This book confirms that Brother Cadfael is best on audiobooks for me. Actually reading the mystery just wasn't as fun as the others I've heard to this point. It was a very creditable mystery with the young man who claims sanctuary and his sweetheart forming the sweetest part of the story.

Although Peters managed to have more suspects than usual, as well as more murders, I still figured it out fairly early on. That's not a problem as that is frequent for me in this series. I'm here for the rest of the story. This time around it kind of reminded me of a classic Agatha Christie with the miserly father and grandmother, the long-suffering daughter, the cad of a son and his new wife. And on that basis it was enjoyably cozy in a medieval way.

These are wonderful cozy mysteries with a great cast of characters and a wonderful setting. They are even better when listened to as an audiobook.

LOVED it! The best one to date.

Let’s get this out right at the start. I am a fan…a fan of Ellis Peters/Edith Pargeter…a fan of The Chronicles of Brother Cadfael. So take any extravagant praise in that context.

I have read these books before (but never written a review of The Sanctuary Sparrow) and enjoyed how Derek Jacobi played Cadfael in the British series.

Brother Cadfael is monk ensconced in the Monastery of St. Peter and St. Paul in Shrewsbury, England of the 13th century. He is a former crusader who has found his peace as a botanist and herbalist for these Brothers. Yet, from time to time a crime comes his way and he uses his knowledge and unique skills to help solve it. By this book he is in his 60s and life at the monastery has a certain rhythm. There is a tentative partnership between church (Cadfael) and state (deputy sheriff Hugh Beringar) that will grow. “…an odd pair to move so congenially side by side, the monk squat and square and sturdy, rolling in his gait like a seaman, and well launched into his sixtieth year, the sheriff’s deputy more than thirty year younger and half a head taller, but still a small man, of graceful, nimble movements and darkly saturnine features. Cadfael had seen this young man win his appointment fairly, and a wife to go with it, and had witnessed the christening of their first son only a few months ago."

It is a domestic tale that gives Peters the opportunity to relate how a 13th century small town functioned with its various crafts and skills as well as the domestic life of a household. For me, this is as interesting as the mystery of who whacked the goldsmith over the head and stole much of his stored wealth.

The prime suspect is a young vagabond entertainer (singer, juggler, musician) who was entertaining the guests at the wedding of the goldsmith’s son. We learn much about him and his sordid life early in the story and it is clear that Cadfael is inclined to look elsewhere while this “sanctuary sparrow” resides in the monastery temporarily safe from the angry townsfolk who want to see him punished.

The following will illustrate Cadfael’s approach to a post-mortem examination:
"He inserted his fingers between the parted lips, and showed the teeth also parted, as if in a grimace of pain or a cry. Carefully he drew them wider. Tendrils of crowfoot clung in the large, crooked teeth. Those peering close could see that the mouth within was clogged completely with the debris of the river.
“Give me a small bowl,” said Cadfael, intent, and Hugh was before Madog in obeying. There was a silver saucer under the unlighted lamp on the altar, the nearest receptacle, and Abbot Radulfus made no move to demur. Cadfael eased the stiffening jaw wider, and with a probing finger drew out into the bowl a thick wad of mud and gravel, tinted with minute fragments of vegetation.
“Having drawn in this, he could not draw in water. No wonder I got none out of him.” He felt gently about the dead mouth, probing out the last threads of crowfoot, fine as hairs, and set the bowl aside.
“What you are saying,” said Hugh, closely following, “is that he did not drown.”
“No, he did not drown.”"

But what charms me most is Peters deepest dive into domestic life, teasing out the details of family “arrangements” and duties and conflicts. For the mystery fan, there is a more than adequate plot. However, it may be that you are not as beguiled by the context as I have been. This is one of the best of the series because Peters elevates and illuminates the commonplace.



Additional quotations:

"The old woman’s live eyes in her dead carcase clung to Cadfael’s face, yet not, he thought, trying to convey to him anything but her defiant reliance on her own resources….Even with the priest she did not speak again. She bore with his urgings, and made the effort to respond with her eyelids when he made his required probings into her sense of sin and need and hope for absolution. She died as soon as he had pronounced it, or only moments later."

