A Morbid Taste for Bones (Chronicles of Brother Cadfael #1), Ellis Peters. New York: Mysterious Press/Open Road, 2014 (originally published in 1977).

Summary: Cadfael is part of a group commissioned to retrieve the bones of a Welsh saint. When the one leading landowner who opposes the removal is murdered, Cadfael helps his daughter find the murder, avenging his death.

There was a time in the 1980’s and 1990’s when a number of friends went on about the Brother Cadfael stories and television adaptations. Somehow, I missed all that. Perhaps I was reading other things at the time (I was pursuing graduate studies). So I apologize if all this is old news to you. I’m just now discovering these wonderful stories. But for those who are like me….

Ellis Peters (Edith Mary Pargeter) wrote twenty stories (and one collection of short stories) in this series between 1977 and 1994, the last published shortly before her death in 1995. The central character is Brother Cadfael, as you might have suspected, a Welsh Benedictine monk who is a gardener, herbalist and sometime doctor, as well as translator and medical examiner. He came to the Abbey at Shrewsbury later in life after service as a crusader and sea captain. His wide experience made him a shrewd observer of human nature, a skill he draws on to solve deaths by mysterious means in this series.

In this first in the series, Cadfael is part of a delegation sent to Gwytherin to retrieve the remains of St. Winifred, after a vision by Brother Columbanus, who has “fits” and sees visions, speaking of her grave being neglected. This is important to the standing of the Abbey at Shrewsbury, which has no relics. The bishop and the prince of Gwynedd (who later comes off as a very sensible chap as do all the Welsh), consent. Prior Robert, ambitious for the abbey, leads the delegation with Cadfael along to translate. They are also accompanied by Brother Columbanus, Brother John, whose fitness for the celibate life is quesionable, as well as Sub-Prior Richard and Prior Roberts clerk Jerome.

The delegation is received warmly but Father Huw, the local priest, advises a meeting with the free men of the parish to gain there consent. One of the most influential, Risiart, is resistant. In a private meeting Prior Robert attempts to bribe him and discovers he has run up against a man of true integrity. Risiart breaks off all talks and the others follow his lead. Father Huw attempts to patch things up and Risiart agrees to another meeting with Prior Robert the next day–but he never shows up–unusual for this man. A search finds him lying dead on a forest path along the way, apparently from an arrow through the heart.

The leading suspect is Engelard, an Englishman who works for Risiart and who has fallen in love with Risiart’s daughter, Sioned. So far, although they get along, Risiart has refused to give her hand in marriage. The hope is that she will marry Peredur, the son of a neighboring landowner and friend of Sioned since childhood. He loves her but she has only the affection of a friend.

Cadfael investigates. The arrow bears Engelard’s mark, but the angle is all wrong. The pattern of dampness is all wrong. Closer examination of the body shows his assailant stabbed him in the back with a downward blow, and then after death, the arrow was inserted angling upward from the front, following the wound pathway.

In Welsh tradition, it falls to the family to see that a murder is avenged. Risiart’s family is Sioned. Some of the best passages in the book are those in which Cadfael communicates understanding of this need and then works withi Sioned to find the killer, all the while walking a delicate balance with Prior Robert’s ambitions, the amorous feelings of Brother John and the further commanding visions of Brother Columbanus.

I see what people like about Cadfael. While a monk, he is no prude, nor is he naive. He understands both sexuality and ambition, acknowledging that were he a younger man, he would have been one of Sioned’s suitors! He works quietly toward resolution while Prior Robert gains the fame, though we discover that he might not have gained what he thought! Cadfael shows a marvelous degree of self-possession that enables him to care for others and to pursue justice, to act with shrewdness that mends both personal wounds and the social fabric.