<div>To save his estranged son, a monk risks breaking his vows in this &ldquo;moving and suspenseful&rdquo; entry in the Silver Dagger Award&ndash;winning medieval mystery series (Booklist). For Brother Cadfael in the autumn of his life, the mild November of our Lord&rsquo;s year 1145 may bring a bitter&mdash;and deadly&mdash;harvest. England is torn between supporters of the Empress Maud and those of her cousin Stephen. The civil strife is about to jeopardize not only Cadfael&rsquo;s life, but his hopes of Heaven. While Cadfael has sometimes bent the abbey&rsquo;s rules, he has never broken his monastic vows&mdash;until now. Word has come to Shrewsbury of a treacherous act that has left thirty of Maud&rsquo;s knights imprisoned. All have been ransomed except Cadfael&rsquo;s secret son, Olivier de Bretagne. Conceived in Cadfael&rsquo;s soldiering youth and unaware of his father&rsquo;s identity, Olivier will die if he is not freed. Like never before, Cadfael must boldly defy the abbot. The good brother forsakes the order to follow his heart&mdash;but what he finds will challenge his soul. </div>

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Brother Cadfael's Penance

<div>Silver Dagger Award Winner: In this medieval mystery, Brother Cadfael faces suspicion when one of his herbal ingredients is used to kill a man. Gervase Bonel is a guest of Shrewsbury Abbey of Saint Peter and Saint Paul when he suddenly takes ill. Luckily, the abbey boasts the services of the clever and kindly Brother Cadfael, a skilled herbalist. Cadfael hurries to the man&rsquo;s bedside, only to be confronted with two surprises: In Master Bonel&rsquo;s wife, the good monk recognizes Richildis, whom he loved before he took his vows&mdash;and Master Bonel has been fatally poisoned by monk&rsquo;s-hood oil from Cadfael&rsquo;s stores. The sheriff is convinced that the murderer is Richildis&rsquo;s son, Edwin, who hated his stepfather. But Cadfael, guided in part by his concern for a woman to whom he was once betrothed, is certain of her son&rsquo;s innocence. Using his knowledge of both herbs and the human heart, Cadfael deciphers a deadly recipe for murder. </div>

Overdrive

Monk's Hood

<div>Brother Cadfael discovers a murder amid the wreckage of Shrewsbury Castle in this mystery series featuring &ldquo;a colorful and authentic medieval background&rdquo; (Publishers Weekly). In the summer of 1138, war between King Stephen and the Empress Maud takes Brother Cadfael from the quiet world of his garden into a battlefield of passions, deceptions, and death. Not far from the safety of the abbey walls, Shrewsbury Castle falls, leaving its ninety-four defenders loyal to the empress to hang as traitors. With a heavy heart, Brother Cadfael agrees to bury the dead, only to make a grisly discovery: one extra victim that has been strangled, not hanged. This ingenious way to dispose of a corpse tells Brother Cadfael that the killer is both clever and ruthless. But one death among so many seems unimportant to all but the good Benedictine. He vows to find the truth behind disparate clues: a girl in boy&rsquo;s clothing, a missing treasure, and a single broken flower . . . the tiny bit of evidence that Cadfael believes can expose a murderer&rsquo;s black heart. </div>

One Corpse Too Many

<div>&ldquo;Bodies and red herrings pile up in a satisfying way&rdquo; in the Silver Dagger Award&ndash;winning medieval mystery series starring Brother Cadfael (Library Journal). The year is 1142, and England is in the grip of civil war. Within the cloisters of the Benedictine Abbey of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, there begins a chain of events no less momentous than the upheavals of the outside world. It starts with the sad demise of Richard Ludel, Lord of Eyton, whose ten-year-old son and heir, also named Richard, is a pupil at the abbey. The boy refuses to surrender his newly inherited powers to Dionysia, his furious, formidable grandmother. A stranger to the region is the hermit Cuthred, who enjoys the protection of Lady Dionysia, and whose young companion, Hyacinth, befriends Richard. Despite his reputation for holiness, Cuthred&rsquo;s arrival heralds a series of mishaps for the monks. When a corpse is found in Eyton forest, Brother Cadfael must devote his knowledge of human nature to tracking down a ruthless murderer.</div>

Apple Books

The Hermit of Eyton Forest

<div>Medieval monk Brother Cadfael races to save a young man he believes is falsely accused of robbery&mdash;in the Silver Dagger Award&ndash;winning mystery series. In the gentle Shrewsbury spring of 1140, the midnight matins at the Benedictine abbey suddenly reverberate with an unholy sound&mdash;a hunt in full cry. Pursued by a drunken mob, the quarry is running for its life. When the frantic creature bursts into the nave to claim sanctuary, Brother Cadfael finds himself fighting off armed townsmen to save a terrified young man. Liliwin, a wandering minstrel who performed at the wedding of a local goldsmith&rsquo;s son, has been accused of robbery and murder. The cold light of morning, however, will show his supposed victim, the miserly craftsman, still lives, although a strongbox lies empty. Brother Cadfael believes Liliwin is innocent, but finding the truth and the treasure before Liliwin&rsquo;s respite in sanctuary runs out may uncover a deadlier sin than thievery&mdash;a desperate love that nothing, not even the threat of hanging, can stop. The Sanctuary Sparrow is the seventh book in the Chronicles of Brother Cadfael, featuring a &ldquo;wily veteran of the Crusades.&rdquo; The historical mystery series earned Ellis Peters a Crime Writers&rsquo; Association Silver Dagger Award&mdash;and a legion of devoted fans (Los Angeles Times).</div>

The Sanctuary Sparrow

<div>The medieval monk digs for clues when a body is unearthed by a plow: &ldquo;His detecting talents are as dazzling as ever&rdquo; (Publishers Weekly). When a newly plowed field recently given to the Benedictine Abbey of Saint Peter and Saint Paul yields the body of a young woman, Brother Cadfael is quickly thrown into a delicate situation. The field was once owned by a local potter named Ruald, who had abandoned his beautiful wife, Generys, to take monastic vows. Generys was said to have gone away with a lover, but now it seems as if she had been murdered. With the arrival at the abbey of young Sulien Blount, a novice fleeing homeward from the civil war raging in East Anglia, the mysteries surrounding the corpse start to multiply. </div>

