by Ellis Peters
Part of Chronicles of Brother Cadfael, book 19
First published 1992
Brother Cadfael watches with growing unease as two groups of strangers arrive at the Abbey of St. Peter and St. Paul during the wet autumn of 1144. The first party includes Brother Tutilo, a young Benedictine whose innocent appearance masks a sharp and playful mind that Cadfael finds suspicious. The second group brings even more concern: a bawdy French troubadour travels with his servant and a young woman whose singing voice possesses angelic beauty. Cadfael senses these visitors will bring chaos to his peaceful monastery. His worries prove correct when autumn rains swell into dangerous floods that threaten the abbey's most precious treasure, the sacred bones of Saint Winifred. The rising waters create perfect cover for theft, and someone steals the holy relics. When Cadfael discovers a corpse, he realizes both earthly desires and religious obsessions drive the crimes unfolding around him. The monk must untangle webs of spiritual and physical passions while seeking divine inspiration to identify a murderer determined to kill again.
Genres: historical-fiction, mystery, crime
Vibes: atmospheric, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: amateur-sleuth, found-family
Setting: Abbey of St. Peter and St. Paul, England
Period: 1144
288 pages · Kindle Edition · MysteriousPress.com/Open Road