The Potters Field: The Seventeenth Chronicle of Brother Cadfael of the Benedictine Abbey of Saint Peter and Paul at Shrewsbury

I have been ploughing through these this last few weeks. Ploughing being an intentioned pun. I have told sometimes of the sequencing of a body, of a suspect, of a result if it was too obvious. Well here we have the body in the very first chapter. It works wondorously well. Throughout the series we have the vocabulary that Cadfael uses lend further to the depth that these stories give the times. Perhaps not what really took place, but giving the entire series a character. We see that well fleshed out here. Cadfael and Hugh the Sheriff embark on solving the mystery and whilst doing so we have our red herrings, we have our Peters provided romance, and this time out we have a conclusion that is not so obvious, but is well within the realm of the possible that it satisfies. Certainly, given some of the faults that could have taken place and have had with the previous few novels, this was a solid novel and well worth the time. We find that the civil war provides some background to the mystery but not as in the past books that without it, there would be no story. We also see a good mix of the perception of the church, and how the church interacts with its flock. This story provides a good return on the investment with Cadfael. After the Abbey does a deal with another monastery that results in a local field being exchanged, Cadfael is on hand to oversee the first day's work to it when the body is uncovered. As it was previously worked by a new brother to the Abbey of Saint Peter and Paul, suspicion falls on this good man that it is the wife he left behind before taking orders. From there we have a well paced haul to the truth.

When a newly tilled field recently given to the abbey yields the hastily buried body of a young woman, Brother Cadfael is soon involved in the matter. The field was once owned by Ruald, the local potter, who abandoned his beautiful young wife wife in favor of joining the abbey as a novice the previous year. The wife was rumored to have gone off with a new lover, but it now seems as though that may not have been the case. THE POTTER'S FIELD, the seventeenth chronicle of Brother Cadfael, is one of the better mysteries in the series. As usual, Ms. Peters has given us a pleasant tale set in a somewhat idealized rendering of twelfth century England. The prose is, as always, elegant and pleasurable to read. Often, however, her mysteries are not too difficult to see through. Not so, here. In fact, through much of the story, it isn't entirely certain who the dead woman is and, when all is said and done, the events surrounding her demise are unique relative to the typical whodunit. This is an entry in the Cadfael series with an unusual twist. While I have always enjoyed these tales, the surprise ending here made this one more interesting than usual. I recommend all of the Cadfael chronicles, but I think this is one of the best.

In this 17th chronicle of the detective monk, Brother Cadfael is asked to help to identify the body of a woman who was discovered when the monks of the Abbey of St.Peter and St.Paul began to till a field which had just been donated to them. The field was previously occupied by Ruald, a local potter who abandoned his wife of many years to become a monk, claiming that he had a divine calling from God, and the fact that he was leaving his wife neither free nor widowed, was immaterial. Local rumour has it that Ruald's wife, Generys, ran off with a lover and, as she was a very beautiful woman who certainly did not appreciate being dumped, even for God, this rumour was generally accepted. It's the year 1143 and the civil war between King Stephen and the Empress Maud is still raging, with the armies of both sides doing great damage to the countryside and the people. When an Abbey in the fens was seized by renegade soldiers under Geoffrey de Mandeville, the monks were forced to flee to safety and one of them, a young man who was still a novice, comes to Shrewsbury. Sulien Blount is the younger son of a local noble family and begs admission to the Abbey to continue his novitiate. Sulien has a ring belonging to Generys and claims that he obtained it recently from a silversmith near the besieged Abby, which proves that she is still alive and so the body which was found cannot be hers. When the Sheriff, Hugh Beringar is commanded by the king to take a troop of soldiers to the fens to flush out the marauders, he takes the opportunity to visit the silversmith to find out the truth about Generys ring. Between them, Cadfael and Hugh discover the truth behind the body which was buried in unconsecrated ground...an unbelievably shocking thing in those times.

I found this (unabridged audio) book at the library - knew nothing about the series or the author. What a pleasant surprise! Very well written, a meticulously crafted story that gently unfolds in a way that engages you from the start without any bumps or discrepancies, using a language and style that seem to come from the very times that it describes. Written with an obvious affection for the characters portrayed. And Stephen Thorne's narration is equally masterful. My recent joy at discovering that there are at least 17 other books in the series had my daughters rolling their eyes like crazy in the bookstore. Can't wait to read more!

A particularly good effort by Peters. In addition to her intriguing characters and historical backdrop, she gives us a good murder mystery as well.