Title:

An Excellent Mystery

Author:

Ellis Peters

Category:

Mystery / Thriller

Rating:

Date Reviewed:

October 18, 2024

fter reading An Excellent Mystery, I have now completed eleven of the Brother Cadfael novels. I am halfway through the series, which is an accomplishment by Peters. I am easily distracted by all the other books vying for my attention, and yet somehow she has kept me returning to this mystery series to see happens next.

Peters uses the actual events of the civil war between King Stephen and Empress Maud as a driver for many of the plot points. This is consistent with the other books in the series. Since I read The White Ship about the reign of King Henry II, I appreciate more this background information. As King Henry II was dying, he had no male heir (his only legitimate son had perished with the sinking of the White Ship.) King Henry II had all the members of the court swear that they would support the reign of his only legimite daughter, Empress Maud, as the next monarch of England. Stephen swore the oath, but then, after Henry's death, he seized the crown and declared himself king anyway. Clearly King Stephen is the usurper, but the citizens of Shrewsbury back his position anyway.

After a major battle in August of 1141 between the two royal armies, two monks fleeing the conflict arrive at the abbey of St. Peter and St. Paul in Shrewsbury. They are Brother Humilis and Brother Fidelis. Brother Humilis was formerly a crusader, he spent years in the Holy Land after "taking up the Cross". But he suffered a grievous wound in battle that never entirely healed, and now it looks like it will be the death of him. Returning to England, the crusader (he was formerly known as Godrid Marescot) became a monk and adopted the name of Humilis. Walking with the sickly, dying Humilis is the much younger monk Brother Fidelis, who is mute. Fidelis is always at the side of Humilis, tending to his needs, nursing, comforting, and protecting. Despite this devoted attention, it is clear to Cadfael that the gaunt Humilis has just a few more days to live.

Before the crusader Godfrid Marescot left for the Holy Land, he was betrothed to a girl named Julian Cruce. But after years of crusading, Marescot returned to England a dying man. He sent one of his lieutenants, Nicholas Hardinge, to the Cruce household to inform them that Julian was released from her troth. The erstwhile groom would instead take up the cloth and become Brother Humilis. Hardinge journeys to the Cruce household to tell them Julian is free, only to find that he himself is smitten by her beauty. But alas, Julian decides that if she is not to marry Marescot, then she will don the veil and enter a nunnery.

There is a lot of stage-setting that Peters' goes through to introduce the characters and set the plot in motion. It is not until after page 80 (my paperback edition totaled 214 pages) that the reader is made aware what the "Excellent Mystery" even is. The events of the civil war have a rippling effect throughout England. Not only does the violence send Humilis and Fidelis fleeing, but the violence results in the burning down of a church where nuns had sought sanctuary - Hardinge now fears that Julian was burned alive.

Although the story is well plotted and Peters' develops all these new characters, I felt that Cadfael himself had little to do. He works at the abbey, tending to the dying Humilis, but mostly Cadfael just happens to be nearby so that he can overhear the latest developments in the unfolding story. This is Cadfael's series, but he is not given much to do in this one.

Peters once again employs the plot device of love at first sight. In this case, it is Nicholas Hardinge who falls for Julian when he meets her at the Cruce household.

I am rapidly growing weary of Rhun, the young man who was miraculously cured in the previous book, The Pilgrim of Hate. Rhun is now the pure golden young man, perfect in every way, a veritable angel in human form. I don't find him plausible.

The characters learn that the forces of Empress Maud are surrounded at Winchester and escape is nigh impossible. When word comes that the her army made a desperate attempt to break out of the encircling besiegers, only to suffer grievous losses, Cadfael is panic stricken because his unacknowledged son is a soldier for Maud. But this plot point is then dropped - we never learn what happened to him. Nor does Cadfael journey to Winchester to seek word of his fate. Perhaps this will issue will be resolved in the next book, The Raven in the Forecourt.