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Book Review
Jun. 1st, 2015 08:08 pmThe Leper of Saint Giles
by Ellis Peters
This is the fifth Brother Cadfael mystery, and I enjoyed it quite a bit. This time, the murder revolves around a wedding about to be held at the abbey . The orphaned heiress Iveta is about to be married to a much older nobleman, Huon de Domville by the arrangement of her guardian aunt and uncle, Agnes and Godfrid Picard. However, Iveta is not a willing participant in this imminent marriage, as it is more of a selling off than a true betrothal. When Huon is murdered the morning of the wedding, the crime is pinned on Joscelin Lucy, who, loving and loved by Iveta, has recently escaped justice for a trumped up charge of theft intended to keep him from interfering with the wedding. Joscelin takes refuge within the nearby leper hospital of St. Giles, gaining the unexpected aid of an older leper called Lazarus.This time I was rather surprised by the identity of the killer - I had been expecting it all to go in another direction. I wish Peters had spent a little more time on the nuances of the motivation, but that did not make the resolution any less satisfying.
Once again, the murder is just one thread of a more complex tale. Peters is just as interested in exploring the rest of the characters and their lives as she is in the murder mystery itself. These books are proving to be as much historical novels that happen to have a mystery in them as they are mysteries that are set in the more distant past.
by Ellis Peters
This is the fifth Brother Cadfael mystery, and I enjoyed it quite a bit. This time, the murder revolves around a wedding about to be held at the abbey . The orphaned heiress Iveta is about to be married to a much older nobleman, Huon de Domville by the arrangement of her guardian aunt and uncle, Agnes and Godfrid Picard. However, Iveta is not a willing participant in this imminent marriage, as it is more of a selling off than a true betrothal. When Huon is murdered the morning of the wedding, the crime is pinned on Joscelin Lucy, who, loving and loved by Iveta, has recently escaped justice for a trumped up charge of theft intended to keep him from interfering with the wedding. Joscelin takes refuge within the nearby leper hospital of St. Giles, gaining the unexpected aid of an older leper called Lazarus.This time I was rather surprised by the identity of the killer - I had been expecting it all to go in another direction. I wish Peters had spent a little more time on the nuances of the motivation, but that did not make the resolution any less satisfying.
Once again, the murder is just one thread of a more complex tale. Peters is just as interested in exploring the rest of the characters and their lives as she is in the murder mystery itself. These books are proving to be as much historical novels that happen to have a mystery in them as they are mysteries that are set in the more distant past.
