Holy Thief

This was my first reading trip through 12th century Shrewsbury Abbey, the world created by Ellis Peters, and it was great fun. Cadfael is a sleuthing monk, a Holmes of the Bendectine Order, but more than a brother also a herbalist, man of medicine, and a former soldier and Crusader. He is also master of well-placed words carefully chosen and layered with meaning-a powerful skill in navigating his world. In this chronicle, Cadfael tackles a theft and a murder alongside his friend Hugh Beringar, the reeve of the shire. The theft of the celebrated relic of Shrewsbury leads to a fascinating thread through the tapestry of local politics, authorities , and medieval Catholicism-very devout but deeply confused. This is a world of powerful and rigid authorities both sacred and secular, of saints and relics, of place and position-a world far from the modern or "post-modern". I'm no historian of the Middle Ages but this seems like a worthy immersion into the medieval mindset. Most interesting is the tangled process of determining the will of a dead saint concerning the saint's own relic. The culmination of the process is application of 'sortes biblicae', the use of the Bible for divination. This is performed by the seeker taking a copy of the Gospels in hand and letting it open randomly and placing a finger somewhere on the open pages. The portion by the placed finger is read aloud and then applied to the decision at hand. This is truly foreign territory but one must remember that this was an age when most truly believed every event to be the evidence of the will of God. Furthermore, it's just a good tale! Imagine murder and mayhem among monks! Sin among those totally dedicated and separated to holiness. The many different characters-the monks, peasants, sheriffs, lords, and troubadors-and the interplay between them are well drawn. If you need exhilarating racing action this is not for you, but if you enjoy a good story woven together then pick it up and spend a few afternoons in its pages, it won't disappoint.

In this penultimate chronicle of Brothet Cadfael, herbalist, monk and resident sleuth of the Abbey of St.Peter and St.Paul, the waters of the local river are rising to dangerous levels, forcing the evacuation of their precious relics and treasures to higher ground, including the silver coffin containing the bones of Cadfael's special saint, St. Winifred of Wales. Following the sacking of the Abbey's sister house in the fens by the evil Geoffrey de Mandeville, Herluin, the sub prior of that house, accompanied by a novice monk, Tutilio, is sheltered at the Abbey while on a quest to raise funds to enable their own Abbey to be rebuilt. During the upheaval of rescuing the relics from the flood waters, the coffin of St.Winifred disappears and consequently is deemed to have been loaded on to a cart with donated building timber and a large quantity of silver and jewellery. The drivers of the cart stumble back to the Abbey, claiming to have been set upon and robbed by a band of marauders. The coffin is found intact and taken to the nearby manor of the Earl of Leicester who stakes a claim to retain the relics, is joined in another claim by Sub Prior Herluin and naturally enough by the Shrewsbury Abbey in a three way tussle for possession of poor little St.Winifred's bones. The side characters in this story are well drawn and very interesting, making the thought that the next book is the last in the series and so I'm prolonging the pleasure by reading a non connected book in between !

Ideally, read all the preceding books in the series, in order, before reading this one. At a minimum, first read #1 (_A Morbid Taste for Bones_, the story of how St. Winifred's reliquary came to the abbey) to avoid spoiling the end of that book, and _The Potter's Field_, which introduced the Blounts of Longner. If you're interested in an audio edition, check that you're getting the unabridged recording narrated by Stephen Thorne.In the summer of 1144, Geoffrey de Mandeville - after more than a year of running the Fens as his own private robber kingdom - was shot almost by accident during a siege, and died from the infected wound. His lengthy death gave him no chance to receive absolution - only the Pope could have absolved one guilty of the seizure of the abbey of Ramsey - but Geoffrey's followers did what they could for him, restoring the despoiled abbey to its scattered monks. Thus the abbey of St. Peter and St. Paul receives two guests of their own order from Ramsey - grim subprior Herluin and his appealing assistant Tutilo - asking leave to preach. Ramsey needs money, materials, and labour to undo the damage left by Geoffrey's marauders.Herluin guided their footsteps to Shrewsbury not only to request assistance, but to recall Sulien Blount of Longner, sometime novice of Ramsey, who was sent home to reconsider his vocation. (See _The Potter's Field_ for details.) Cadfael, therefore, accompanies Herluin and his young companion Tutilo to Longner to speak with Sulien - and appeal for the Blounts' generosity toward Ramsey. While Herluin pursues his errand, Cadfael introduces Tutilo to Sulien's dying mother, the formidable Donata, who is more than happy to welcome a bard, even if he's now a novice monk. (Their friendship, brief as it is, is touching.) Young Tutilo is what would now be called a renaissance man, and would be wasted as a monk - if he ever gets that far after meeting the Irish girl Daalny, slave to the Provencal troubadour staying at the abbey guesthouse. Daalny's voice is such as to attract any musician - part of the troubadour's stock in trade. Nevertheless, Tutilo seems passionate enough on Ramsey's behalf.Unfortunately, someone appears to have been a little *too* enthusiastic for Ramsey's sake - while preparing for a flood, someone stole St. Winifred's relics, and the chief suspects are the brothers of Ramsey. How, after all, could anyone steal the reliquary if the saint didn't *want* to go elsewhere? To further complicate the ensuing dispute over the saint's wishes, the reliquary comes into the hands of Earl Robert "Bossu" Beaumont, a brilliant man with a sly sense of humor who decides to further complicate matters by pointing out that the saint came to rest in *his* care and seems content to stay there. (Robert - who was a real person, incidentally - here makes his debut in the series as a very impressive figure; the crooked back that gave him his nickname doesn't hinder him at all.) Only Brother Cadfael and his confidant Hugh Be

It goes without saying that stealing is one of the sins in life--and with her usual characteristic zeal, author Ellis Peters adds murder to that list! In "The Holy Thief," the 19th chronicle of Brother Cadfael, Peters continues her top-flight form of the medieval whodunnit and, as usual, her protagonist, the good Benedictine monk, rides to the rescue and solution. The year is 1144--and still King Stephen and Empress Maud are struggling in an interminable civil war, with no solution in sight. However, that historical fact is mere backdrop--as it usually is--to a more local concern. A renowned earl (Essex) is killed by an arrow, but not before he tries to make amends with Heaven by restoring some of the properties he had earlier "gained." This includes the abbey of Ramsey, a run-down site badly in need of more worldly help. The abbey sends envoys out, and one such envoy arrives in Shrewsbury, at the abbey of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, Cadfael's domain. The envoy includes Brother Herluin and his young novice Tutilo, who possesses a great singing voice along with other musical skills. In Shrewsbury is also, as the plot would have it, a beautiful slave girl (also a singer) named Daalny. Suffice it to say, Peters lays a solid romantic setting. But the rains come, so much so that much of the abbey's possessions, including the holy relics, must be moved to safety. But not so safely after all, as a theft is discovered. And this soon leads to--you have it--a murder. And Cadfael takes over. Using not only his brilliance, but his skills as the abbey's herbalist, Cadfael wastes no time in carefully solving the crime. Of course, as in all the Cadfael adventures, the murder is solved. The solution rarely comes easily for this ex-crusader, nor should it. Peters does not rush into her novels, which are characterized by logic and sound research. Peters' very successful series has been adapted to TV, and while the episodes are generally very good, the televised portrayal of both Cadfael and the story line leaves quite a bit to be desired, as good as they are. The books are the better choice. I have never been disappointed and "The Holy Thief" is no exception.

Excellent plot with Peters's engaging style and way with characters provides a great read. There's more than the usual sample of humor as the state of St. Winifred's bones is the centerpiece to the story.