Ellis Peters: The Holy Thief

Ellis Peters: The Holy Thief (USA 2021)

From the Publisher:
Strangers seek refuge at the abbey as floodwaters rise, a body falls, and a relic vanishes -- in this "top drawer" mystery featuring the twelfth-century monk (Chicago Sun-Times)

In the chill, rainy autumn of 1144, two groups of visitors seek the hospitality of the Abbey of St. Peter and St. Paul, and Brother Cadfael fears trouble has come in with them. Among the first arrivals is Brother Tutilo, a young Benedictine with a guileless face and -- to Brother Cadfael's shrewd eyes -- a mischievous intelligence. The second group, a ribald French troubadour, his servant, and a girl with the voice of an angel, seems to Brother Cadfael a catalyst for disaster.

All of Cadfael's fears become manifest as rising floodwaters endanger the abbey's most sacred relic, the remains of Saint Winifred. When the bones disappear and a dead body is found, Brother Cadfael knows carnal and spiritual intrigues are afoot. Now, in a world that believes in signs and miracles, Brother Cadfael needs his prayers answered -- as well as some heavenly guidance to crucial clues -- to catch a killer hell-bent on murder.

Ellis Peters: The Holy Thief. The Nineteenth Chronicle of Brother Cadfael. Mysteriouspress.com / Open Road Integrated Media, ISBN: 9781504067607 (September, 2021), 286 p., $25.99.

Ellis Peters: The Holy Thief (USA 2014)

Ellis Peters: The Holy Thief. The Nineteenth Chronicle of Brother Cadfael. Mysteriouspress.com / Open Road Integrated Media, ISBN: 9781497671591 (August, 2014), eBook, 8 MB (ca. 286 p.), $14.99.

Ellis Peters: The Holy Thief (USA 1994)

From the Publisher:
In the chill, rainy autumn of 1144, two groups of visitors seek the hospitality of the Abbey of St. Peter and St. Paul, and Brother Cadfael fears that trouble has come in with them. Among the first arrivals is Brother Tutilo, a young Benedictine with a guileless face and -- to Brother Cadfael's shrewd eyes -- a mischievous intelligence. The second group, a ribald French troubadour, his servant, and a girl with the voice of an angel, seems to Brother Cadfael a catalyst for disaster.

All of Cadfael's fears become manifest as rising flood waters endanger the abbey's most sacred relic, the remains of Saint Winifred. When the bones disappear and a dead body is found, Brother Cadfael knows that carnal and spiritual intrigues are afoot. Now, in a world that believes in signs and miracles, Brother needs his prayers answered -- as well as some heavenly guidance to crucial clues -- to catch a killer hell-bent on murder.

"Lyrical prose and deft characterizations... top drawer Ellis Peters." -- Chicago Sun-Times
"Well-crafted... a nicely tangled skein." -- Wall Street Journal
"Fans will not be disappointed." -- Houston Chronicle

Ellis Peters: The Holy Thief. The Nineteenth Chronicle of Brother Cadfael. Mysterious Press / Warner Books, ISBN: 0446403636 (March, 1994), 237 p., $5.50.

Ellis Peters: The Holy Thief (UK 1993)

From the Publisher:
At the height of the hot summer of 1144, the Earl of Essex succumbs to a fatal arrow - but only after a lingering fever during which his officials do their best to save him from hellfire by restoring various properties he has annexed, including the abbey of Ramsey. In such a sorry state is the abbey that Abbot Walter sends out a call for help in restoring it to all houses of the Benedictine Order. And so it is that his envoys arrive at the abbey of Saint Peter and Saint Paul at Shrewsbury.

The dignified figure of Sub-prior Herluin is accompanied by a young novice, Tutilo, a youth blessed with a sublime voice and great musical skill. Indeed, the abbey is rich in musical talent, for it also has as guests a Provençal troubadour and his slave girl songstress, Daalny.

Burning with desire to bring glory to Ramsey, Tutilo prays for help to the bones of Saint Winifred. But heavy rains bring the threat of floods: the holy relics must be removed to a place of safety. And when the waters - and the confusion - subside, a robbery is revealed.

So the stage is set for Brother Cadfael's nineteenth case. And before it is solved, to the crime of theft is added a murder...
Ellis Peters' many admirers will be thrilled with Cadfael's latest foray into detection, which combines excitement, romance and intrigue with meticulously researched and endlessly fascinating details of medieval life.

'Stylish writing, shrewdly observed characters and odd facts of medieval life' -- Financial Times
'Elegantly spellbinding' -- The Sunday Times
'Ellis Peters writes as well as ever and her many fans are in for another treat' -- Today

Ellis Peters: The Holy Thief. The Cadfael Chronicles XIX. Headline, ISBN: 074724040X (April, 1993), 309 p. £5.99 (?).

Ellis Peters: The Holy Thief (USA 1993)

From the Publisher:
At the height of the hot summer of 1144, a lucky hit by one of King Stephen's archers rids the Fen country of Geoffrey de Mandeville, Earl of Essex, who has amassed his castles and gold by robbing rich and poor alike. Thus, the Benedictine abbey at Ramsey, long used as a den for Geoffrey's raggle-raggle marauders, is returned in a thoroughly ruined state to the good brothers of that order.

The news comes to Brother Cadfael at the Abbey of St. Peter and St. Paul in Shrewsbury in the person of the dour, raw-boned Brother Herluin who is soliciting funds and aid to restore Ramsey Abbey to its former splendor. Of much more interest to Cadfael is Herluin's companion, Brother Tutilo, a slightly built lad with a guileless face surrounded by a profusion of brown curls. But Brother Cadfael, long a shrewd judge of character, notes on that brow an intelligence that bespeaks more of mischief than innocence, and he muses that this Brother Tutilo bears watching.

The arrival of a French troubadour, his servant, and a girl with the voice of an angel gives Cadfael a feeling in his wise bones that something is about to happen. It does. The late autumn rains bring flood waters right to the altar where the abbey's most precious possession reposes the bones of Saint Winifred. Only Brother Cadfael knows that moving the holy relic can expose a long hidden secret. He never envisions that the results of disinterment will be the theft of the cherished bones... and murder. Suspicion quickly falls on a guiltylooking Brother Tutilo. But did he do it? In this Nineteenth Chronicle of Brother Cadfael, both carnal and spiritual intrigues unfold to reveal a world that believes in signs and miracles, as a saint answers Cadfael's prayers... and a killer nearly gets away with murder.

ELLS PETERS has gained worldwide praise for her meticulous re-creations of welfth-century monastic life; her medieval whodunits are international bestsellers. She is a recipient of the British Crime Writers Association's Silver Dagger Award, as well as the covered Edgar, bestowed by the Mystery Writers of America. Ellis Perers lives in Shropshire, England.

Brother Cadfael's Benedictine Abbey Church, 900 years old in 1983, is appealing for funds to help in its maintenance. If you would like to help, please write to: Shrewsbury Abbey Restoration Project, Project Office One Holy Cross Houses Abbey Forsgate Shrewsbury SY2 6BS, England

Ellis Peters: The Holy Thief. The Nineteenth Chronicle of Brother Cadfael. Mysterious Press, ISBN: 089296524X (March, 1993), 246 p. $17.95.