The Potter's Field

<div>Strangers seek refuge at the abbey as floodwaters rise, a body falls, and a relic vanishes&mdash;in this &ldquo;top drawer&rdquo; mystery featuring the twelfth-century monk (Chicago Sun-Times) In the chill, rainy autumn of 1144, two groups of visitors seek the hospitality of the Abbey of St. Peter and St. Paul, and Brother Cadfael fears trouble has come in with them. Among the first arrivals is Brother Tutilo, a young Benedictine with a guileless face and&mdash;to Brother Cadfael&rsquo;s shrewd eyes&mdash;a mischievous intelligence. The second group, a ribald French troubadour, his servant, and a girl with the voice of an angel, seems to Brother Cadfael a catalyst for disaster. All of Cadfael&rsquo;s fears become manifest as rising floodwaters endanger the abbey&rsquo;s most sacred relic, the remains of Saint Winifred. When the bones disappear and a dead body is found, Brother Cadfael knows carnal and spiritual intrigues are afoot. Now, in a world that believes in signs and miracles, Brother Cadfael needs his prayers answered&mdash;as well as some heavenly guidance to crucial clues&mdash;to catch a killer hell-bent on murder.</div>

The Holy Thief

<div>&ldquo;Three classic stories featuring Brother Cadfael . . . whose powers of deduction are practically miraculous&rdquo; in the Silver Dagger&ndash;winning medieval mystery series (Booklist). &ldquo;Brother Cadfael sprang to life suddenly and unexpectedly when he was already approaching sixty, mature, experienced, fully armed and seventeen years tonsured.&rdquo; So writes Ellis Peters in her introduction to A Rare Benedictine&mdash;three vintage tales of intrigue and treachery featuring the monastic sleuth who has become the best-loved ecclesiastical detective since Father Brown. Although Cadfael has appeared in twenty novel-length chronicles, the story of his entry into the monastery at Shrewsbury has been known hitherto only to a few readers. Now his myriad fans can discover the chain of events that led him into the Benedictine Order.</div>

A Rare Benedictine

<div>A monk embarks on a dangerous quest to find a trio of missing travelers in this medieval mystery by an Edgar Award&ndash;winning author. The winter of 1139 will disrupt Brother Cadfael&rsquo;s tranquil life in Shrewsbury with the most disturbing of events. Raging civil war has sent refugees fleeing north from Worcester. Among them are two orphans from a noble family, a boy of thirteen and an eighteen-year-old girl of great beauty, and their companion, a young Benedictine nun. The trio never reaches Shrewsbury, having disappeared somewhere in the wild countryside. Cadfael is afraid for these three lost lambs, but another call for help sends him to the church of Saint Mary. A wounded monk, found naked and bleeding by the roadside, will surely die without Cadfael&rsquo;s healing arts. Why this holy man has been attacked and what his fevered ravings reveal soon give Brother Cadfael a clue to the fate of the missing travelers. Now Cadfael sets out on a dangerous quest to find them. The road will lead him to a chill and terrible murder and a tale of passion gone awry. And at journey&rsquo;s end awaits a vision of what is best, and worst, in humankind.</div>

The Virgin in the Ice

<div>Brother Cadfael must intervene when a prisoner exchange is interrupted by love and murder, in the Silver Dagger Award&ndash;winning medieval mystery series. In February of 1141, men march home from war to Shrewsbury, but the captured sheriff Gilbert Prestcote is not among them. Elis, a young Welsh prisoner, is delivered to the Abbey of Saint Peter and Saint Paul to begin a tale that will test Brother Cadfael&rsquo;s sense of justice&mdash;and his heart. By good fortune, it seems, the prisoner can be exchanged as Sheriff Prestcote&rsquo;s ransom. What no one expects is that good-natured Elis will be struck down by cupid&rsquo;s arrow. The sheriff&rsquo;s own daughter holds him in thrall, and she, too, is blind with passion. But regaining her father means losing her lover. The sheriff, ailing and frail, is brought to the abbey&rsquo;s infirmary&mdash;where he is murdered. Suspicion falls on the prisoner, who has only his Welsh honor to gain Brother Cadfael&rsquo;s help. And Cadfael gives it, not knowing the truth will be a trial for his own soul.</div>

Dead Man's Ransom

<div>In this mystery in the award-winning series featuring a twelfth-century Benedictine monk, Brother Cadfael must travel to the heart of a leper colony to root out the secret behind a savage murder. Setting out for the Saint Giles leper colony outside Shrewsbury, Brother Cadfael has more pressing matters on his mind than the grand wedding coming to his abbey. But as fate would have it, Cadfael arrives at Saint Giles just as the nuptial party passes the colony&rsquo;s gates. When he sees the fragile bride looking like a prisoner between her two stern guardians and the bridegroom&mdash;an arrogant, fleshy aristocrat old enough to be her grandfather&mdash;he quickly discerns this union may be more damned than blessed. Indeed, a savage murder will interrupt the May&ndash;December marriage and leave Cadfael with a dark, terrible mystery to solve. Now, with the key to the killing hidden among the lepers of Saint Giles, the monk must ferret out a sickness not of the body, but of a twisted soul. </div>

The Leper of Saint Giles

<div>Charges of heresy and murder are complicated by the contents of a mysterious treasure chest In the summer of 1143, William of Lythwood arrives at the Benedictine Abbey of St. Peter and St. Paul, but it is not a joyous occasion&mdash;he&rsquo;s come back from his pilgrimage in a coffin. William&rsquo;s body is accompanied by his young attendant Elave, whose mission is to secure a burial place for his master on the abbey grounds, despite William&rsquo;s having once been reprimanded for heretical views. An already difficult task is complicated when Elave drunkenly expresses his own heretical opinions, and capital charges are filed. When a violent death follows, Sheriff Hugh Beringar taps his friend Brother Cadfael for help. The mystery that unfolds grows deeper thanks to a mysterious and marvelous treasure chest in Elave&rsquo;s care. </div>

