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53rd out of 738 books
—
1,608 voters
The Leper of Saint Giles (Chronicles of Brother Cadfael #5)
by
Ellis Peters
A savage murder interrupts an ill-fated marriage set to take place at Brother Cadfael's abbey, leaving the monk with a terrible mystery to solve. The key to the killing is hidden among the inhabitants of the Saint Giles leper colony, and Brother Cadfael must ferret out a sickness not of the body, but of a twisted mind.
Paperback, 208 pages
Published
January 1st 1995
by Mysterious Press
(first published 1981)
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Jan 20, 2013
Chrissie
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommended to Chrissie by:
Shomeret
W*O*N*D*E*R*F*U*L
S*T*O*R*Y
!!!!!!
First I read A Morbid Taste for Bones, and yeah I liked it. Then I listened to the dramatization version on BBC Radio of The Virgin in the Ice. Njah, I really wasn't turned on. BUT, dear Gundula, told me to try another, so I did! I tried St. Peter's Fair. Now that was really, really good! I read a book by another author and just had to return to Ellis Peters. And then I read this: The Leper of Saint Giles. Superb, wonderful, fantastic.
All the things I liked abo...more
S*T*O*R*Y
!!!!!!
First I read A Morbid Taste for Bones, and yeah I liked it. Then I listened to the dramatization version on BBC Radio of The Virgin in the Ice. Njah, I really wasn't turned on. BUT, dear Gundula, told me to try another, so I did! I tried St. Peter's Fair. Now that was really, really good! I read a book by another author and just had to return to Ellis Peters. And then I read this: The Leper of Saint Giles. Superb, wonderful, fantastic.
All the things I liked abo...more
One of my personal favorites. Establishes several of the recurring patterns of the series. I'll let you figure out what they are. Excellent story, well told.
Cadfael series: excellent historical fiction. Ellis Peters draws the reader into the twelfth century with modern story telling but holds us there with a richness of detail which evokes a time and place which might as well be fictional. Though the foreground of each chronicle is a murder mystery, behind it a nation and a culture are woven in...more
Cadfael series: excellent historical fiction. Ellis Peters draws the reader into the twelfth century with modern story telling but holds us there with a richness of detail which evokes a time and place which might as well be fictional. Though the foreground of each chronicle is a murder mystery, behind it a nation and a culture are woven in...more
My first exposure to the Brother Cadfael series and what an experience! These days, the popularity of authors like P. C. Doherty and Michael Jecks means that the reading public are familiar with historical detective stories, but the long-running Cadfael stories by Ellis Peters helped to popularise this genre back in the 1980s. The Leper of Saint Giles is the fifth book in the series, but it also works perfectly well as a stand-alone offering.
Despite the slimness of the novel, this is a book that...more
Despite the slimness of the novel, this is a book that...more
1 like
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like
· see review
Dec 20, 2008
Ikonopeiston
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
mystery and history buffs
Shelves:
mystery
Brother Cadfael is a constant joy. I seem to read the entire collection every few years when I feel the need to escape to a simpler time. The mysteries are never too obvious but never too arcane.
This one is a particularly well handled story. The characters are fully rounded and easily distinguished in spite of the large cast. Brother Mark, who we met in an earlier volume, continues to grow in grace and humility. He is a splendid creation, exemplifying the best of the monastic system of his time...more
This one is a particularly well handled story. The characters are fully rounded and easily distinguished in spite of the large cast. Brother Mark, who we met in an earlier volume, continues to grow in grace and humility. He is a splendid creation, exemplifying the best of the monastic system of his time...more
I really liked this episode of the TV series Cadfael and the book is even better. As with the others in this series, the TV epsiode is faithfully rendered and shows a respect for the source material while simplifying the storyline enough to fit within the time constraints.
In the written version both Brother Oswin and Brother Mark are more richly detailed and likeable characters and Cadfael himself is a more soft spoken, more reverential, more contemplative figure. More time is spent with the ch...more
In the written version both Brother Oswin and Brother Mark are more richly detailed and likeable characters and Cadfael himself is a more soft spoken, more reverential, more contemplative figure. More time is spent with the ch...more
This is the fifth book in the Brother Cadfael series (I've read the first and the fourth). As I said in an earlier review, Cadfael is a very sweet medieval monk with a secular past, and a penchant for mystery-solving and match-making. He's lovely.
