Cadfael, Mark, Petrus, etc are my friends and I want to read more about them.
PS - turns out that M sent me the first 2 in the series, not this one, so I am eager to start reading them and will pass along to J when I'm done. Thanks M!
I'd like to read them too A. Pass along thank you!
I made a list of the books written by Ellis Peters about Cadfael. There are 20 plus an introductory book entitled "A Rare Benedictine". I have sent for A Rare Benedictine from a book swap club. Looking forward to reading it. And now I have the list of the other books if and when I want to get them to read.
I am glad you all liked the book. I am on the 6th book in the series currently and still enjoying it.
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