Ellis Peters: The Potter's Field

Ellis Peters: The Potter's Field (USA 2021)

From the Publisher:
Medieval monk Brother Cadfael digs for clues when a body is unearthed by a plow: "His detecting talents are as dazzling as ever" (Publishers Weekly).

When a newly plowed field recently given to the Benedictine Abbey of Saint Peter and Saint Paul yields the body of a young woman, Brother Cadfael is quickly thrown into a delicate situation. The field was once owned by a local potter named Ruald, who had abandoned his beautiful wife, Generys, to take monastic vows.

Generys was said to have gone away with a lover, but now it seems as if she had been murdered. With the arrival at the abbey of young Sulien Blount, a novice fleeing homeward from the civil war raging in East Anglia, the mysteries surrounding the corpse start to multiply.

"This beautifully written tale of medieval detection ranks with the very best in the series." -- Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine

Ellis Peters: The Potter's Field. The Seventeenth Chronicle of Brother Cadfael. Mysteriouspress.com / Open Road Integrated Media, ISBN: 9781504067584 (September, 2021), 294 p., $25.99.

Ellis Peters: The Potter's Field (USA 2014)

From the Publisher:
Medieval monk Brother Cadfael digs for clues when a body is unearthed by a plow: "His detecting talents are as dazzling as ever" (Publishers Weekly).

"This beautifully written tale of medieval detection ranks with the very best in the series." -- Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine

Ellis Peters: The Potter's Field. The Seventeenth Chronicle of Brother Cadfael. Mysteriouspress.com / Open Road Integrated Media, ISBN: 9781504067584 (August, 2014), eBook, ca. 294 p., $12.99.

Ellis Peters: The Potter's Field (USA 1991)

From the Publisher:
The year is 1143 and this is the seventeenth chronicle of Brother Cadfael, of the Benedictine Abbey of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, at Shrewsbury. Once again, the gentle monk is forced to leave the tranquility of his herb garden and use his knowledge of human nature to solve a murder -- this one frighteningly close to home.

When a newly plowed field recently given to the Benedictine Abbey of Saint Peter and Saint Paul yields the body of a young woman, Brother Cadfael is quickly thrown into a delicate situation. The field was once owned by a local potter named Ruald who had abandoned his beautiful wife Generys to take monastic vows.

Generys was said to have gone away with a lover, but now it seems as if she had been murdered. With the arrival at the Abbey of young Sulien Blount, a novice fleeing homeward from the civil war raging in East Anglia, the mysteries surrounding the corpse start to multiply.

"This beautifully written tale of medieval detection ranks with the very best in the series." -- Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine

Ellis Peters: The Potter's Field. The Seventeenth Chronicle of Brother Cadfael, of the Benedictine Abbey of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, at Shrewsbury. Mysterious Press / Warner Books, ISBN: 0446400580 (September, 1991), 217 p., $4.99.

Ellis Peters: The Potter's Field (USA 1990)

From the Publisher:
In October of 1142, a local landlord makes a present of the Potter's Field to the local clergy. This substantial meadow, previously owned by a potter called Ruald and his lovely young wife, is transferred to the Benedictine Abbey of St. Peter and St. Paul in August of 1143. Shortly afterward the Benedictine monks begin to plow it.

The plow turns up the long raven tresses of a young woman, dead a year or more; even Brother Codfoel, herbalist and student of medicine, cannot say how long.

The body brings with it complex and delicate problems, for Ruald had abandoned his beautiful wife Generys to take monastic vows, and she was believed to have gone away secretly with a new lover. It seems likely that the dead woman is Generys, and that someone has murdered her. With the arrival at the Abbey of young Sulien Blount, a nov. ice fleeing homeward from an abbey ravaged by the civil war raging in East Anglia, the mysteries surrounding the corpse start to multiply.

In the Seventeenth Chronice of Brother Cadfael the medieval scholarship is everywhere present, but it is the plot that dominates -- an intricate mystery with a most sensational and unexpected outcome.

ELLIS PETERS has gained worldwide praise for her meticulous re-creations of twelfth-century monastic life; her medieval whodunits are international best sellers. She is a recipient of the British Crime Writers Association's Silver Dagger Award, as well as the coveted Edgar, conferred by the Mystery Writers of America. The author 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 1, Holy Cross Houses, Abbey Foregate, Shrewsbury SY2 6BS, England.

Ellis Peters: The Potter's Field (UK 1990)

From the Publisher:
'Elegantly spellbinding' -- The Sunday Times
A long tress of hair, still attached to a human head, is the grisly discovery that Brother Cadael witnesses during the ploughing of the Potter's Field... and the pointer to an unlawful deed.

The tenant potter had only recently entered the Benedictine Abbey of St Peter and St Paul, to become a monk, after fifteen years of marriage, and had left behind him a wife bitterly opposed to his departure. Rumour had it that the wild, beautiful Welsh woman had returned to her homeland - with or without another lover, who could tell?

But the discovery of a corpse on Abbey land raises all sorts of questions, and ones that impel Brother Cadfael to leave the tranquillity of the herbiary in order to piece together some cryptic clues and solve a baffling crime. The explanation, when it comes, is as totally satisfying as it is unexpected, for as the monastic sleuth proclaims, 'God's justice, if it makes no haste, makes no mistakes.'

'Stylish writing, shrewdly observed characters and odd facts of medieval life' -- Financial Times

Ellis Peters: The Potter's Field. The Seventeenth Chronicle of Brother Cadfael. A Medieval Whodunnit. Headline, ISBN: 0747234272 (March, 1990), 309 p., £5.99.

Ellis Peters: The Potter's Field (UK 1989)

From the Publisher:
In October 1142 a local landlord had made a present of the Potter's Field to an Augustinian Priory close to Shrewsbury. This substantial meadow adjoining the river had gained its name from the fact that a potter called Ruald had lived and worked there for fifteen years with his beautiful young wife. Now, in August 1143, the field is to be transferred, for the sake of convenience, to the Benedictine Abbey of St Peter and St Paul in Shrewsbury. Shortly afterwards the Benedictine monks begin to plough it.

The plough turns up the long, raven tresses of a young woman, dead a year or more; even Brother Cadfael, herbalist and student of all things medical, cannot say how long. Cadfael had taken his vows in middle age, after years of roaming and adventure in distant lands; and in the course of his duties in charge of the Abbey gardens and their herbal remedies had more than once been obliged to turn detective. The body of this young woman brings with it complex and delicate problems, for Ruald had abandoned his lovely wife when he felt the call to take monastic vows, and she is believed to have gone away secretly with a new lover.

It is not known who the dead woman is or how she died. But it seems likely that this is Ruald's wife, Generys, and that someone has murdered her. With the arrival at the Abbey of young Sulien Blount, a novice fleeing homewards from an abbey ravaged by the civil war then raging in East Anglia, the mysteries surrounding the woman and her death start to multiply.

The cast of characters here is as convincing and vital as we have come to expect in Ellis Peters' novels of mystery and romance, and to name individuals might misdirect the reader: for after the dark passions and tragedies that led to the woman's death, a new young love is beginning.

In the Seventeenth Chronicle of Brother Cadfael the medieval scholarship is everywhere present, but it is the plot that dominates - an intricate mystery with a most sensational and unexpected outcome.

Ellis Peters: The Potter's Field. The Seventeenth Chronicle of Brother Cadfael. A Medieval Whodunnit. Headline, ISBN: 0747201595 (September, 1989), 248 p., £11.95.