The Heretic's Apprentice

<div>The sleuthing monk unravels a thorny case of murder in this &ldquo;accomplished whodunit meticulously wrought with a wealth of medieval detail&rdquo; (Booklist). A late spring in 1142 brings dismay to the Abbey of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, for there may be no roses by June 22. On that day the young widow Perle must receive one white rose as rent for the house she has given to benefit the abbey, or the contract is void. When nature finally complies, a pious monk is sent to pay the rent&mdash;and is found murdered beside the hacked rosebush. The abbey&rsquo;s wise herbalist, Brother Cadfael, follows the trail of bloodied petals. He knows the lovely widow&rsquo;s dowry is far greater with her house included, and she will likely wed again. Before Cadfael can ponder if a greedy suitor has done this dreadful deed, another crime is committed. Now the good monk must thread his way through a tangle more tortuous than the widow&rsquo;s thorny bushes.</div>

The Rose Rent

<div>A monk&rsquo;s journey of amends leads to murder in this &ldquo;thoroughly entertaining medieval mystery&rdquo; in the Silver Dagger Award&ndash;winning series (Publishers Weekly). Winter arrived early in 1142, bringing with it a heavy snowfall. The safety of the guest-hall roof at the Benedictine Abbey of St. Peter and St. Paul comes into jeopardy, and the brothers are called upon to effect repairs. But the icy and treacherous conditions are to prove near fatal for Brother Haluin. He slips from the roof and crashes to the ground, sustaining terrible injuries&mdash;grave enough for him to want to make his deathbed confession. The confession is heard by the abbot and Brother Cadfael; a wicked story, of trespasses hard for God or man to forgive. But Haluin does not die. On his recovery, he determines to make a journey of expiation, with Cadfael as his sole companion. It is an arduous journey, physically and emotionally, and one that leads to some shocking discoveries.</div>

The Confession of Brother Haluin

<div>A despised priest is drowned in a pond in this medieval mystery filled with &ldquo;lively period detail&rdquo; (Kirkus Reviews). In a mild December in the year of our Lord 1141, a new priest comes to the parishioners of the Foregate outside the Abbey of Saint Peter and Saint Paul. Father Ailnoth brings with him a housekeeper and her nephew&mdash;and a disposition that invites murder. Brother Cadfael quickly sees that father Ailnoth is a harsh man who, striding along in his black cassock, looks like a doomsaying raven. The housekeeper&rsquo;s nephew, Benet, is quite different&mdash;a smiling lad, a hard worker in Cadfael&rsquo;s herb garden, but, as Brother Cadfael soon discovers, an impostor. And when Ailnoth is found drowned, suspicion falls on Benet, though many in the Foregate had cause to want this priest dead. Now Brother Cadfael is gathering clues along with his medicinals to treat a case of unholy passions, tragic politics, and perhaps divine intervention.</div>

The Raven in the Foregate

<div>The &ldquo;irresistible&rdquo; and &ldquo;compelling&rdquo; first novel in the historical mystery series featuring a Welsh Benedictine monk in the twelfth century (The Washington Post). A Welsh Benedictine monk living at Shrewsbury Abbey in western England, Brother Cadfael spends much of his time tending the herbs and vegetables in the garden&mdash;but now there&rsquo;s a more pressing matter. Cadfael is to serve as translator for a group of monks heading to the town of Gwytherin in Wales. The team&rsquo;s goal is to collect the holy remains of Saint Winifred, which Prior Robert hopes will boost the abbey&rsquo;s reputation, as well as his own. But when the monks arrive in Gwytherin, the town is divided over the request. When the leading opponent to disturbing the grave is found shot dead with a mysterious arrow, some believe Saint Winifred herself delivered the deadly blow. Brother Cadfael knows an earthly hand did the deed, but his plan to root out a murderer may dig up more than he can handle. Before CSI and Law &amp; Order, there was Brother Cadfael, &ldquo;wily veteran of the Crusades&rdquo; (Los Angeles Times). His knowledge of herbalism, picked up in the Holy Land, and his skillful observance of human nature are blessings in dire situations, and earned Ellis Peters a Crime Writers&rsquo; Association Silver Dagger Award. A Morbid Taste for Bones kicks off a long-running and much-loved series that went on to be adapted for stage, radio, and television.</div>

A Morbid Taste for Bones

<div>The twelfth-century Welsh monk is caught up in civil war and captured by Danish mercenaries, in the Silver Dagger Award&ndash;winning medieval mystery series. In the summer of 1144, a strange calm has settled over England. The armies of King Stephen and the Empress Maud, the two royal cousins contending for the throne, have temporarily exhausted each other. On the whole, Brother Cadfael considers peace a blessing. Still, a little excitement never comes amiss to a former soldier, and Cadfael is delighted to accompany a friend on a mission of diplomacy to his native Wales. But shortly after their arrival, the two monks are caught up in another royal feud. The Welsh prince Owain Gwynedd has banished his brother Cadwaladr, accusing him of the treacherous murder of an ally. The reckless Cadwaladr has retaliated by landing an army of Danish mercenaries, poised to invade Wales. As the two armies teeter on the brink of bloody civil war, Cadfael is captured by the Danes and must navigate the brotherly quarrel that threatens to plunge an entire kingdom into chaos.</div>

