The Leper of St Giles - SPOILER Thread (Dec/Jan 2021)

[Susan]

Welcome to our buddy read of The Leper of Saint Giles the fifth book in the Cadfael series, first published in 1981.

A marriage has been arranged between an ageing nobleman and a very young woman, coerced by greedy guardians. They arrive in Shrewsbury for the ceremony, where a savage killing takes place. Brother Cadfael is called upon to investigate.

Please free to post spoilers in this thread.

[Carolien]

I finished it and enjoyed it as usual. We walked to St Giles when we visited Shrewsbury, it's a reasonable walk from the remains of the Abbey and these days on the edge of town towards the suburbs.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...

The circle of potential murderers were very small once you realise it had to be somebody from his household. I found the side story of her grandfather quite moving.

[ChrisGA]

This is my first Ellis Peter. I want to like it, but I'm not a fan of historical fiction- pre-1900. I am certainly glad there is a glossary in the back. Since I never read the table of contents in a novel, I didn't notice it until around page 50. Made a big difference not having to guess the meaning of words based on context.

I envy you who have visited the places mentioned. I will have to visit in my imagination. Thank you for the picture, Carolien.

[Susan in NC]

Carolien wrote: "I finished it and enjoyed it as usual. We walked to St Giles when we visited Shrewsbury, it's a reasonable walk from the remains of the Abbey and these days on the edge of town towards the suburbs...."

Thank you for the link, and for reminding me these are real places, that still exist, in some form (even if not as a real “Cadfael” would have seen them).

[Judy]

Carolien wrote: "The circle of potential murderers were very small once you realise it had to be somebody from his household. I found the side story of her grandfather quite moving...."

Yes, I agree the identity of the villain plotting against Joscelin was obvious as there were not too many candidates.

But I totally failed to realise the grandfather's identity and his reasons for his actions, so this meant there were still some powerful twists at the ending which I was not expecting.

I will look forward to reading further in this series. I have been to Shrewsbury but before reading the Cadfael books, so would love to return with the books in mind.

[Jill]

I suspected the leper in black from the start but it was Simon that dawned on me slowly.

[Tara]

Simon seemed like the obvious suspect to me, particularly with all of the veiled references to his hands/gloves that was a key clue. I did like the twist with the leper, and the sweet story with Bran. I wonder if he will become a little squire.