Every year the Abbey of Saints Peter and Paul sends the widow Perle a white rose in payment for the house that was given to the monastery. The time for the next payment is approaching, but the rose bush is nearly ruined, and a dead monk is found beside it. And soon the woman to whom the flower must be delivered disappears...
The famous "Chronicles of Brother Cadfael" brought the English writer Ellis Peters worldwide fame. The action of the novels unfolds between 1135 and 1145, during the civil war between Empress Matilda and King Stephen of Blois. Some of the Cadfael novels describe or refer to real historical events of that time. In particular, the first two books ("A Morbid Taste for Bones" and "One Corpse Too Many") describe the events surrounding the translation of the relics of Saint Winifred (en:Winefride) to Shrewsbury Abbey in 1138.