The Summer of the Danes

<div>In this &ldquo;enchanting&rdquo; historical mystery, &ldquo;medieval England comes marvelously alive&rdquo; as Brother Cadfael investigates a woman&rsquo;s baffling disappearance (The Washington Post). In the year of our Lord 1141, August comes in golden as a lion, and two monks ride into the Benedictine Abbey of Saint Peter and Saint Paul bringing with them disturbing news of war&mdash;and a mystery. The strangers tell how the strife between the Empress Maud and King Stephen has destroyed the town of Winchester and their priory. Now Brother Humilis, who is handsome, gaunt, and very ill, and Brother Fidelis, youthful, comely&mdash;and totally mute&mdash;must seek refuge at Shrewsbury. From the moment he meets them, Brother Cadfael senses something deeper than common vows binds these two good brothers. What the link is he can only guess. What it will lead to is beyond his imagining. As Brother Humilis&rsquo;s health fails&mdash;and nothing can stop death&rsquo;s lengthening shade&mdash;Brother Cadfael faces a poignant test of his discretion and his beliefs as he unravels a secret so great it can destroy a life, a future, and a holy order. &ldquo;Unflagging tension which builds to a swift, satisfying climax. Peters never disappoints [with] her absorbing, superbly crafted stories.&rdquo; &mdash;Kirkus Reviews </div>

An Excellent Mystery

<div>A monk must find a killer among a flood of religious pilgrims in this medieval mystery by the Edgar Award&ndash;winning author: &ldquo;A series like no other&rdquo; (TheSan Diego Union-Tribune). In the year of our Lord 1141, civil war over England&rsquo;s throne leaves a legacy of violence&mdash;and the murder of a knight dear to Brother Cadfael. And with gentle bud-strewn May, a flood of pilgrims comes to the celebration of Saint Winifred at the Abbey of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, carrying with it many strange souls&mdash;and perhaps the knight&rsquo;s killer. Brother Cadfael&rsquo;s shrewd eyes see all: the prosperous merchant who rings false, an angelic lame boy, his beautiful dowerless sister, and two wealthy penitents. In the name of justice Cadfael decides to uncover the strange and twisted tale that accompanies these travelers. Instead he unearths a quest for vengeance, witnesses a miracle, and finds himself on a razor&rsquo;s edge between death and the absolution of love.</div>

The Pilgrim of Hate

<div>From the Edgar Award&ndash;winning author: When a troubled novice is blamed for a priest&rsquo;s disappearance, Brother Cadfael seeks to save his soul&mdash;and his life. Outside the pale of the Abbey of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, in September of 1140, a priestly emissary for King Stephen has been reported missing. But inside the pale, what troubles Brother Cadfael is a proud, secretive nineteen-year-old novice. Brother Cadfael has never seen two men more estranged than the Lord of Aspley and Meriet, the son he coldly delivers to the abbey to begin a religious vocation. Meriet, meek by day, is so racked by dreams at night that his howls earn him the nickname &ldquo;the Devil&rsquo;s Novice.&rdquo; Shunned and feared, Meriet is soon linked to the missing priestly emissary&rsquo;s dreadful fate. Only Brother Cadfael believes in Meriet&rsquo;s innocence, and only the good sleuth can uncover the truth before a boy&rsquo;s pure passion, not evil intent, leads a novice to the noose. </div>

The Devil's Novice

<div>In the twelfth century, merchants gather at a summertime fair&mdash;but when one of them is found dead in a river, a crime-solving monk must step in. St. Peter&rsquo;s Fair is a grand, festive event, attracting merchants from across England and beyond. There is a pause in the civil war racking the country in the summer of 1139, and the fair promises to bring some much-needed gaiety to the town of Shrewsbury&mdash;until the body of a wealthy merchant is found murdered in the river Severn. Was Thomas of Bristol the victim of murderous thieves? And, if so, why were his valuables abandoned nearby? Brother Cadfael, that shrewd but kindly monk, offers to help the merchant&rsquo;s lovely niece Emma. But while he is searching for the killer, Thomas of Bristol&rsquo;s wares are ransacked and two more men are murdered. Emma almost certainly knows more than she is telling&mdash;as others will soon realize. Cadfael desperately races to save the young girl, knowing that in a country at war with itself, betrayal can come from any direction, and even good intentions can kill. </div>

Saint Peter's Fair

<div>When Inspector Felse arrests a woman for the murder of a beer tycoon, his son sets out to prove her innocence in this Edgar Award&ndash;winning mystery. Is a vulgarity ground for murder? Alfred Armiger had antagonized many with his greed and crass acquisitiveness. So when the ruthless beer baron is discovered dead, his head beaten in by a magnum of champagne, there is no shortage of suspects. All of Comerford is shocked when Detective George Felse arrests Kitty Norris, the daughter of a rival beer baron, the last person to see Armiger alive, and the main beneficiary of his will. But Kitty, charming and popular, has an unexpected advocate in Felse&rsquo;s young son, Dominic, who has fallen in love with her. Passionately convinced of Kitty&rsquo;s innocence, Dominic sets out to find the true culprit, a hazardous undertaking that could cost him his life. Death and the Joyful Woman is the 2nd book in the Felse Investigations, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.</div>

Death and the Joyful Woman

<div>In the mountains of Czechoslovakia, a possible murder has Dominic Felse suspicious of everyone&mdash;including his friend, the dead man&rsquo;s beautiful stepdaughter. Theodosia Barber had been planning to spend her summer vacation in Europe in any case, so what could be simpler than persuading her travel companions to make a minor detour to the scene of the crime? Bewitched by Theodosia&rsquo;s beautiful brown eyes and blissfully unaware of her real motives, Dominic Felse cannot refuse her plea for a change of plan. And he&rsquo;s certainly not prepared for their innocent touring holiday to become a murder investigation, with Theodosia in grave danger of becoming another unlikely victim. . . . The Piper on the Mountain is the 5th book in the Felse Investigations, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.</div>

The Piper on the Mountain

<div>In this &ldquo;hypnotically good&rdquo; debut, a Nazi murdered in an English village sets Sergeant Felse and his son on an investigation few want solved (Boston Sunday Globe). It is 1952, and the shadow of World War II still lies over the green fields of the small village of Comerford on the Welsh borders. When ex-prisoner of war Helmut Schauffler is murdered, local policeman Sergeant George Felse has his work cut out: Schauffler was Nazi to the core and the majority of the villagers had good reason to despise him. Sergeant Felse&rsquo;s fourteen-year-old son, Dominic&mdash;who found Schauffler&rsquo;s body in a shallow brook&mdash;is fascinated by the case. Much to his father&rsquo;s disapproval, he resolves to find the murderer&mdash;a decision that places his own life in great danger. . . . Fallen Into the Pit is the 1st book in the Felse Investigations, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.</div>

