Edith Parfgether, an Englishwoman, was not a historian by training. Yet under the pseudonym Ellis Peters, she created one of the most popular detective series—its plot closely intertwined with major historical events that shook 12th-century England and Wales, from where Parfgether’s ancestors came.
The «Chronicles of Brother Cadfael» are both a political detective story—because its events unfold against the backdrop of civil war between supporters of the rightful claimant to Queen Matilda’s throne and King Stephen of Blois, who seized the throne by force—and classic, intimate tales that happen among the residents of the town of Shrewsbury and its surroundings, as well as among the inhabitants of the Benedictine abbey in Shrewsbury. It is here, in the evening of his life, that an old crusader, a seasoned warrior who has seen the world, has withdrawn. Taking the name of Brother Cadfael, he decided to spend his remaining days in peace—serving God and healing people. But instead, Cadfael—an astute connoisseur of human souls and a man with rich life experience—has to investigate all sorts of crimes again and again, and to save not only bodies, but souls as well...
In the year 1141, civil war rages. The sheriff of Shropshire has been captured and is meant to be exchanged. But in the abbey the prisoner is murdered, and suspicion falls on a young Welsh lord. Having nothing but his honor, he turns to Brother Cadfael for help. The monk agrees to unravel this mystery—without knowing that the truth will become a test of his own heart...