Ellis Peters: The Rose Rent (USA 2021)

From the Publisher:
The sleuthing monk unravels a thorny case of murder in this "accomplished whodunit meticulously wrought with a wealth of medieval detail" (Booklist).

A late spring in 1142 brings dismay to the Abbey of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, for there may be no roses by June 22. On that day the young widow Perle must receive one white rose as rent for the house she has given to benefit the abbey, or the contract is void. When nature finally complies, a pious monk is sent to pay the rent -- and is found murdered beside the hacked rosebush.

The abbey's wise herbalist, Brother Cadfael, follows the trail of bloodied petals. He knows the lovely widow's dowry is far greater with her house included, and she will likely wed again. Before Cadfael can ponder if a greedy suitor has done this dreadful deed, another crime is committed. Now the good monk must thread his way through a tangle more tortuous than the widow's thorny bushes.

Ellis Peters: The Rose Rent. The Thirteenth Chronicle of Brother Cadfael. Mysteriouspress.com / Open Road Integrated Media, ISBN: 9781504067539 (August, 2021), 239 p., $24.99.

Ellis Peters: The Rose Rent (USA 2014)

From the Publisher:
The sleuthing monk unravels a thorny case of murder in this "accomplished whodunit meticulously wrought with a wealth of medieval detail" (Booklist).

A late spring in 1142 brings dismay to the Abbey of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, for there may be no roses by June 22. On that day the young widow Perle must receive one white rose as rent for the house she has given to benefit the abbey, or the contract is void. When nature finally complies, a pious monk is sent to pay the rent -- and is found murdered beside the hacked rosebush.

The abbey's wise herbalist, Brother Cadfael, follows the trail of bloodied petals. He knows the lovely widow's dowry is far greater with her house included, and she will likely wed again. Before Cadfael can ponder if a greedy suitor has done this dreadful deed, another crime is committed. Now the good monk must thread his way through a tangle more tortuous than the widow's thorny bushes.

Ellis Peters: The Rose Rent. The Thirteenth Chronicle of Brother Cadfael. Mysteriouspress.com / Open Road Integrated Media, ISBN: 9781497671416 (August, 2014), eBook, 8 MB (ca. 239 p.), $12.99.

Ellis Peters: The Rose Rent (USA 1997)

From the Publisher:
A late spring in 1142 brings dismay to the Abbey of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, for there may be no roses by June 22nd. On that day the young widow Perle must receive one white rose as rent for the house she has given to benefit the abbey or the contract is void. When nature finally complies, a pious monk is sent to pay the rent-and is found murdered beside the hacked rose bush.

The abbey's wise herbalist, Brother Cadfael, follows the trail of bloodied petals. He knows the lovely widow's dowry is far greater with her house included, and she will likely wed again. But before Cadfael can ponder if a greedy suitor has done this dreadful deed, another crime is committed. Now the good monk must thread his way through a tangle more tortuous than the widow's thorny bushes-or there will be more tears...

"BROTHER CADFAEL, IN THIS THIRTEENTH ADVENTURE, IS AS KEEN AND HUMAN AS EVER. THE ROSE RENT IS ONE OF HIS MOST SATISFACTORY CHRONICLES." -- Financial Times (London)
"THE JOYS IN THE PETERS MYSTERIES LIE IN THE TELLING- THE HISTORICAL DETAIL, THE VIEW OF MEDIEVAL LIFE IN TOWN AND MONASTERY, THE LIVELY CHARACTERIZA- TION AND THE AUTHOR'S GRACEFUL, LITERATE PROSE." -- Washington Post

Ellis Peters: The Rose Rent. The Thirteenth Chronicle of Brother Cadfael, of the Benedictine Abbey of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, at Shrewsbury. Mysterious Press / Warner Books, ISBN: 0446405337 (November, 1997), 230 p., $5.99.

Ellis Peters: The Rose Rent (UK 1987)

From the Publisher:
When Judith Perle's husband dies, the young widow bestows one of her properties -- a house in the Monk's Foregate - on the Abbey of Shrewsbury. The only rent: a single white rose, to be delivered annually upon the day of translation of St Winifred.

But a beautiful woman with a substantial dowry must represent a target for would-be suitors. How much greater the dowry if the house should revert to her! Someone, it seems, will stop at nothing to prevent payment of the rose. In the summer of 1142 the rose is violently hacked down and lying beside it, equally brutally hacked, a murdered man is discovered.

To Brother Cadfael, as ever, falls the enquiry into this sensational. crime of passion.
THE ROSE RENT - the latest compulsive murder mystery in this bestselling series.

Ellis Peters: The Rose Rent. The Thirteenth Chronicle of Brother Cadfael. A Medieval Whodunnit. Futura, ISBN: 0708836100 (December, 1987), 190 p., £2.99.

Ellis Peters: The Rose Rent (USA 1986)

From the Publisher:
"AN EXCELLENT ENTRY in a superior series, and, as always, when the last page is turned, it is with reluctance that the reader returns to the twentieth century." -- Rave Reviews

Wealthy young widow Judith Perle rents her house to the Abbey at Shrewsbury for the price of a single rose per year, cut from a bush that grows beside the house. For three years the delivery has been made by Brother Eluric. But this year, he will not live to discharge his duty: he will be murdered, and the rose tree destroyed More mysteriously, Judith Perle will simply vanish- four days before the rose rent is due.

