Book Review

A Rare Benedictine
by Ellis Peters

This is a set of three short stories that serve as a sort of prequel to the main Cadfael historical mystery series. The first, "A Light on the Road to Woodstock", tells how Cadfael came to join the monastery at Shrewsbury. The other two, "The Price of Light" and "Eye Witness", tell of mysteries that occur before the main series begins. In each of the stories, the crimes to be solved are not murders, so the stakes are a little lower than in the other books. Nonetheless, Cadfael is the the same sympathetic and clever observer of human nature and behavior My favorite of the three was "The Price of Light" for the way Peters economically delineates a complex melodramatic situation among some guests of the abbey and for how Cadfael provides a compassionate solution to a theft.

Book Review

The Cambridge Companion to Brass Instruments
edited by Trevor Herbert, Jonathan Cross

This book, which covers a wide range of topics relating to brass instruments, was surprisingly interesting. The sections on brass instruments in the medieval and renaissance eras were particularly compelling, since I find period instruments fascinating. I also really liked the way a thread about how brass instruments transitioned from instruments for ceremonial and functional purposes to instruments for art and popular music ran through the entire book, even with a different author and focus for each chapter.