Fallen into the Pit

<div>A detective investigates the disappearance of a beautiful Welsh teenager in this &ldquo;deeply satisfying&rdquo; mystery by the author of the Brother Cadfael series (Publishers Weekly). Annet Beck is hauntingly beautiful, which worries her parents so much that they guard her as closely as a prisoner . . . until the rainy Thursday in October when she disappears. Annet is last seen vanishing over the crest of the eerie Hallowmount, a hill said to be the abode of witches. Five days later, she mysteriously reappears, claiming that she was only gone for two hours. Enchanted by her beauty, Annet&rsquo;s parents&rsquo; lodger Tom Kenyon is determined to find the explanation for her disappearance: Could it be deceit, amnesia, or witchcraft? Tom&rsquo;s amateur investigations lead to nowhere until Detective Inspector George Felse finds cause to connect those missing five days with his inquiry into a death. Flight of a Witch is the 3rd book in the Felse Investigations, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.</div>

Flight of a Witch

<div>Ignored on her birthday by her husband and son, Bunty Felse takes herself out to celebrate&mdash;and finds herself in mortal danger. On the eve of her forty-first birthday, Bunty Felse is overcome with depression. The weather is dreary; her only child, Dominic, fails to call with birthday greetings; and her husband, George, arrives home only to announce that he has to leave for London immediately to attend to urgent police business. After almost twenty years as a detective&rsquo;s wife, Bunty doesn&rsquo;t protest or complain; she sends George off with a swiftly packed case. To shake off her black mood, Bunty goes out for a solitary evening walk. She stops at the local pub for a drink and accepts a lift home from a sad young man whose troubles draw her out of her own and makes her feel compelled to help him. But as soon as the car door closes, the driver reveals a dark secret that could lead them both to early graves. Will she manage to escape the mysterious fugitive before it&rsquo;s too late? The Grass Widow&rsquo;s Tale is the 7th book in the Felse Investigations, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.</div>

The Grass Widow's Tale

<div>The grave of a Cornish poet reveals a centuries-old mystery and leads Detective Inspector Felse on a dangerous trail of secrets and crime. While on a seaside vacation in Cornwall with his son, Dominic, Detective Inspector George Felse can&rsquo;t help but investigate a dark mystery of smuggling, missing bodies, and murder. Jan Treverra was a legendary Cornish poet and smuggler who died two centuries ago. But when local scholar Simon Towne arranges to open Treverra&rsquo;s grave in search of his long-lost literary legacy, the tomb yields two dead bodies . . . and neither one is the body of Jan Treverra. In this derelict seashore graveyard, Felse uncovers a trail of violence in Maymouth&rsquo;s history that casts shadows centuries long. . . . A Nice Derangement of Epitaphs is the 4th book in the Felse Investigations, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.</div>

A Nice Derangement of Epitaphs

<div>When two attendees go missing from a folk music festival at a remote Gothic mansion, Inspector Felse arrives to solve the mystery&mdash;and protect his son. Singers and musicians are gathered for a weekend course in folk music at the impressive neo-Gothic country mansion Follymead. Most come only to sing or to listen, but one or two have nonmusical scores to settle. When brilliantly talented Liri Palmer sings &ldquo;Black, black, black is the colour of my true-love&rsquo;s heart,&rdquo; she clearly has a message for someone in the audience. And as passions run high, there is murder brewing at Follymead. Among the music students are Dominic Felse and his girlfriend, Theodosia. When not one, but two, members of the group go missing from the hall, Dominic calls upon his father, Detective Inspector George Felse, to help him solve this most perplexing mystery. Black Is the Colour of My True Love&rsquo;s Heart is the 6th book in the Felse Investigations, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.</div>

Black Is the Colour of My True Love's Heart

<div>A car crash survivor is convinced she committed murder, and private eye Francis Killian joins forces with George and Bunty Felse to uncover her past. World-famous opera singer Maggie Tressider wakes up in a hospital after an accident, haunted by the certainty that she has committed a murder. Her doctor suggests that, with the help of a psychiatrist, she may be able to lay the nameless specter to rest. But Maggie chooses a very different expert to help her unearth the secrets of her past. Her commission launches private investigator Francis Killian on a hunt across Europe in search of a grave. But the trail also leads him to one Bunty Felse, a former colleague of Maggie&rsquo;s, and the wife of Inspector Felse. The successful end of Killian&rsquo;s search is only the beginning of a long pilgrimage&mdash;a journey that leads not only back into the past, but also to a remote corner of the Austrian Alps where death awaits. The House of Green Turf is the 8th book in the Felse Investigations, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.</div>

The House of Green Turf

<div>A shocking revelation in a diva&rsquo;s will leads to murder in this chilling whodunit from the Edgar Award&ndash;winning author of the Chronicles of Brother Cadfael. It&rsquo;s not surprising that adored British opera star, Antonia Byrne, would want her death to be as dramatic as the roles she performed on the world&rsquo;s great stages. Even so, the existence of a new will surprises everyone&mdash;especially the six loved ones gathered at her deathbed in Vienna. When the mourners&rsquo; private plane is brought down by a blizzard, trapping them together in the Swiss Alps, they decide to unseal Antonia&rsquo;s final testament rather than wait till they&rsquo;re back home in England. But no one is prepared for what the diva stipulated as her final wishes, especially not her ex-lover, Richard, who has been burdened with a most unwanted responsibility. And as the storm continues, keeping the local constabulary snowbound and out of reach, the stranded six will now have to struggle to stay alive. Because suddenly it&rsquo;s not only nature&rsquo;s fury threatening their survival, but the murderous wrath of one of their own. The Will and the Deed is at once an intriguing puzzle and a breathtaking survival adventure from the Edgar, Agatha, and Gold Dagger Award&ndash;winning author and &ldquo;cult figure of crime fiction&rdquo; (Financial Times).</div>

