A Morbid Taste for Bones by Ellis Peters

The internal politics of the Abbey are painted very vividly, and Peters clearly enjoyed depicting the clash of cultures between the down-to-earth yet passionate Welsh and the ambitions and schemes of the largely Norman monks. On the plus side, the setting is nicely realised. And the same trick is repeated twice in the course of the book! There is a little bit of medieval CSI as Cadfael examines a victim’s body for clues, but it doesn’t really lead anywhere, and the solution is revealed by a trope that must have been old in 1137. Along the way he also sorts out the love lives of two young couples. Cadfael, with a foot in both camps, feels duty-bound to solve the murder. Soon enough, a single bloody act of violence has disturbed the peace of Rhos and guilt is fixed on the most obvious culprit. In the course of the negotiations, Cadfael finds himself increasingly dubious about his fellow monks’ motives and sympathetic to his countrymen. Opposition is led by the pugnacious and voluble local nobleman Rhisiart, and the Benedictines and Welsh are soon locked in an increasingly ill-tempered stalemate. In Rhos they find the locals less willing than they expected to surrender their saint. Cadfael and his assistant Brother John tag along as interpreter and skivvy, respectively. Robert leads an expedition to secure Winifred’s remains, accompanied by the sycophantic Brother Jerome and visionary Brother Columbanus.

He finds the ideal candidate in neglected Saint Winifred, held in little account by the people of her native Rhos. Cadfael’s life experience makes him perceptive about goings-on inside and beyond the walls of the Abbey, and his skills as a herbalist and growing reputation as a solver of crimes give him plenty of opportunities to involve himself in mysteries.Ī Morbid Taste for Bones is Cadfael’s first outing. It is 1137, and the ambitious Prior Robert has been scouring Wales for a suitable saint to provide a relic for the Abbey, currently lacking any such tourist attraction. Derek Jacobi in the 1994-98 TV adaptation of the Cadfael novels

A Morbid Taste for Bones by Ellis Peters