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101st out of 738 books
—
1,609 voters
The Potter's Field (Chronicles of Brother Cadfael #17)
by
Ellis Peters
The body of a woman is unearthed in the freshly plowed fields that once belonged to a local potter -- now a Benedictine monk. The woman is revealed to be his beautiful young wife, thought to have run away. Medieval Benedictine monk Brother Cadfael must determine if one of his own order is guilty of the crime.
Paperback, 217 pages
Published
September 1991
by Mysterious Press
(first published January 1st 1990)
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Mar 24, 2013
Mary Ellis
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
people who like historical mysteries
The Potter's Field by Edith Pargeter (pen name Ellis Peters) is the seventeenth installment in the Brother Cadfael series of mysteries.
Cadfael is a Benedictine monk who works a vegetable garden and herbarium in an abbey in medieval Shrewsbury, England. At some distance from the town, the Empress Maude and her cousin King Stephen wage intermittent war for the throne of England. This bloody history often influences the main story and helps to ground us in the times. As a lover of historical novel...more
Cadfael is a Benedictine monk who works a vegetable garden and herbarium in an abbey in medieval Shrewsbury, England. At some distance from the town, the Empress Maude and her cousin King Stephen wage intermittent war for the throne of England. This bloody history often influences the main story and helps to ground us in the times. As a lover of historical novel...more
I love the entire Cadfael series. By reading them in rapid succession I'm able to see the breadth of it and compare each single book against the whole. The first 13 books (A Morbid Taste for Bones through The Rose Rent) are superb. (As I said in my review, I do not enjoy reading book 12 The Raven in the Foregate due to the antagonist, but the book itself is still quite good.)
Books 14 Hermit of Eyton Forest and 15 The Confession of Brother Haluin feel like a stumble, like they were written on au...more
Books 14 Hermit of Eyton Forest and 15 The Confession of Brother Haluin feel like a stumble, like they were written on au...more
I was able to get right onto this book, thanks to a spring cold. Ah brother Cadfael (though he will always look like Derek Jacobi, to me, thanks to the wonderful BBC series.) His character fascinates me....Cadfael is a Welshman who took up the sword in the First Crusade and fought his way to Jerusalem and back. He has seen and done it all before deciding, at age 40, to devote the rest of his life to God's work and joins an order of Benedictine monks. While atoning for his sins, he also becomes p...more
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It's been over a year since I've read a Brother Cadfael mystery. I had forgotten why I enjoy Ellis Peters so much. I love how she recreates the medieval world so well. I love her descriptions of Abbey life. Her characters are excellent. I love how Brother Cadfael is such a part of abbey life, but his perceptions and experiences reflect the broad and varied life he led before taking his vows.
Anyhow, reading this book was different for me for a couple of reasons. First, I made a decision NOT to sk...more
Anyhow, reading this book was different for me for a couple of reasons. First, I made a decision NOT to sk...more
One of the best and one that Mystery's video got close to right.
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 a wondrous tapestry.
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 a wondrous tapestry.
This is the first Brother Cadfael mystery that I had not read before, and I thought it a very good one; Brother Cadfael is able (with a good deal of help, to be sure) to determine who did what to whom to create the inevitable dead body, who appears mysteriously, and who has been buried so long as to obscure cause of death and identity. (One would not think there were many unknown dead bodies around Shrewsbury, but apparently such could happen.) For those not wishing to read further, I loved this...more
Ellis Peters lives up to her reputation as a mystery writer with this one. The focus shifts around to various suspects as Hugh and Cadfael deal with the flow of information that sheds progressive light on the case. The end is a bit of a surprise, which makes for a good mystery.
It is a joy to read her descriptions of people, the seasons, the countryside, and the customs. As Cadfael is off early one autumn morning, this line pops up: "But the birds were up and singing, busy and loud, lords of thei...more
It is a joy to read her descriptions of people, the seasons, the countryside, and the customs. As Cadfael is off early one autumn morning, this line pops up: "But the birds were up and singing, busy and loud, lords of thei...more
I so wish that back in the day they'd had derek jacobi narrate the full stories and not just do these abridgements. He's a delight as a reader.
This is a darker story in a different way from some others in this series which are tied to death due to war. While their is resolution in the fact the mystery is solved, the ending leaves it open to the reader as far as how resolved he or she feels.
It highlights the tragic way in which unintended consequences of one person's decision can cause harm and...more
This is a darker story in a different way from some others in this series which are tied to death due to war. While their is resolution in the fact the mystery is solved, the ending leaves it open to the reader as far as how resolved he or she feels.
It highlights the tragic way in which unintended consequences of one person's decision can cause harm and...more
I have been ploughing through these this last few weeks. Ploughing being an intentioned pun. I have told sometimes of the sequencing of a body, of a suspect, of a result if it was too obvious. Well here we have the body in the very first chapter. It works wondorously well. Throughout the series we have the vocabulary that Cadfael uses lend further to the depth that these stories give the times. Perhaps not what really took place, but giving the entire series a character.
We see that well fleshed...more
We see that well fleshed...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
In the anatomy of a mystery, you can pretty much assume that the eventual culprit or mastermind, especially in a murder case, is introduced early on in the plot. Writers slip them in with trumpets and cymbals or as unobtrusively as a shadow slanted away from a wall. Plot then happens, twisting and turning the culprit in such a way so that the reader is never truly clear about their agency until the "a-ha" moment. And if writers succeed in this manipulation of the reader's perception, then genera...more
This is another Grandma Price reccomendation. I relied on her wide reading to guide me to wholesome books.
