Okay, cheating a bit here, it should have been “P is for Peters”, but what the heck!
Ellis Peters is the pen name for Edith Pargeter, who wrote historical fiction under her own name and historical crime fiction as Ellis Peters. She also has a series featuring a character called Inspector Felse, which I admit I haven’t got around to reading yet. They were written earlier than the better-known Brother Cadfael novels. I read her historical fiction first, and loved it, but who could not enjoy the Brother Cadfael novels?
There are nineteen books in the series. They are all very good. The novels are set in Shrewsbury in the 12th century, during the war between cousins King Stephen and Empress Maud.
Ellis Peters’ hero is a monk called Brother Cadfael. Cadfael had been a soldier in the First Crusade, having lots of adventures, and romancing a number of women, including the mother of his son, who first appears several novels into the series, The Virgin In The Ice. There is a short story in the collection A Rare Benedictine, in which he is returning from the Crusades and an encounter with some monks inspires him to join them. He considers it an enjoyable retirement. Brother Cadfael is the herbalist at the abbey of St Peter and St Paul in Shrewsbury(The church is still there). He creates medicines for the abbey. So he is skilled in forensics, being able to pick up information from the dead bodies that turn up in all the novels.
His best friend is Hugh Beringar, who becomes Sheriff of Shropshire, but is basically a policeman - so you have the trope of the amateur sleuth and his buddy the cop.
While the main characters are fictional, there are some historical figures, such as the Abbot. However, in general, the regular characters were ordinary people you might expect in a small town, even if it did have more than its share of murders…
The series is historically accurate and when I visited Shrewsbury many years ago, I was able to find my way through the streets of the historical part of town because the author had described them in such detail. I met a local gentleman while I was taking pictures of the church, and he pointed out places mentioned in the novels.
If you get a chance, do catch up with the TV series with Derek Jacobi. He was a perfect choice for the role of Brother Cadfael; Ellis Peters even said that she would always, from then on, imagine him as her hero. And if you’re a Doctor Who fan, the first actor to play Hugh Beringar was Sean Pertwee, son of the third Doctor. He was rather taller than the character in the books, but he was so good, I didn’t care.
Derek Jacobi also read the audiobooks, of which I only have one, but love it.
I hope that you will check out these books if you haven’t already. It’s easily available in ebook or audiobook, though you might need to hunt them up in print copy. Booktopia, the Australian site, has them, though Amazon has mostly second hand.
Have you read this series?
6 comments:
I absolutely LOVED the TV series with Derek Jacobi. I think I read only one of the actual books though -- it might have been the first one?
Hi Sue - the few books I've read by Ellis Peters are always excellent reads ... and they've always tempted me - I should read more of them - thanks for the reminder about him. Cheers Hilary
Hi Debra! The first one is A Morbid Taste For Bones, about Brother Cadfael and other monks going to Wales to fetch the bones of St Winifred. There is a murder, of course. Does it sound familiar? I don’t think they ever filmed that one.
Hi Hilary! I do hope you get a chance to read the rest. PS Ellis Peters was the pen name of Edith Pargeter, a woman. 😉
Yes, that does sound familiar! So that must have been the one I read.
Hi Debra! Do read some more! The show was great, but books are even better.
I've read one or two books by Ellis Peters--can't remember which ones.
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