In February of the year of Our Lord 1141, men march home from war to Shrewsbury, but the captured Sheriff Gilbert Prestcote is not among them. Elis, a young Welsh prisoner, is, and he is delivered to the Abbey of Saint Peter and Saint Paul to begin a tale that will test Brother Cadfael's sense of justice... and his heart. By good fortune, it seems, the prisoner can be exchanged as Sheriff Prestcote's ransom. What none expects is that good-natured...

In 1141, two monks have arrived in Shrewsbury from Winchester, where their abbey was destroyed. Now Brother Humilis, who is very ill, and Brother Fidelis, who is mute, must seek refuge at Shrewsbury. And from the moment he meets them, Brother Cadfael senses something deeper than their common vows binds these two brothers. And as Brother Humilis's health fails, Brother Cadfael faces a poignant test of his discretion and his beliefs as he unravels a...

When Judith Perle's husband dies,the young widow bestows one of her properties - a house in the Monk's Foregate - on the Abbey 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...

A near fatal fall brings Brother Haluin to a deathbed confession heard by Brother Cadfael. A journey of expiation with Cadfael leads to many shocking discoveries and murder.

Setting out for the Saint Giles leper colony outside Shrewsbury, Brother Cadfael has more pressing matters on his mind than the grand wedding coming to his abbey. But as fate would have it, Cadfael arrives at Saint Giles just as the nuptial party passes the colony’s gates. When he sees the fragile bride looking like a prisoner between her two stern guardians and the bridegroom—an arrogant, fleshy aristocrat old enough to be her grandfather—he...

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, which turns up long raven tresses of a young woman, dead a year or more...

For Brother Cadfael in the autumn of his life, the mild November of our Lord’s year 1145 may bring a bitter—and deadly—harvest. England is torn between supporters of the Empress Maud and those of her cousin Stephen. The civil strife is about to jeopardize not only Cadfael’s life, but his hopes of Heaven. While Cadfael has sometimes bent the abbey’s rules, he has never broken his monastic vows—until now. Word has come to Shrewsbury of...

In a mild December in the year of our Lord 1141, a new priest comes to the parishioners of the Foregate outside the Abbey of Saint Peter and Saint Paul. Father Ailnoth brings with him a housekeeper and her nephew--and a disposition that invites murder... Brother Cadfael quickly sees that Father Ailnoth is a harsh man who, striding along in his black cassock, looks like a doomsaying raven. The housekeeper's nephew, Benet, is quite different--a smiling...

Gervase Bonel, with is wife and servants, is a guest at the Shrewsbury Abbey of Saint Peter and Saint Paul when he is suddenly taken ill. Luckily, the abbey boasts the services of the shrewd and kindly Brother Cadfael, a skilled herbalist. Cadfael hurries to the man's bedside, only to be confronted by two very different surprises. In Master Bonel's wife, the good monk recognizes Richildis, whom he loved many years ago, before he took his vows. And...