Ellis Peters: The Devil's Novice (USA 2021)

From the Publisher:
From the Edgar Award-winning author: When a troubled novice is blamed for a priest's disappearance, Brother Cadfael seeks to save his soul -- and his life.

Outside the pale of the Abbey of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, in September of 1140, a priestly emissary for King Stephen has been reported missing. But inside the pale, what troubles Brother Cadfael is a proud, secretive nineteen-year-old novice.

Brother Cadfael has never seen two men more estranged than the Lord of Aspley and Meriet, the son he coldly delivers to the abbey to begin a religious vocation. Meriet, meek by day, is so racked by dreams at night that his howls earn him the nickname "the Devil's Novice." Shunned and feared, Meriet is soon linked to the missing priestly emissary's dreadful fate. Only Brother Cadfael believes in Meriet's innocence, and only the good sleuth can uncover the truth before a boy's pure passion, not evil intent, leads a novice to the noose.

Ellis Peters: The Devil's Novice. The Eighth Chronicle of Brother Cadfael. Mysteriouspress.com / Open Road Integrated Media, ISBN: 9781504067522 (July, 2021), 232 p., $24.99.

Ellis Peters: The Devil's Novice (USA 2014)

From the Publisher:
From the Edgar Award-winning author: When a troubled novice is blamed for a priest's disappearance, Brother Cadfael seeks to save his soul -- and his life.

Outside the pale of the Abbey of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, in September of 1140, a priestly emissary for King Stephen has been reported missing. But inside the pale, what troubles Brother Cadfael is a proud, secretive nineteen-year-old novice.

Brother Cadfael has never seen two men more estranged than the Lord of Aspley and Meriet, the son he coldly delivers to the abbey to begin a religious vocation. Meriet, meek by day, is so racked by dreams at night that his howls earn him the nickname "the Devil's Novice." Shunned and feared, Meriet is soon linked to the missing priestly emissary's dreadful fate. Only Brother Cadfael believes in Meriet's innocence, and only the good sleuth can uncover the truth before a boy's pure passion, not evil intent, leads a novice to the noose.

Ellis Peters: The Devil's Novice. The Eighth Chronicle of Brother Cadfael. Mysteriouspress.com / Open Road Integrated Media, ISBN: 9781497671249 (August, 2014), eBook, 8 MB (ca. 232 p.), $12.99.

Ellis Peters: The Devil's Novice (UK 2012)

From the Publisher:
In his eighth chronicle, Brother Cadfael has to discover whether the tormented dreams of a young novice are somehow linked to the mysterious disappearance of one of his superiors.

Outside the pale of the Abbey of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, in September of the year of Our Lord 1140, a priestly emissary for Kir Stephen has been reported missing. But inside the pale, Brother Cadfael's attention is turned on Meriet, a proud, secretive nineteen-year-old novice who has been delivered to the abbey by his over-bearing father, the Lord of Aspley, to begin a religious vocation. Meriet, meek by day, is so racked by dreams at night that his howls earn him the nickname 'the Devil's Novice'.

Shunned and feared, Meriet is soon linked to the missing priest's fate. Only Brother Cadfael believes in Meriet's innocence, and only Brother Cadfael can uncover the truth before a boy's pure passion, not evil intent, leads a novice to the noose.

PRAISE FOR THE BROTHER CADFAEL CHRONICLES:
'A cult figure of crime fiction' -- Financial Times
'A pleasing and unusual mixture of suspense and historical fiction' -- Evening Standard

Ellis Peters: The Devil's Novice. The Eighth Chronicle of Brother Cadfael. Sphere, ISBN: 9780751547030 (May, 2012), 264 p., £7.99.

Ellis Peters: The Devil's Novice (USA 1997)

From the Publisher:
Outside the pale of the Abbey of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, in September of the year of our Lord 1140, a priestly emissary for King Stephen has been reported missing. But inside the pale, what troubles Brother Cadfael is a proud, secretive nineteen-year-old novice.

Brother Cadfael has never seen two men more estranged than the Lord of Aspley and Meriet, the son he coldly delivers to the abbey to begin a religious vocation. Meriet, meek by day, is so racked by dreams at night that his howls earn him the nickname the Devil's Novice. Shunned and feared, Meriet is soon linked to the missing priest's dreadful fate. Only Brother Cadfael believes in Meriet's innocence, and only the good sleuth can uncover the truth before a boy's pure passion, not evil intent, leads a novice to the noose.

"ENCHANTING... MEDIEVAL ENGLAND COMES MARVELOUSLY ALIVE." -- Washington Post
"PETERS'S CUSTOMARY MIX OF WARMTH, SCHOLARSHIP, AND FIRST-CLASS STORYTELLING." -- Kirkus Reviews

Ellis Peters: The Devil's Novice. The Eighth Chronicle of Brother Cadfael, of the Benedictine Abbey of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, at Shrewsbury. Mysterious Press / Warner Books, ISBN: 0446405159 (February, 1997), 276 p., $5.99.

Ellis Peters: The Devil's Novice (UK 1995)

From the Publisher:
CADFAEL - 'A CULT FIGURE OF CRIME FICTION' -- Financial Times
In the autumn of 1140 the Benedictine monastery at Shrewsbury finds its new novice Meriet Aspley a disturbing presence. Meek and biddable by day, his sleep is rent with nightmares so violent as to earn him the nickname of 'Devil's Novice'. Can Meriet be involved in the nearby disappearance of a superior prelate? As events take a sinister turn it falls to Brother Cadfael to detect the truth behind the young man's predicament.

