1. A Morbid Taste for Bones
In 1137 the Benedictines of Shrewsbury Abbey seek to bring the relics of Saint Winifred from the Welsh village of Gwytherin to their own church. Brother Cadfael, a Welshman by birth and a former soldier, joins the expedition as interpreter and herbalist, but the proposal divides…
2. One Corpse Too Many
Shrewsbury, 1138. King Stephen has captured the castle after a rebellion and orders the execution of its defeated defenders. Brother Cadfael is given the grim task of preparing the bodies for burial, but when he counts them he finds one corpse too many. The extra dead…
3. Monk’s Hood
At Christmas in 1138, Brother Cadfael's knowledge of herbs becomes a liability when a local landholder dies after being poisoned with a preparation made from plants in Cadfael's own stores. The death places suspicion close to the abbey and forces Cadfael to examine the household tensions…
4. Saint Peter’s Fair
Shrewsbury’s annual Saint Peter’s Fair brings merchants, travellers and money to the town in July 1139, but it also sharpens an old dispute between the abbey and the local burgesses over who should profit from the event. When a visiting merchant is murdered after a public…
6. The Virgin in the Ice
November 1139. Civil war has sent refugees toward Shrewsbury, but two children of a noble family and the nun accompanying them fail to arrive from Worcester. Brother Cadfael joins the search and soon finds evidence that their disappearance is connected with violence on the road. The…
7. The Sanctuary Sparrow
Spring, 1140. A young entertainer named Liliwin flees a wedding feast after being accused of robbery and violence, escaping a pursuing crowd by claiming sanctuary at Shrewsbury Abbey. The townspeople are convinced of his guilt, but Brother Cadfael is troubled by the speed with which blame…
8. The Devil’s Novice
September 1140. A young man enters the Abbey of Shrewsbury as a novice but is tormented by violent nightmares and behaviour that suggests a burden he cannot explain. Brother Cadfael becomes concerned that the disturbances are connected to events outside the monastery rather than to any…
9. Dead Man’s Ransom
In 1141, the civil war between King Stephen and Empress Matilda reaches Shropshire when Sheriff Gilbert Prestcote is captured by Welsh forces after the Battle of Lincoln. An exchange is arranged for Elis ap Cynan, a young Welsh prisoner held at Shrewsbury, offering both sides a…
10. The Pilgrim of Hate
May 1141. Pilgrims gather at Shrewsbury Abbey for the translation of Saint Winifred’s relics, bringing strangers into the town at a moment when civil war continues to unsettle England. News also arrives that a knight has been murdered in Winchester, apparently far removed from the abbey…
11. An Excellent Mystery
August 1141. The civil war between Stephen and Empress Matilda has devastated Winchester, and monks from the destroyed abbey of Hyde seek refuge at Shrewsbury. Brother Cadfael welcomes the displaced brethren, but he soon notices that two of the arrivals carry a history that does not…
12. The Raven in the Foregate
Winter, 1141. Shrewsbury receives a new parish priest, Father Ailnoth, whose severity quickly alienates many of the people he is supposed to serve. When his body is found on Christmas morning, the number of parishioners with reasons to resent him makes the murder unusually difficult to…
13. The Rose Rent
June 1142. Judith Perle, a wealthy young widow, has granted a valuable house to Shrewsbury Abbey on condition that the monks deliver a single white rose to her each year as rent. When the monk responsible for making the payment is murdered beside the rose bush,…
14. The Hermit of Eyton Forest
Autumn 1142. A ten-year-old boy arrives at Shrewsbury Abbey as the new lord of Eaton after inheriting an estate whose future is controlled by the adults around him. At the same time, a respected hermit living in nearby Eyton Forest is found dead, and Brother Cadfael…
15. The Confession of Brother Haluin
December 1142. Brother Haluin suffers a terrible fall at Shrewsbury Abbey and, believing he is dying, makes a confession to Brother Cadfael concerning a grave wrong committed many years earlier. Haluin unexpectedly survives, but recovery leaves him convinced that confession alone is not enough and that…
16. The Heretic’s Apprentice
Summer 1143. Two travellers arrive at Shrewsbury Abbey carrying the body of a man who died far from home. The dead man’s religious opinions soon become a matter of dispute, and his young attendant is drawn into accusations of heresy at a time when theological error…
17. The Potter’s Field
August 1143. While ploughing land recently acquired by Shrewsbury Abbey, workers uncover the remains of a woman buried in haste. The field had once belonged to a potter who later became a monk, and the discovery immediately raises questions about his former household and the circumstances…
18. The Summer of the Danes
April 1144. Brother Cadfael travels into Wales on church business, leaving Shrewsbury and the familiar tensions of the English civil war for the borderlands of his youth. His mission becomes complicated when he encounters a young woman determined to escape a marriage arranged for political advantage.…
19. The Holy Thief
Early 1145. Flooding around Shrewsbury Abbey forces the monks to move precious objects to safety, and when the waters subside they discover that a valuable relic has disappeared. The theft becomes more serious when competing religious houses assert claims over sacred property and the dispute attracts…
20. Brother Cadfael’s Penance
In late 1145, England remains divided between King Stephen and Empress Matilda, and an attempted peace meeting at Coventry fails to end the conflict. Brother Cadfael learns that Olivier de Bretagne, the son whose existence he has kept secret, disappeared after the surrender of Faringdon Castle…