A Morbid Taste for Bones

In 1137, Prior Robert of Shrewsbury Abbey wants the bones of Saint Winifred. He believes holding her relics will raise the abbey's standing, so he sends a party of monks across the border into Wales to claim them. The town of Gwytherin, where the saint lies, is split over giving her up to the English.

Brother Cadfael goes with the party as translator and guide. He was born in Wales, and before taking his vows he lived as a soldier and a crusader, so he has seen more of the world than most of his brethren.

The trouble turns deadly when the most prominent local opponent of the plan is found shot dead with an arrow. Some in Gwytherin whisper that Saint Winifred herself struck him down. Cadfael does not believe it: a human hand did this, and he sets out to find whose, before the quarrel over the bones leads to more bloodshed.

This is a medieval murder mystery and the first book in the Chronicles of Brother Cadfael, a series set in and around Shrewsbury Abbey. It is a whodunit that moves at a slower pace and rests on its characters, with a detailed picture of monastic life in the period behind it.