There's a star-crossed couple in this story, of course, along with some lepers, a wrongful accusation of murder, our hero on the run, and Cadfael wandering around here and there identifying flowers and solving the mystery, while his inept apprentice get...more
There's a star-crossed couple in this story, of course, along with some lepers, a wrongful accusation of murder, our hero on the run, and Cadfael wandering around here and there identifying flowers and solving the mystery, while his inept apprentice get...more
In October, 1139, the Abbey of St. Peter and St. Paul is preparing to host and celebrate a wedding between two members of powerful, landed houses: Huon de Domville and Isveta de Massard, the granddaughter of a famous paladin of the First Crusade. Brother Cadfael and Brother Mark watch the processions of the wedding parties from the lazaretto of St. Giles, a hospice for lepers a short distance removed from Shrewsbury and the abbey; Brother Mark is spending a year there as its medical attendant an...more
The Leper of Saint Giles the fifth book in Ellis Peters' Brother Cadfael series, exemplifies everything which is laudable in her series. Peters' shines in creating characters who we love, and excels in the ability to set the stage in the medieval world. Balancing mystery with romance is never an easy matter and Ellis Peters has created an entire series where this is her forte. In addition this series does not cling to the traditional sense of justice found in many other mysteries.
Brother Cadfael...more
Brother Cadfael...more
There are obvious similarities between Leper and Morbid Taste. Both have a young man, wrongfully accused of murder, who evades capture but has to remain nearby because he’s in love. In fact in both books, uniting lovers is Cadfael’s object as much as solving murders. There are other similarities I won’t discuss as I don’t want to give the game away.
However, the investigative aspects to this story are more interesting than in the first novel. Cadfael’s scene-of-crime work actually leads somewhere...more
However, the investigative aspects to this story are more interesting than in the first novel. Cadfael’s scene-of-crime work actually leads somewhere...more
This next offering of Brother Cadfael turns a light on the life of medieval noblewomen as an innocent young girl is apparently to be forced into a repugnant marriage to satisfy the greed of her unscrupulous guardians. Yet she and the young man who truly loves her find the best ally in the world in Brother Cadfael--as does the mysterious stranger who is also concerning himself with her well-being.
Brother Cadfael (pronounced Cad-file) has definitely entered the ranks of great fiction detectives al...more
Brother Cadfael (pronounced Cad-file) has definitely entered the ranks of great fiction detectives al...more
This fifth book in the medieval mystery series involving Brother Cadfael is my favorite thus far.
It is 1139, and Brother Cadfael is in charge of the herbarium at the abbey of Saint Peter and Saint Paul of Shrewsbury. His usual assistant, Brother Mark, is serving for a year with the lepers at the nearby asylum of Saint Giles.
Unlike the common citizens, who shun the lepers, the monks are happy to serve them. As Cadfael reflects, “he knows of leprosies of the heart and ulcers of the soul worse than...more
It is 1139, and Brother Cadfael is in charge of the herbarium at the abbey of Saint Peter and Saint Paul of Shrewsbury. His usual assistant, Brother Mark, is serving for a year with the lepers at the nearby asylum of Saint Giles.
Unlike the common citizens, who shun the lepers, the monks are happy to serve them. As Cadfael reflects, “he knows of leprosies of the heart and ulcers of the soul worse than...more
From Amazon.com customer reviewer knottedcordsuntying:
Ellis Peters' "The Leper of St. Giles" starts off as, and continues to be, more of a pure love story than any of its predecessors. Since it is a Cadfael story, murder and mystery do indeed rear their ugly heads. Once more, Cadfael is called (with the support of his nifty new abbot) to do more than mix herbs.
Cadfael's former apprentice Brother Mark has left the nest as the story begins. One of the great joys in this book is to see the continue...more
Ellis Peters' "The Leper of St. Giles" starts off as, and continues to be, more of a pure love story than any of its predecessors. Since it is a Cadfael story, murder and mystery do indeed rear their ugly heads. Once more, Cadfael is called (with the support of his nifty new abbot) to do more than mix herbs.
Cadfael's former apprentice Brother Mark has left the nest as the story begins. One of the great joys in this book is to see the continue...more
Après une petite pause dans les aventure de frère Cadfael, je reprends la lecture avec ce 5ème tome des aventures du détective bénédictin. Bien évidemment, Cadfael va une fois de plus se retrouver mêlé à une étrange aventure malgré lui. Sur fond d'amour impossible et de mariage forcé, l'aventure commence par le vol du cadeau de mariage, retrouvé sur un jeune écuyer. Si l'affaire fait grand bruit, un meurtre viendra rapidement relativiser l'affaire. Même frère Marc dans sa maladrerie entendra par...more
Some editions of these books are labeled with numbers. This one is not. So, when trying to read them in order, I usually get this one out of sequence. It comes before The Virgin in The Ice, and after St Peter's Fair, and is the fifth in the series.
