Chronicles of Brother Cadfael #1
A Morbid Taste for Bones
In his first chronicle Brother Cadfael finds that his powers as a detective are more use than his skills as a herbalist, during an expedition to acquire the bones of a Welsh saint.
In 1137 the ambitious head of the Shrewsbury Abbey has decided to acquire the remains of Saint Winifred for his Benedictine order. Brother Cadfael is part of the expedition sent to her final resting place in Wales and they find the villagers passionately divided by the Benedictine's off for the saint's relicts. Canny, wise and all too worldly, Cadfael isn't surprised when this taste for bones leads to bloody murder.
250 pages, Paperback
First published August 1,1977
This edition
- Format
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250 pages, Paperback
- Published
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May 1, 1994 by Warner Books
- ISBN
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- ASIN
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- Language
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English
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Brother Cadfael
Cadfael is a Benedictine monk and herbalist at Shrewsbury Abbey in Shrewsbury, the county town of the English county of Shropshire. Cadfael himself is a Welshman; his full name is Cadfael ap (son of) Meilyr ap Dafydd and he was born in May 1080 to a ville...
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Brother Jerome
Clerk to Prior Robert. He is one to curry favour with the Prior, doing tasks for him as requested or anticipated....
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Prior Robert Pennant
Priest and monk at the Abbey. He is ambitious, patrician, and devoted to the rules. He often “looks down his long patrician nose” at others. He is 51 years old, with little change in his appearance in ten years – tall, silvery haired. He expects to be nam...
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Abbot Heribert
Head of the Abbey of Saint Peter and Saint Paul for eleven years. Met Cadfael whilst still Prior Heribert. He is a gentle and peaceful man. When King Stephen reclaimed Shrewsbury Castle and Shropshire for his own in the summer of 1138 , Heribert did not a...
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Brother John
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About the author
Edith Mary Pargeter, OBE, BEM was a prolific author of works in many categories, especially history and historical fiction, and was also honoured for her translations of Czech classics; she is probably best known for her murder mysteries, both historical and modern. Born in the village of Horsehay (Shropshire, England), she had Welsh ancestry, and many of her short stories and books (both fictional and non-fictional) were set in Wales and its borderlands.
During World War II, she worked in an administrative role in the Women's Royal Naval Service, and received the British Empire Medal - BEM.
Pargeter wrote under a number of pseudonyms; it was under the name Ellis Peters that she wrote the highly popular series of Brother Cadfael medieval mysteries, many of which were made into films for television.