ELLIS PETERS, RECIPIENT OF THE CRIME WRITERS' ASSOCIATION/CARTIER DIAMOND DAGGER AWARD
And don't miss other titles from the Chronicles of Brother Cadfael also available from Warner Futura - see inside for details.

Ellis Peters: The Devil's Novice. The Cadfael Chronicles VIII. London: Warner Futura, 1995, ISBN: 0751513997, 286 p., £5.99.

Ellis Peters: The Devil's Novice (UK 1993)

From the Publisher:
In the autumn of 1140 the Benedictine monastery at Shrewsbury finds its new novice Meriet Aspley a disturbing presence. Meek and biddable by day, his sleep is rent with nightmares so violent as to earn him the nickname of 'Devil's Novice'. Can Meriet be involved in the nearby disappearance of a superior prelate? As events take a sinister turn it falls to Brother Cadfael to detect the truth behind the young man's predicament.

'Ellis Peters' latest detective tale retains the freshness of the first' -- Financial Times
'like its predecessors, it is cleverly conceived and gracefully executed' -- Times Literary Supplement
'sweet-tempered period piece' - Guardian

Ellis Peters: The Devil's Novice. The Eighth Chronicle of Brother Cadfael. A Medieval Whodunnit. London: Warner Futura, 1993, ISBN: 0751502189, 286 p., £4.99.

Ellis Peters: The Devil's Novice (USA 1989)

From the Publisher:
"SPELLBINDING... Peters has the matchless ability to make medieval England seem alive and vital." Sacramento Bee
The younger son of a prominent family, Meriet Aspley arrives at the Benedictine Abbey of St. Peter and St. Paul, determined to become a monk. Dark, solitary, and just nineteen, he seems sincere in his quest for the ecclesiastical life -- until his screaming nightmares shatter the peace of the monastery.

Dubbed the devil's novice and shunned by the other brothers, young Aspley attracts the notice and concern of kind Brother Cadfael. Then the dead body of a young priest last seen at the Aspley estate appears, and suddenly Meriet Aspley may be implicated in a murder.

So Cadfael, that excellent sleuth, sets out to untangle a knot of truly twisted threads that lead to a gala wedding held in the Abbey's own halls-where the conclusion to this haunting mystery is finally and fatefully revealed.

THE DEVIL'S NOVICE
"Peters' customary mix of warmth, scholarship, and first-class storytelling." -- The Kirkus Reviews

Ellis Peters: The Devil's Novice. Who murdered the young priest at the edge of the forest? A Medieval Murder Mystery. Fawcett Crest / Ballantine, ISBN: 0449207013 (March, 1989), 191 p., $3.50.

Ellis Peters: The Devil's Novice (UK 1985)

From the Publisher:
In the autumn of 1140 the Benedictine monastery at Shrewsbury finds its new novice Meriet Aspley a disturbing presence. Meek and biddable by day, his sleep is rent with nightmares so violent as to earn him the nickname of 'Devil's Novice'. Can Meriet be involved in the nearby disappearance of a superior prelate? As events take a sinister turn it falls to Brother Cadfael to detect the truth behind the young man's predicament.

'Ellis Peters' latest detective tale retains the freshness of the first' -- Financial Times
'like its predecessors, it is cleverly conceived and gracefully executed' -- Times Literary Supplement
'sweet-tempered period piece' - Guardian

In the bestselling tradition of THE NAME OF THE ROSE

Ellis Peters: The Devil's Novice. A Medieval Whodunnit. Futura, ISBN: 0708826393 (January, 1985), 286 p., £1.95

Ellis Peters: The Devil's Novice (UK 1983)

From the Publisher:
It is the autumn of 1140 AD and Brother Cadfael (of the Benedictine House of Saint Peter and Saint Paul at Shrewsbury) finds himself playing the part of 'devil's lawman' at a conference of his superiors. Two novices are being offered to the Order and the problem is whether to accept them.

In the event Meriet Aspley, aged nineteen, is accepted. Soon afterwards his father delivers him, ready to start the monastic life. Meriet is destined to become the source of much confusion and distress among the novices and monks, so much so that some think of him as 'the Devil's Novice'.

In an England and Wales torn by civil strife there is always work for Hugh Beringar, deputy sheriff of Shropshire and personal friend of Cadfael. The disappearance not far from Shrewsbury of a superior prelate -- in effect a political envoy -- can well be the result of mischance or the work of footpads. Yet it is not within Hugh's character or duty to overlook any such mystery. First the prelate's horse is discovered in a place that relates sensibly to the journey he was making. A later and far more sinister discovery proves that great wickedness has been done. And Meriet, the Devil's Novice, is somehow mixed up in it.

There is to be an important wedding at the Abbey. By that time Cadfael has done his work of detection -- and reached a conclusion. He contrives that the great gathering becomes a scene of drama, and from that drama there emerges the truth behind a murder, and the explanation of Merit's predicament.

It is a story of courage and treachery with a most ingenious puzzle. The young girl who comes to Merit's aid is a character not easily to be forgotten. A great many addicts have discovered that a visit to the twelfth century in the company of Brother Cadfael and Ellis Peters is a delight. Here again the quality shines bright, the story moves swiftly.

Ellis Peters: The Devil's Novice. The Eighth Chronicle of Brother Cadfael. London: Macmillan, 1983, ISBN: 0333351703, 191 p., £6.50