As with the others, it starts with a date: October, 1139. The saint in training, Brother Mark, is doing his stint in the Leper's hospice at St Giles.
It's worth pointing out that leprosy had only recently been imported into Britain at this time. It was...more
As with the others, it starts with a date: October, 1139. The saint in training, Brother Mark, is doing his stint in the Leper's hospice at St Giles.
It's worth pointing out that leprosy had only recently been imported into Britain at this time. It was...more
Another great mystery featuring brother Cadfael. An elderly nobleman is set to marry the 18 year old heiress and granddaughter of a Crusader due to the machinations of a greedy aunt and uncle. The wedding parties pass by the lazarhouse of St Giles watched by the unfortunates therein, including a recent and rather mysterious addition.
The young squire who defends her against this unwelcome partnership is accused of theft and on the morning of the wedding the groom is found murdered and fingers are...more
The young squire who defends her against this unwelcome partnership is accused of theft and on the morning of the wedding the groom is found murdered and fingers are...more
In this fifth novel of worldly monk and self-appointed detective Cadfael, the tension of the book hinges first upon a bleak arranged marriage and the young man who is in love with the bride. Murder, when it occurs, adds a new dimension to an already intriguing storyline. There is a rhythm, a pattern and poetry to Ellis Peters' novels, and if that makes certain aspects of the story predictable, the tradeoff is the experience of the book.
Peters is as devoted - if not more - to showing the positiv...more
Peters is as devoted - if not more - to showing the positiv...more
This one is fifth book in Ellis Peters’ Chronicles of Brother Cadfael. An ill matched marriage has to take place in Brother Cadfael ‘s abbey, a murder happens on the day of the marriage and Brother Cadfael is left to solve the mystery.
The book is slow in the beginning and nothing much seemed to happen even after a murder took place on the wedding day. Slowly all the pieces start falling together and mystery was solved. What disappointed me in the book was that there was nothing much for Brother...more
The book is slow in the beginning and nothing much seemed to happen even after a murder took place on the wedding day. Slowly all the pieces start falling together and mystery was solved. What disappointed me in the book was that there was nothing much for Brother...more
Not quite as good as St. Peter's Fair, but still a good read and glimpse into a leper colony close by the Benedictine monastery at Shrewsbury where Brother Cadfael in the herbalist. This # 5 in the Chronicles of Brother Cadfael series is set in October of 1139, and concerns a wedding to take place at the abbeybetweenanagingnobleman and a very young bride who has been coerced into accepting the arrangement by her greedy guardians. Though there is some suspense there are also some obvious clues wh...more
This book came highly recommended. I have no idea why. The mystery is not especially interesting, the narrative halting and the style is lumpy. I was interested for about two chapters to see how Peters made the language seem pseudo twelfth century. She frequently substituted an old sounding, familiar, but seldom used word instead of its modern equivalent. This is effective at first, but once the technique was recognized, it began to seem obvious and took me out of the story each time it was used...more
I have tried to stay away from the Cadfael books just because there are so darn many of them and I know they are good and I'd want to read them all and I have more than enough to read! Still, every now and then one of them makes its way to me for free...this one has been sitting around, probably passed along by a relative, and I finally got to it. It was as good as expected, but I was surprised that the structuring of the language just seemed a little old-fashioned, like it had been written some...more
A new mystery of a young heiress married off against her heart whose suitor is disposed off before their marriage. Cadfael condones murder again, which is intriguing.
The fifth book in the Brother Cadfael series. In 1139 the Abbey is preparing for a wedding. The "happy" couple is a mature, childless widower who is marrying a reluctant teenage heiress in order to have financial control over her inheritance. On the morning of the wedding, the bride is left standing at the church and after a search, the bridegroom is found murdered in the woods. And, of course, Brother Cadfael is left to to figure out what has happened. The key to the mystery lies in the leper h...more
A short, simple mystery set in the year 1139 in Shrewsbury, England and its environs. Brother Cadfael, herbalist, monk and solver-of-mysteries- extraordinaire weighs in on the death of Huon de Domville on the eve of his wedding. Whodunnit?
*Joscelin Lucy, Domville's squire, known by many to be in love with the bride-to-be? The Sheriff thinks so...
*Lazarus, the mysterious leper who roams the countryside at night? Is he cloaking a motive?
*Simon, trusted squire and heir? Would he set up his best fri...more
*Joscelin Lucy, Domville's squire, known by many to be in love with the bride-to-be? The Sheriff thinks so...
*Lazarus, the mysterious leper who roams the countryside at night? Is he cloaking a motive?
