The Holy Thief (Chronicles of Brother Cadfael number 19), Ellis Peters. Open Road Media (ISBN: 9781497671614) 2014 (first published in 1992).
Summary: During a flood in Shrewsbury, the relics of St. Winifrid are stolen; a dispute over their disposition and a murder follow.
On a hot summer afternoon, Geoffrey de Mandeville, who set up his control of the Fens at the Abbey of Ramsey goes out to survey his lines without helmet or mail. An arrow grazes him, infection sets in, and he dies. Consequently, his leaderless forces disperse and the monks can return to Ramsey. Alas, it has been ransacked and requires major restoration. The Abbot sends for help to other abbeys. So Sub-Prior Herluin and young Brother Tutilo arrive at Shrewsbury seeking to collect aid. Meanwhile, a traveling musician, a woman enslaved to him, Renata, and a servant, Benezet also arrive. Renata and Tutilo know each other.
Sent to Longner Manor, Tutilo plays and sings for the dying Lady Donata. She gives him jewelry and Longner donates lumber. The town and abbey also contribute generously. But to the zealous young Tutilo, this isn’t enough. If only Ramsey had relics like those of Saint Winifrid. As Herluin and Tutilo prepare to leave, a flooding Severn endangers the Abbey. Everything movable is moved to higher quarters, including the relics. Meanwhile a wagon is loaded with the lumber and a secured box with the money and jewels to be sent back to Ramsey while Herluin and Tutilo visit other abbeys. As they finish, a brother comes out and asks Aldhelm, a shepherd, to help move one more item to go at Ramsey, a long, wrapped box.
After the flood recedes, the brothers discover St. Winifrid’s relics are missing. The only ones to leave were the wagon to Ramsey. But before they can follow the wagon, two of the wagon drivers return, badly beaten. They were ambushed, and the wagon and horses taken. The hope is that the thieves dumped the wagon’s contents. A party from the Abbey, Hugh Beringar, the sheriff, along with Herluin and Tutilo return to the spot. The lumber is there. The box with the jewels and money is empty, and the relics are intact. The Earl of Leicester, on whose land they are, also shows up. When Herluin argues to claim Winifrid for Ramsey because she prompted the “mistake” in loading the relics, the Earl plays along, and lays claim as well, saying she stopped on his lands. The party returns to Shrewsbury to resolve the dispute.
A key is to figure out whether the relics were taken by mistake or deliberately stolen. They seek out Aldhelm. Through overheard whispered conversation between Prior Robert and Brother Jerome, the word gets out to Benezet, who tips off Renata, having noticed her interest in Tutilo. She gets him off the Abbey premises so Aldhelm can’t identify him. But Aldhelm never comes. When Tutilo returns, it is to report that he has stumbled on a dead man. When morning light comes, they see that the man is Aldhelm, killed with a blow to his head.
The question is who murdered him and why? Tutilo, the leading suspect, is held. While Cadfael and Hugh search for evidence to convict or absolve Tutilo, Abbot Radulfus proposes an unusual test to resolve the question of the relics disposition. Meanwhile, Renata is not done.
One of the fun things in this story is the contrast between the rigid Herluin and the Earl, who forges a friendship with Hugh that may come into play later. As always, Cadfael plays a role of both devotion to his rule and discerning the spirit versus the letter of the law.