Brother Cadfael is confounded when his own potion is used to kill his former love's new husband Gervase Bonel is a guest of Shrewsbury Abbey of Saint Peter and Saint Paul when he suddenly takes ill. Luckily, the abbey boasts the services of the clever and kindly Brother Cadfael, a skilled herbalist. Cadfael hurries to the man's bedside, only to be confronted with two surprises: In Master Bonel's wife, the good monk recognizes Richildis, whom he loved...

Outside the pale of the Abbey of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, in September of the year of our Lord 1140, a priestly emissary for King Stephen has been reported missing. But inside the pale, what troubles Brother Cadfael is a proud, secretive nineteen-year-old novice.

Brother Cadfael has never seen two men more estranged than the Lord of Aspley and Meriet, the son he coldly delivers to the abbey to begin a religious vocation. Meriet, meek by day,

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When a troubled novice is blamed for the disappearance of a priest, Brother Cadfael seeks to save his soul-and his life Outside the pale of the Abbey of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, in September of 1140, a priestly emissary for King Stephen has been reported missing. But inside the pale, what troubles Brother Cadfael is a proud, secretive nineteen-year-old novice.   Brother Cadfael has never seen two men more estranged than the Lord of Aspley and...

A young widow's gain could be the abbey's loss if Brother Cadfael can't unravel a thorny case of murder A late spring in 1142 brings dismay to the Abbey of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, for there may be no roses by June 22. On that day the young widow Perle must receive one white rose as rent for the house she has given to benefit the abbey, or the contract is void. When nature finally complies, a pious monk is sent to pay the rent-and is found murdered...

Charges of heresy and murder are complicated by the contents of a mysterious treasure chest In the summer of 1143, William of Lythwood arrives at the Benedictine Abbey of St. Peter and St. Paul, but it is not a joyous occasion-he's come back from his pilgrimage in a coffin. William's body is accompanied by his young attendant Elave, whose mission is to secure a burial place for his master on the abbey grounds, despite William's having once been reprimanded...

When the late-Gothic, oak door is returned to its rightful place at Mottisham village church, there is a body to go with it A news photographer is found dead at the threshold of the church of Saint Eata, his hand extended to the door's great cast-iron knocker. Surely it is not a coincidence when a second victim is discovered in eerily similar circumstances? Legend holds that sinners who seize the knocker have their hands burned by the cold iron, but...

Christmas, AD 1141 Abbot Radulfus returns from London, bringing with him a priest for the vacant living of Holy Cross (known as the Foregate), a man of presence, scholarship and discipline, but neither humility nor the common touch. When he is found drowned in the mill-pond, suspicion is cast in many directions, not least towards a young man who came in the priest's train, sent to work in Brother Cadfael's garden. For he has little obvious priestly

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Setting out for the Saint Giles leper colony outside Shrewsbury, Brother Cadfael has more pressing matters on his mind than the grand wedding coming to his abbey. Yet as fate would have it, Cadfael arrives at Saint Giles just as the nuptial party passes the colony's gates. He sees the fragile bride, looking like a prisoner between her two stern guardians, and the bridegroom-an arrogant, fleshy aristocrat old enough to be her grandfather-and he quickly...

England in 1145 is beset by chaos, brought about by two cousins battling for the throne. Brother Cadfael leaves for Coventry to attend the council, only to discover that peace is not universally welcome.

Brother Cadfael becomes involved in a mystery when the corpse of a young woman is plowed up in a potter's field in 1143.