The Will and the Deed

<div>Dominic Felse and his girlfriend escort a young girl through India and investigate a murder in this mystery from the bestselling author of Fallen Into the Pit. When his girlfriend&rsquo;s beautiful but erratic film-star mother, Chloe, calls to ask a favor, Dominic Felse fears the worst. But she makes the couple an offer they can&rsquo;t refuse: an all-expense-paid trip to India to escort Anjili Kumar, the fourteen-year-old daughter of Chloe&rsquo;s costar, to stay with her father while her mother is filming in England. But Dominic&rsquo;s fears are not unfounded, and they soon discover that traveling with the spoiled, precocious Anjili is no vacation&mdash;and the task of delivering her back to her family will be less than easy. For behind the colorful, smiling mask of India that tourists see, there is another country&mdash;remote, mysterious, and often shatteringly brutal. . . . Mourning Raga is the 9th book in the Felse Investigations, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.</div>

Mourning Raga

<div>An English hitchhiker disrupts a criminal&rsquo;s plans in this caper gone wrong from the Edgar Award&ndash;winning author of the Chronicles of Brother Cadfael. On the road to a new town and a new life, William Banks is grateful to Alf, the somewhat seedy stranger who gives him a lift. In return, the unworldly young man is more than happy to deliver a package for his benefactor to a specific address in Braybourne. He has no idea, however, that his driver has chosen him to serve as a patsy in a sinister plot to retrieve &pound;250,000 stolen earlier from a Braybourne bank&mdash;and that, if the scheme succeeds, William Banks will be dead before sundown. But with the help of Calli, a lass William encounters along the way, and a dose of blind luck, he is able to avoid a most unpleasant end. Now he and Calli will somehow have to steer clear of London gangsters, as well as the original thief and his vengeful entourage, while further derailing Alf&rsquo;s insidious plot without getting shot, stabbed, strangled, or blown to smithereens in the process. The Edgar, Agatha, and Gold Dagger Award&ndash;winning author delivers a funny, edgy stand-alone crime novel. &ldquo;Charm is not usual in murder mysteries, but Ellis Peters&rsquo; stories are full of it.&rdquo; &mdash;The Mail on Sunday</div>

Never Pick Up Hitch-Hikers!

<div>A famous composer&rsquo;s post-WWII homecoming is marred by death threats in a gripping tale of suspense from the Edgar Award&ndash;winning creator of Brother Cadfael. Three decades ago, a teenaged Lucas Cornith joined the Austrian Resistance, helping to lead escapees from German oppression across the Alps to Switzerland and safety. But when Hitler&rsquo;s storm troopers got too close, Lucas fled his homeland, leaving his compatriots behind to face the Nazi&rsquo;s wrath. Many years later, Cornith is returning to his hometown for the first time since the war&rsquo;s end. Now a world-renowned classical composer, he&rsquo;s premiering a new musical work, The Horn of Roland, at a festival in Gries-am-See, the tiny Alpine village of his birth. But not everyone wants to welcome him home with open arms. Someone here refuses to forgive and will never forget the past. And unless Cornith can unmask his mystery antagonist in time, the premier of his new composition might well be the composer&rsquo;s swan song. The Edgar, Agatha, and Gold Dagger Award&ndash;winning author of the Brother Cadfael medieval mysteries and &ldquo;beguiling writer&rdquo; perfectly blends intrigue and suspense in this novel of a man haunted by his past (The Daily Telegraph). </div>

The Horn of Roland

<div>English teens on vacation in Italy are caught up in a murderous conspiracy, from the Edgar Award&ndash;winning author of the Chronicles of Brother Cadfael. On a train ride across Northern Italy, a quartet of young English tourists en route to Venice are charmed by a kindly older fellow passenger. Inviting them into his first-class compartment, their new friend, Signore Galassi, beguiles them with stories, anecdotes, and fascinating facts about the lush Italian countryside. But once the train deposits them all in Turin, a dark cloud settles over the Brits&rsquo; carefree holiday. After discovering that their elderly traveling companion has been brutally attacked and robbed, the distraught students vow to scour this unfamiliar city and find his assailant. Unbeknownst to the young British visitors, they have something in their possession that ties into a greater, even more terrible crime. Their hunt could have unexpected and very deadly consequences, for now their quarry is hunting them. The Edgar, Agatha, and Gold Dagger Award&ndash;winning author of the Brother Cadfael Mysteries is &ldquo;highly recommended for those who still like a proper five course whodunit with all the trimmings&rdquo; (The Sunday Times). </div>

Holiday with Violence

<div>Sixteen unforgettable stories from a &ldquo;beguiling writer&rdquo; and the Edgar Award&ndash;winning author of the Chronicles of Brother Cadfael (The Daily Telegraph). Expanding her horizons far beyond the boundaries of crime fiction, Ellis Peters offers a broad range of short stories in this collection. Two friends, cruelly torn apart when their country is violently sundered, reach a surprising understanding. An Englishwoman&rsquo;s life changes in a foreign land after she accepts a young light-boy&rsquo;s offer to show her &ldquo;a god.&rdquo; And in the bewitching titular story, an inquisitive reporter investigates the strange hidden history of an elegant London stylist after the body of the enigmatic icon is discovered, immaculately dressed, lying in the ebony coffin that he kept at the side of his bed for years. Exploring life and death, opera and art, love and vengeance, grace and goodness, the poison of prejudice, and the horrors of war, these remarkable stories are as surprising and enthralling as the author&rsquo;s acclaimed, award-winning novels, proving once again that &ldquo;Peters writes with undiminished skill&rdquo; (The Times, London). </div>

The Lily Hand

<div>Superstition clouds the investigation into a dead body found outside a village church in this historical mystery from the author of Fallen Into the Pit. A news photographer is found dead at the threshold of the church of Saint Eata, his hand extended to the door&rsquo;s great cast-iron knocker. Surely it is not a coincidence when a second victim is discovered in eerily similar circumstances? Legend holds that sinners who seize the knocker have their hands burned by the cold iron, but Gerry Bracewell didn&rsquo;t die of burns, and neither did the second victim. Did they knock on death&rsquo;s door, or is a more down-to-earth killer at large? Detective Chief Inspector George Felse watched the ceremony to rededicate the door, but little did he know that he would be called back to Mottisham to investigate murder. . . . The Knocker on Death&rsquo;s Door is the 10th book in the Felse Investigations, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.</div>

