A morbid taste for bones

A Mediaeval Whodunnit."" And so it is, with Brother Cadfael of the Benedictine Monastery of Shrewsbury--once a rough sailor, now a sleepy skeptic--as sleuth. Because he speaks Welsh, Brother C. is enlisted for Prior Robert's expedition to appropriate the bones of obscure St. Winifred from a remote Welsh village; the ambitious prior's game-plan for advancement requires a saint, any saint. But the villagers don't want to lose St. Winnie, and then the leader of this resistance is found with an arrow in his back and a stab wound in his front. Would Prior Robert--or his lackeys--really go that far? Or is the motive domestic? (The dead man's daughter has two suitors.) Brother C. traps and dispatches the loony killer (disposing of the body with great wit), matches the daughter up with the right swain, and encourages a restless monk to drop out and enjoy the flesh. Considering the materials, this polished Ellis Peters pleasantry could have been much duller, cuter, and talkier than it is. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.