Who, Brother Cadfael wonders, stands to gain from the annulment of the agreement with Judith? If the house reverts to her, her wealth will be that much greater, perhaps to the satisfaction of one of her many suitors. Cadtael plunges into a twisty investigation to unmask the killer -- but not before another corpse turns up...

"The devout followers of Brother Cadfael... are in good luck: The Rose Rent, the 13th chronicle in this charming series, finds the ex-Crusader in top form." -- The Washington Post
"With Ellis Peters' charming detective Brother Cadfael present, you can count on a good mystery, well solved." -- Houston Chronicle

Ellis Peters: The Rose Rent. A Medieval Murder Mystery. Fawcett Crest, ISBN: 0449214958 (August, 1988), 198 p., $3.95.

Ellis Peters: The Rose Rent (USA 1987)

From the Publisher:
When Judith Perle graciously offers to rent her cottage and garden to the abbey in Shrewsbury for the price of a single rose per annum, no one suspects that any harm will come of such a benign arrangement. There are those, however, who believe Judith Perle should never have given away her patrimony so rashly.

For three years the abbey entrusts the delivery of the rose rent -- always due by the twenty-second day of June -- to Brother Eluric. But this year he will not live to discharge his duty: Judith Perle's garden will be cruelly savaged by Eluric's murderer, and the rosebush itself, along with its precious cargo, will be neatly destroyed by the same intruder. More mysteriously, Judith Perle will simply vanish -- four days before the rose rent is due.

Who, Brother Cadfael wonders, stands to gain from the automatic annulment of Judith Perle's contract with the abbey? A bevy of suitors immediately comes to mind, every one of whom would rather marry the whole of her wealth than merely half, for Judith's dowry will become that much greater if the house in the monks' foregate reverts to her. When another corpse shows up, Cadfael plunges ahead with a twisty investigation that will unmask a most unlikely killer. But for Judith Perle, a young widow who dearly loved her husband, the brutal events of the spring of 1142 will unearth more than treachery and greed: Niüll Bronzesmith, who has come to her erstwhile property as the abbey's tenant, will play a surprising and gratifying role in her new life.

Cadfael himself is never more appealing than in this drama, the thirteenth in a series of medieval suspense novels that feature the Benedictine monk. As a sleuth he is unrivaled in contemporary crime writing for both sagacity and grace; a former Crusader and man of the world, Cadfael is now an accomplished herbalist whose lively intelligence and keen powers of observation provide him with the tools to unearth scoundrels and to exhume deep mysteries.

The creator of this unusual and vastly appealing character is Edith Pargeter, whose fame in connection with this extraordinary series of historical crime novels grows by leaps and bounds. Not only in England, where the author lives, but in the United States, mystery lovers and reviewers alike have already voiced their approval and affection for Brother Cadfael.

Ellis Peters is the nom-de-crime of English novelist Edith Pargeter, author of scores of books under her own name. She is the recipient of the Silver Dagger Award, conferred by the Crime Writers Association in Britain, as well as the covered Edgar, awarded by the Mystery Writers of America. Miss Pargeter is also well known as a translator of poetry and prose from the Czech and has been awarded the Gold Medal and Ribbon of the Czechoslovak Society for Foreign Relations for her services to Czech literature. The author lives in Shropshire, England.

Ellis Peters: The Rose Rent. A Brother Cadfael Mystery. William Morrow, ISBN: 0688069827 (June, 1987), 190 p., $15.95.

Ellis Peters: The Rose Rent (UK 1986)

From the Publisher:
'Be it known to all, present and future, that I, Judith, widow of Eldred Perle, give and bestow my house in the Monk's Foregate... for an annual rent, during my lifetime, of one rose from the white rose bush growing against the north wall, to be delivered to me, fairly open the day of translation of St Winifred.'

By this deed the young widow, Judith Perle, who had greatly loved her husband, conveyed one of her properties to the Abbey of Shrewsbury. Now in 1142, a few years later, the delivery of the annual rose roll has become an issue since there were men in Shrewsbury who desired Judith for her beauty or who were tempted with a substantial dowry.

The first crisis appears to have been averted by the delicate handling of the monks of the Benedictine Abbey of St Peter and St Paul, among them Brother Cadfael. But a rising tide of murder cries out for investigation and punishment.

Circumstances clearly suggest that it is in someone's interest to prevent the annual ceremony of the presentation of the white rose. And this conclusion provides a complete cast of suspects: these are the suitors who, for one reason or another, have sought Judith's hand. Judith's dowry would be much greater if the house in the Monk's Foregate reverted to her.

Once again, Brother Cadfael is distracted from his life of labour and devotion in his beloved garden of herbs to undertake an enquiry: the habit of observation, the interpretation of signs, the search for a murderer. For The Rose Rent (like most of the previous novels featuring Brother Cadfael) is constructed as a classical murder mystery.

Ellis Peters: The Rose Rent. The Thirteenth Chronicle of Brother Cadfael. Macmillan, ISBN: 0333426827 (October, 1986), 190 p., £8.95.