"The lofty timbers of the roof soared above them into deep darkness. The three women, two living and one dead, were drawn together into a close, mute intimacy, for these few hours islanded from the world."

It is possible that this was my favorite of the Brother Cadfael books. A peasant is seeks sanctuary in the monastery because he is being hounded for a murder he didn't comment.

The refugee is nicely drawn. I remember this as being a novel that stood on its own.

As usual the Cadfael Chronicles are a wonderful short read. A very different venue for those that like mystery novels.

I was only able to pick it up now and then, which drew it out for me. Delightful!

It’s been quite a while since I visited Brother Cadfael and perhaps because of that time lapse, I really enjoyed this novel. There truly aren’t too many options for murder in the 12th century, so one story is very like the last. I would classify these books as “cozy mysteries,” and it surprises me how much I like them, not usually being a fan of the cozy. I think it’s the historical nature of the tales that grabs me. It’s like learning history by osmosis while enjoying a good story.

Probably it also helped that I felt like I was getting away with something! I have a stack of previously signed out library books and theoretically this one should have waited until I made some progress on them. Instead, I plunged into this one right away and finished it in only an evening.

Peters does such a wonderful job of populating the abbey with the full spectrum of human frailties! The arrogant, the snob, the teacher, the compassionate, the seeker of justice, everybody is present and we get to observe their interactions. Her grasp of human behaviour is so accurate!

The result may not be tremendously surprising, but the journey is always enjoyable.

Not quite as good as The virgin in the Ice, but a more intricate plot with Ellis Peters once again scribing fantastic dialog. I’m not sure I’ll be able to read all the books in the series, one after the other without a break, as I’m beginning to feel restless for something a little different. Maybe a couple more.

Always such a pleasure to read this series! Ellis Peters always puts you right into the 'times of yore' with wonderful ease so that it feels like you're enjoying authentic stories from the past, filled with the most wonderful cast of characters to be had! Plus she has cleverly made each edition a year past the last book, so you always are treated to something fresh and unexpected, with this book being no exception.

A wedding that culminates in the near death of a young man that claims sanctuary at the church whilst they wait for the return of the sherriff to get things get sorted out. One thing turns into another and then there is a murdered man that could not have been done in by the one cloistered in the church. It's a jolly good romp and well told.

The Sanctuary Sparrow by Ellis Peters is the seventh book in a series about the adventures of the monk detective Brother Cadfael. Ellis Peters’ real name was Edith Pargeter. A man named Liliwin is being hounded by a lynch mob for supposedly stealing jewels and the mob accuses him of murder. Liliwin is a wandering jongleur. Jongleur were “professional storytellers or public entertainers” (The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica 2022). Liliwin seeks sanctuary in the Shrewsbury Abbey in England. The Shrewsbury Abbey is on the border of England and Wales. The location of the Abbey plays a role in the plot of the Sanctuary Sparrow. Liliwin is the Sanctuary Sparrow of the title of the novel. I agree with the Goodreads reviewer named Warren that one of the most interesting parts of The Sanctuary Sparrow is the rules about sanctuary in churches in Medieval England. Warren is right that the novel coverage of the property rights of women in Medieval England was interesting. Brother Cadfael suspects there is more to the story of the stolen jewels, than the men who are chasing Liliwin's claim. Brother Cadfael helps the local deputy sheriff Hugh Beringer. Beringer and Brother Cadfael uncovered a more deadly mystery. I enjoyed Pargeter’s novel, The Sanctuary Sparrow. I found the review of Warren Nelson useful in writing this ‘review.’
Works Cited:
The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica. 2022. “Jongleur.” Chicago, Illinois: Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc. (Jongleur | Medieval, Troubadours, Minstrels | Britannica).

Not enough Brother Cadfael in this mystery taken up with an unpleasant family, a stolen dowry, an accused man and no deduction at all. The writing is fine and dreadfully realistic about blaming “the other” for all problems but these people just make me feel icky, without the redemption and kindness of a usual entry in the series.

I love Br. Cadfael, though I've seen more of him on television than I've read of him. This one I got cheap from Amazon for the Kindle. A miserly goldsmith is conked on the head at his son's wedding and the new bride's dowry is missing. Then the locksmith turns up dead. Who did it? The traveling minstrel who claims sanctuary at the Abbey? Or someone else