*Simon, trusted squire and heir? Would he set up his best fri...more
5 likes
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This is a pleasure even the second time through! There is much more than "whodunnit"... It is fun to spend a couple of hours with Brother Cadfiel in his herb garden, preparing medicines, figuring people out and solving mysteries. Ellis Peter writes beautiful descriptions of the country side, the seasons, people's work and medieval society from the barons to the faceless lepers. The character development is sensitive, funny, and fascinating. In this novel we are introduced to Avila of Thornberry...more
Uh oh, I already gave this a rating. Now I just got a copy and put it on my to-read list. Have I read this one before? Nuts...
Ok, I have not read this before. It was a fine Cadfael mystery. The usual round of young lovers and evil man and thwarted love and arranged marriages and there's always a fine view of the river and a pale grey horse in there for looks. Other details as well, but not going to spoil it. At least there was more than one mystery and I figured out one and was surprised by anot...more
Ok, I have not read this before. It was a fine Cadfael mystery. The usual round of young lovers and evil man and thwarted love and arranged marriages and there's always a fine view of the river and a pale grey horse in there for looks. Other details as well, but not going to spoil it. At least there was more than one mystery and I figured out one and was surprised by anot...more
This is the fifth chronicle of brother Cadfael, that beloved detecting monk of 12th century Shrewsbury. The plot deals with a loveless, arranged marriage between a young girl and an elderly lecher. When the elderly lecher winds up dead, who is suspected but the girl's young friend and admirer. While mildly interesting, I am getting rather tired of yet another couple being imperiled when the young man is accused of murder. I think this brings the count to five for five. However, the mechanical de...more
1st Recorded Reading: September 2002
Reading another Brother Cadfael mystery is always a pleasure, and re-reading them one after so long (I read this one in September of 2002) is a joy, with my memory just good enough to remember who is who, but not good enough to detract from my enjoyment of the book. (Need I add that I liked this book?)
In the year of our Lord 1139, in October, is when this present mystery begins. Brother Cadfael is on one of the periodic missions to the leper colony half a mile...more
Reading another Brother Cadfael mystery is always a pleasure, and re-reading them one after so long (I read this one in September of 2002) is a joy, with my memory just good enough to remember who is who, but not good enough to detract from my enjoyment of the book. (Need I add that I liked this book?)
In the year of our Lord 1139, in October, is when this present mystery begins. Brother Cadfael is on one of the periodic missions to the leper colony half a mile...more
Ellis Peters' Brother Cadfael series - set around 1000/1100, a Welsh man who had been with the Crusades, soldier/sailor, loved women etc settles down to retirement as a Benedictine monk, working as an apothecary within the abbey and the community, and assisting the sheriff with mysteries. He's a really wholesome character who understands people and life, not at all narrow and irritating. There is also a series of movies made based on these books with Derek Jacobi playing Brother Cadfael
Why did it take me over a month to read this book of less than 200 pages? Well, I haven't had much time to read lately but frankly it was because this entry in Ellis Peter's usually excellent Cadfael series simply didn't engage me. It may have been in part because I remembered too much of the plot from the TV adaptation but primarily it was because this, the fifth in the series, simply seemed to formulaic. Once again, naive young lovers act foolishly. Once again, Cadfael bails them out. Once aga...more
Just when I felt like the cozier, more moral type of mystery fiction was letting me down (stupid Aunt Dimity), I picked up a Brother Cadfael to reorient myself. This one was not quite as good as many of her books - a bit more formulaic than usual, with our Young Lovers not really that interesting and too much roaming about the countryside for directionally impaired me - but I love the quality of the mystery and the thoughtfulness of the characters' actions.
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A pseudonym used by Edith Pargeter.
Edith Mary Pargeter, BEM (September 28, 1913 in Horsehay, Shropshire, England –October 14, 1995) was a prolific author of works in many categories, especially history and historical fiction, and was also honoured for her translations of Czech classics; she is probably best known for her murder mysteries, both historical and modern. Born in the village of Horsehay...more
More about Ellis Peters...
Edith Mary Pargeter, BEM (September 28, 1913 in Horsehay, Shropshire, England –October 14, 1995) was a prolific author of works in many categories, especially history and historical fiction, and was also honoured for her translations of Czech classics; she is probably best known for her murder mysteries, both historical and modern. Born in the village of Horsehay...more
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“I have always known that the best of the Saracens could out-Christian many of us Christians.”
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“Oh, sometimes I like to put the sand of doubt into the oyster of my faith." (Br. Cadfael)”
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*insert chicken dance here*
Feb 15, 2013 05:55am
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