The Knocker on Death's Door

<div>An opera singer drops dead onstage in a pitch-perfect puzzler from the Edgar Award&ndash;winning author of the Chronicles of Brother Cadfael. A plane crash kills the lead actor of the Leander Theatre&rsquo;s production of The Marriage of Figaro, in the middle of their rehearsals. The crew, based on the outskirts of London, is shaken. Luckily&mdash;or not&mdash;owner Jimmy Clash has found a replacement in world-class baritone Marc Chatrier, a notorious womanizer, liar, and all-around cad. Chatrier&rsquo;s presence immediately causes tensions to rise dramatically among a close-knit opera &ldquo;family,&rdquo; especially when he starts paying too much attention to Jimmy&rsquo;s star-struck teenage daughter. Then, without warning, the despised singer drops dead in the middle of a performance. That&rsquo;s the cue for audience member Detective Inspector Musgrave to make his grand entrance. But the able police investigator is unprepared for the complex drama awaiting him backstage, and a tragically twisted plot that includes dark secrets, jealousies, old grudges, and murder most foul. As always, the Edgar, Agatha, and Gold Dagger Award&ndash;winning author of the Brother Cadfael Mysteries &ldquo;writes with undiminished skill&rdquo; (The Times, London). </div>

Funeral of Figaro

<div>When an antiques mogul is murdered in an English village, there are many suspects and very few tears, making it a difficult case for Superintendant Felse. The sleepy village of Middlehope is suddenly jerked into life by antiques mogul Arthur Rainbow. In a whirlwind of activity, he extravagantly refurbishes the manor house; joins the golf club, angling society, and arts council; and&mdash;in a ruthless coup&mdash;dislodges the old church organist to take over the position himself. But for all his reforming zeal, the Middlehope community rejects Rainbow. And when Rainbow&rsquo;s crushed body is found in the graveyard of Saint Eata&rsquo;s church, there is very little surprise or sorrow&mdash;but much speculation as to whom the murderer could be. After all, there are so many candidates&mdash;from his young, beautiful, flirtatious wife to the usurped organist and his mutinous choir. It falls upon Superintendent George Felse, newly promoted head of the Midshire CID, to solve this most perplexing murder case. Rainbow&rsquo;s End is the 13th book in the Felse Investigations, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.</div>

Rainbow's End

<div>A troubled English boy sets out to uncover the truth about his father&rsquo;s death, from the Edgar Award&ndash;winning author of the Chronicles of Brother Cadfael. Following the death of his father at an archaeological dig in Greece, young Crispin Almond returned to England and the mother he barely knew. Now a difficult, morose, and unreachable teenager, he has been expelled from every school he&rsquo;s attended. At her wits&rsquo; end, his mother decides Crispin needs a positive male role model and turns to a former friend, who disappeared from her life sixteen years earlier when she rejected his proposal of marriage. Hired by the woman he always loved to be her son&rsquo;s tutor, Evelyn Manville is determined to break through Crispin&rsquo;s protective shell. But the closer he gets to the troubled teen, the more unsettling their relationship becomes. Because, despite having no evidence, Crispin believes his father&rsquo;s death in Greece was no accident, and he&rsquo;s been secretly manipulating events to prove it. And now his plan could be drawing a murderer into all of their lives. With Death Mask, the Edgar, Agatha, and Gold Dagger Award&ndash;winning author of the Brother Cadfael Mysteries delivers a stand-alone novel that is &ldquo;a literate and original piece of work&rdquo; (Kirkus Reviews). </div>

Death Mask

<div>A post-WWII love affair is eroded by suspicions of murder, from the Edgar Award&ndash;winning author of the Chronicles of Brother Cadfael. Talented potter Suspiria Freeland and her painter husband, Theo, survived the Blitz and are living among fellow artists in a bombed-out London suburb. But since the war&rsquo;s terror ended, Theo&rsquo;s drunken self-loathing has become even harder for his long-suffering wife to bear. When Dennis Forbes enters their lives, Suspiria is immediately drawn to the handsome young mechanic. Though he obviously shares her passionate attraction, he is fourteen years her junior and she, of course, is married . . . until Theo&rsquo;s lifeless body is discovered. Theo&rsquo;s death from poison leaves his widow free to love and marry her much younger paramour. But their newfound happiness is soon threatened on all sides&mdash;by a community&rsquo;s gossip and mistrust, by a legal system determined to enact justice at any price, and by the lovers themselves, as suspicion continues to mount that one of them is a murderer. This stand-alone novel of forbidden love, suspicion, and suspense is further evidence why the Financial Times called Edgar, Agatha, and Gold Dagger Award&ndash;winning author Ellis Peters &ldquo;a cult figure of crime fiction.&rdquo;</div>

Most Loving Mere Folly

<div>A recent murder in Wales leads Detective Inspector Felse to the mysterious disappearance of an architect and a case dating back to ancient Rome. When archaeologist Alan Morris disappears in Turkey, his great-niece, Charlotte, regrets never having gotten to know him better. In an attempt to better understand him, Charlotte begins reading the books he wrote. One of them leads her to visit the Roman site of Aurae Phiala on the Welsh border&mdash;the last place her great-uncle worked before leaving for Turkey. But when Charlotte arrives, she finds more than just a few old stones. . . . First there is a charming young man, coincidentally staying at the same hotel, who is very insistent on being her guide. Then a troublesome schoolboy disappears and a corpse is found. Detective Chief Inspector George Felse is called in to solve a case with origins in ancient Rome. City of Gold and Shadows is the 12th book in the Felse Investigations, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.</div>