These are fun mysteries, short, intriguing, easy to read that take you back centuries ago to medieval monestaries during the feudal system. A real slice of life at that time too.
There are many books in this Brother Cadafel series. All are good. Some characters you run into time and again.
These are fun mysteries, short, intriguing, easy to read that take you back centuries ago to medieval monestaries during the feudal system. A real slice of life at that time too.
There are many books in this Brother Cadafel series. All are good. Some characters you run into time and again.
The Potter's Field is the Seventeenth Chronicle of Brother Cadfael, of the Benedictine Abbey of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, at Shrewsbury. In 1143 a body is discovered as the Brothers are plowing a field newly donated to the Abbey. The local potter who once owned the field abandoned his wife take vows. Now it seems that his wife, who was believed to have left with a lover, was actually murdered.
Ellis Peters has written 33 Father Cadfael mysteries that take place in the 1100s in England. I have enjoyed the few books I have read, and I did enjoy this one. A body is discovered when a new field is plowed. Who is she and where is she from? Pretty routine plot for Cadfael as he collects the clues and comes up with a suspect. I’ll read another of Ms. Peters’ books in a year or so.
I have chosen this book as an example of Ellis Peters Borther Cadfael books, as I have read many of them and I can't remember which ones I've read and which ones I haven't. I enjoy a good who dunnit and I enjoy historical novels so this is a match made to please me in every respect. Of course, they are very well written too, which great characters as well as plots.
I liked this one quite a bit, but not as much as some of the others in the series. I guess I just had a problem with the idea that a man would be allowed to leave his wife to become a monk and she would have to spend the rest of her life alone. The way the mystery was resolved was interesting.
The Brother Cadfael series by Ellis Peters is a wonderful set of mysteries that take place in 12th century England. Ellis Peters does a wonderful job of describing all the characters and she is a great mystery writer. The cases are complicated enough to make them interesting.
Enjoyable. My favourite quotations from this book: "We live as candles in the breath of God." (p. 182) "...My soul has benefited from his prayers. But pain is here in the body, and has a very loud voice. Sometimes I could not hear my own voice say Amen! for the demon howling." (p. 238) " 'It may well be,' said Cadfael, 'that our justice sees as in a mirror image, left where right should be, evil reflected back as good, good as evil, your angel as her devil. But God's justice, if it makes no hast...more
Again, another author I really enjoy reading. Mysteries without excessive profanity, gore, violence, sex etc. Brother Cadfael is an engaging character - and I wish I had the time he does to putter around the herb garden!
Another great book in the series. Are they getting better and better? While not as "theological" as the previous one (that I enjoyed so much) this was another good mystery.
I enjoy Ellis Peters immensely. These are always a quick, engaging read with an interesting murder mystery to solve. If I could only have an herb garden like Brother Cadfael!
In my continuing march through the Cadfael mysteries I re-read this and enjoyed it more than the first time around.
The story was mangled a bit for TV consumption and the original tale as written is more satisfying if a bit too complex to fit into the frame of an hour long TV program.
All three main players, Cadfael, Abbot Radolfus and Hugh Berringer are estimable men and its a pleasure to see how the three struggle with unknotting the tangled web that is unearthed in The Potter's field.
This is a...more
The story was mangled a bit for TV consumption and the original tale as written is more satisfying if a bit too complex to fit into the frame of an hour long TV program.
All three main players, Cadfael, Abbot Radolfus and Hugh Berringer are estimable men and its a pleasure to see how the three struggle with unknotting the tangled web that is unearthed in The Potter's field.
This is a...more
Première incursion dans le polar médiéval, plutôt plaisant, surtout pour le contexte. En tout cas ça donne envie de retrouver frère Cadfael
One of my favourites about Brother Cadfael. The plot twists are quite interesting and Cadfael's abbey life is always a shrewd study of character.
Still going strong. I find Peter's Cadfael series one of the best series I've read. He always seems to have a good mystery to solve.
Nov 20, 2012
Teresa
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
audible-2012,
read-in-2012
This version was read by Derek Jacobi who played Cadfael in the television series. I enjoy hearing him play this part but I really think that Peter's meant him to be a tough, knight who had been in many battles and was world weary. Jacobi creates a cozy characterization which is enjoyable in this murder mystery.
Yet another great Brother Cadfael novel. I really can't get over how well written these are. Once again there was a surprise ending that never even crossed my mind.
In this Cadefael mystery, a woman's body is turned up by the plough in a field recently acquired by the abbey. The woman is unidentifiable, but the discovery casts suspicion on a brother who recently joined the Order. It was previously thought that his wife had left town with her lover, but now the members of the abbey are forced to consider whether foul play may have been involved in her disappearance.
I had a good part of the mystery figured out pretty early on, but there were a lot of elements...more
I had a good part of the mystery figured out pretty early on, but there were a lot of elements...more
I feel like the Brother Cadfael series slackened and stagnated toward its middle. The Potter's Field returns to the really, really good writing of the earlier books, and I hope that change sticks around for the remainder of the series. As usual, Peters uses some elements that have been seen in previous books, and the romance is as typical as ever, but the mystery is tight, compelling, puzzling. I especially enjoyed how Peters wrote from other characters' perspectives, allowing us to see through...more
I enjoyed this a lot it had a good rich plot, but not hard to understand. Interesting characters and themes.
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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
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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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“Every man has within him only one life and one nature ... It behooves a man to look within himself and turn to the best dedication possible those endowments he has from his Maker. You do no wrong in questioning what once you held to be right for you, if now it has come to seem wrong. Put away all thought of being bound. We do not want you bound. No one who is not free can give freely.”
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