Friday, December 14, 2018

Books read in 2018: No. 58 -- A Morbid Taste for Bones

by Ellis Peters

Started: Dec. 11
Finished: Dec. 14

Notes: Keeping with my recent habit of reading historical fiction, I turn to this Medieval novel in which Benedictine monk Brother Cadfael solves mysteries. This isn't the first Cadfael novel I've read, but it's the first in a while, and I do seem to remember enjoying these. As an added bonus, this was the very first novel featuring Brother Cadfael, so at least I get to see how the series got started.

Mini review: A group of monks are tasked with bringing the relics (ie. bones) of a saint from a village to their monastery, but unfortunately the villagers are none too happy about this. Things go from bad to worse when one of village leaders is murdered. But fret not! Brother Cadfael, former soldier now a monk who specializes in herbology, is on the job. I must say, this one started slower than I liked, but by the mid-point things began to speed up a little. And I have to add the ending wasn't a simplistic, cookie-cutter one, but had several twists and turns which were not easy to foresee. All in all, not a bad book. Fans of mysteries should enjoy this one. Also, history fans should like this one because much of what happens here was true (not the murder and not Brother Cadfael, but all the general events and many of the personages involved). By the way, I absolutely love the title for this novel.

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