City of Gold and Shadows

<div>A pair of gripping mystery novellas dealing with crime and punishment from the Edgar Award&ndash;winning author of the Chronicles of Brother Cadfael. In The Assize of the Dying, a defendant in an English courtroom is sentenced to death for a terrible slaying he insists he did not commit. Rising to his feet, Louis Stevenson places a medieval curse on the prosecutor, the judge, the jury foreman, and the actual killer&mdash;the four men responsible for his fate. Profoundly shaken by the condemned prisoner&rsquo;s words, a young couple looking on believes Stevenson&rsquo;s declaration of innocence. And their determination to uncover the truth only intensifies when two more deaths follow in quick succession. In Aunt Helen, the seemingly civilized residents of a stately English country house keep secrets about love, marriage, adulthood, and desire hidden behind closed doors&mdash;until the &ldquo;perfect murder&rdquo; threatens to expose them. Two chilling tales of murder and revenge in one volume from the Edgar, Agatha, and Gold Dagger Award&ndash;winning author of the Brother Cadfael historical mysteries, who &ldquo;writes with undiminished skill&rdquo; (The Times, London).</div>

The Assize of the Dying

<div>While on vacation in India, Dominic Felse investigates the violent deaths of two landowners Landlords are never popular, and there is little mourning when the greedy, ruthless Mahendralal Bakhle is blown up on his boat on the beautiful Periyar Lake. Suspicion falls on the boat-boy who died with him, but Dominic Felse, one of a party of young tourists visiting the landlord&rsquo;s game reserve, is not convinced of the boy&rsquo;s guilt. And when the party moves on to the next destination, the terror pursues all the way to the southernmost tip of India. The police blame local terrorists targeting wealthy landlords, but what would that have to do with a group of innocent travelers? To get to the bottom of this trail of violence, Dominic Felse must unravel a deadly Indian rope trick of hatred and murder. Death to the Landlords is the 11th book in the Felse Investigations, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.</div>

Death to the Landlords

<div>From the author of the Chronicles of Brother Cadfael, the first three mysteries in the Edgar Award&ndash;winning series about an English policeman and his son. In the English village of Comerford, just on the border of Wales, it&rsquo;s Det. Sgt. George Felse&rsquo;s duty to keep the peace&mdash;and keep his fourteen-year-old son, Dominic, out of harm&rsquo;s way . . . Fallen into the Pit: The shadow of World War II still looms over the village of Comerford. Dominic finds the body of a German ex-prisoner of war and develops a dangerous interest in solving the case. &ldquo;Hypnotically good.&rdquo; &mdash;Boston Sunday Globe Death and the Joyful Woman: Dominic falls in love with an heiress who stands accused of bludgeoning a millionaire beer baron to death with a magnum of champagne. &ldquo;Felse . . .is a fully-dimensioned character who plumbs the experiences of his personal life to understand his case.&rdquo; &mdash;Publishers Weekly Flight of a Witch: Felse handles a strange case involving the disappearance of a local beauty, a fatal robbery, and witchcraft. &ldquo;A tension-laden, consistently intriguing puzzle.&rdquo; &mdash;Kirkus Reviews</div>

The Felse Investigations Volume One

<div>From the author of the Chronicles of Brother Cadfael: More mysteries in the &ldquo;admirable&rdquo; Edgar Award&ndash;winning series about an English policeman and his son (Anthony Boucher, The New York Times Book Review). In the English village of Comerford, just on the border of Wales, it&rsquo;s Det. Inspector George Felse&rsquo;s duty to keep the peace&mdash;and keep his teenage son, Dominic, out of harm&rsquo;s way. A Nice Derangement of Epitaphs: While on a seaside vacation in Cornwall with his son, Detective Inspector Felse is called upon to investigate when an old grave reveals two bodies, neither of which belongs to the man named on the tombstone, an infamous smuggler. The Piper on the Mountain: When Herbert Terrell tumbles off a mountain during his annual climbing holiday in Czechoslovakia, his young stepdaughter is not convinced his death was an accident. Enchanted by Theodosia&rsquo;s beautiful brown eyes, Dominic cannot help but become involved. Black Is the Colour of My True Love&rsquo;s Heart: When two attendees go missing from a folk festival at a remote Gothic mansion, Detective Inspector Felse arrives to secure the safety of Dominic and his girlfriend, Theodosia&mdash;and to make sure the culprit faces the music.</div>

The Felse Investigations Volume Two

<div>The first three novels in the award–winning medieval mystery series featuring the Welsh monk, herbalist, and crime-solver. Benedictine monk Brother Cadfael, “wily veteran of the Crusades,” has a deep knowledge of herbalism he picked up in the Holy Land, and a skill for observing human nature—both blessings in dire situations (Los Angeles Times). This volume includes the first three books in the series that earned its author a CWA Silver Dagger Award: A Morbid Taste for Bones At Shrewsbury Abbey, Brother Cadfael tends herbs and vegetables in the garden—but now there’s a more pressing matter. He is to serve as translator for a group of monks heading to a Welsh town to collect the holy remains of Saint Winifred, which Prior Robert hopes will boost the abbey’s reputation as well as his own. But when they arrive in Gwytherin, some object to disturbing the grave—and one of them is killed by an arrow. Some believe Saint Winifred herself delivered the deadly blow, but Brother Cadfael knows better . . . “Irresistible . . . compelling.” —The Washington Post One Corpse Too Many In 1138, war between King Stephen and the Empress Maud takes Brother Cadfael from his quiet garden into a battlefield of passions, deceptions, and death. Not far from the abbey, Shrewsbury Castle falls, leaving its ninety-four defenders to hang as traitors. With a heavy heart, Cadfael agrees to bury the dead, only to make a grisly discovery: one extra victim who’s been strangled, not hanged . . . “A colorful and authentic medieval background.” —Publishers Weekly Monk’s Hood Gervase Bonel is a guest of the abbey when he suddenly takes ill. Skilled herbalist Brother Cadfael hurries to the man’s bedside, only to be confronted with two surprises: In Master Bonel’s wife, the good monk recognizes a woman he loved before he took his vows—and Master Bonel has been fatally poisoned by monk’s-hood oil from Cadfael’s stores . . . “Each addition to the series is a joy.” —USA Today</div>

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