The Virgin in the Ice (Brother Cadfael Mysteries)

SPOILER WARNING: Do not read this review unless you have read Pilgrim of Hate or Brother Cadfael's Penance! Unlike Brother Cadfael, who hugs his precious secret and private joy to his thankful breast, I can restrain my "pen" only with the greatest difficulty. I want to publish the news abroad, but also have an obligation not to spoil the thrill of future discovery for readers who will follow. All Ellis Peters' movels in this fabulous series offer excellent mysteries per se; indeed, many offer overlapping crimes by multiple malefactors. Yet to my medievally-inclined mind, the most satisfying are those novels which reveal more fascinating details or penetrating insight into the psyche and active past of our favorite monk-turned-sleuth. For Cadfael has been a soldier, sailor, sinner and Crusader--in his own unabashed words--in late 12th century Wales, England and the Holy Land. After 40 years of lusty living in the World, he willingly gave up arms forever, to take up the cowl and honor the cross. But the cream of Peters' novels are those in which we meet the special characters do dear to Cadfael: his Saint, his best friend, Hugh, his lost amours and now...? What a joy for readers who have grown to love and respect this dedicated monk, as he gradually reveals his personal journey into a past not so dead after all! Peters makes a great case for mixed marriage in VIRGIN, as she does for the role of a faithful mistress in LEPER. Guilty men believe they see the ghosts of their victims here, as in BONES. The murderer thinks he can slip in an extra crime amid the general carnage, as in ONE CORPSE, but luckily for justice, Brother Cadfael does not permit these foul deeds to remain unnoticed on go unpunished. Vengeance may belong to the Lord, but Cadfael hovers nearby to provide a helping hand when necessary. Don't keep your curiosity frozen in a shroud of ice along with the unnamed virgin; read this wonderful mystery and be enlightened--not to mention--superbly entertained!

This sixth in the series of tales of Brother Cadfael is less obviously a whodunit and much more of a thriller or twelfth century adventure story. It is set in the English Marches, amidst the chaos ensuing from the sacking of Worcester by supporters of the Empress Maud against King Stephen in November 1139. The action takes place in Ludlow (mid-way between Cadfael's normal haunts of Shrewsbury, and the beleaguered city of Worcester) where our hero is ostensibly nursing back to health a Benedictine brother who has seemingly been waylaid by a band of outlaws, stripped and left for dead. Whilst in Ludlow, Cadfael also finds himself embroiled in the hunt for a party of three young persons missing after the attacks on Worcester and known to be heading for Shrewsbury, at which destination they have failed to arrive. With a bitter freeze and the winter's first snows on hand, there are grave concerns for their safety and well-being. One of the three is subsequently found dead - obviously killed and dumped in a watery (now icy) grave on the very night that the good monk's patient was attacked.Unlike many another Cadfael tale, this one moves along with a gripping sense of urgency and with a fair amount of tension and excitement building gradually as things proceed. It contains Ellis Peters' usual meticulous attention to both historical and narrative detail and constitutes as riveting - and entertaining - a story as you are likely to find. As always, Cadfael is aware of details overlooked by others and never once loses sight of the smaller issues that are wont to become subsumed into the larger, weightier ones. He (and the regular reader) is provided with an unlooked-for reward in this volume, too. This book has to be one of the very best of the Cadfael Chronicles and is unreservedly recommended for lovers of the genre. Its story line stands somewhat apart from others in the series, making it fairly unimportant where it is read in the sequence.

First be warned that you have to like historical mysteries, particularly those that take place in medieval times - life was slower back then, and news travelled even slower (depending on the weather, the method of transport, the level of political strife, the condition of roads etc). All of these conditions are brilliantly evoked in THE VIRGIN IN THE ICE, which contains several surprising subplots, including revelations about Cadfael's past. Now to the review proper. If this is the first Cadfael you are reading, you might find understanding some expressions and the society he lives and works in somewhat hard to follow. Basically, the story is set in the middle of a bitter English civil war between two grandchildren of William the Conqueror. Cadfael is a Welsh soldier turned monk. His chosen specialization in herbs and gardening is combined with his knowledge about warfare (and wounds inflicted by men on each other) and the real world to make him a formidable medieval detective. Furthermore, as a monk, he is relatively protected (as far as one could be protected) from physical harm on either side. Cadfael's duties keep him mostly in one town - Shrewsbury and its immediate environs, but he has been known to travel. While most of the Cadfael mysteries are set close to Shrewsbury (a real town near the Welsh border), in this particular book Cadfael will travel closer to Ludlow, a major castle to the south of Shrewsbury. During his sojourn, he will have to solve several mysteries, such as the identity of the young woman he finds dead and encased in ice (hence the title), the name of her murderer and his motive, the whereabouts of two noble orphans whose uncle belongs to the opposing side in the war, and the whereabouts of a band of robbers terrorizing the countryside. Oh, and find out what exactly happened to a badly injured young monk. If you have read Cadfael before, you will still find this book enthralling because of the deft way it weaves politics, religion, petty (and not-so-petty) crimes against a sharply delineated local backdrop. Some readers find Ellis Peters's endless descriptions of the countryside boring. I find them enthralling and only wish her publishers would get the maps right in the paperback versions (I have discovered the map for one book in another). One of the charms of the Cadfael series is the discovery of the Shropshire geography in medieval times, made all the stronger by the fact that the now deceased author was a local. Geography in virtually every Cadfael story is crucial to the plot, and not just backdrop as it is in so much historical fiction. And yes, geography - notably the topography and the weather - was very important to medieval people. It mattered which path you chose in the face of an approaching storm - one choice led you safely (if rather cold) to a place of refuge such as an abbey or a cottager's farm, while another could lead you straight to bandits.Virtually every Cadfael book has young lov

The late Ellis Peters outdoes herself with this adventure of the indomitable Brother Cadfael, when two virgins, a young nobleman, a monk burning with unforgotten desire, and a travelling gang of outlaws cross paths. "Virgin" propells you on a ride through twelth century England in civil war when men were men, monks were monks and women were in many ways stronger than both. Prepare yourself for a surprise from the sometimes overly saintly Brother Cadfael when he meets a stranger from the far east who has a tale that shakes the good monk's foundations and warms the reader. The characters in "Virgin" are drawn in vivid colors reflecting the times they find themselves in, and new readers of the Brother Cadfael chronicles will be inextricably drawn to more and more from Ms. Peters.