dennisfischman 's review for:

Brother Cadfael's Penance by Ellis Peters

4.0

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Is there a rule that as a historical mystery series progresses, it becomes more historical and less of a mystery? I think that's true of the Dame Frevisse and the Akunin series, and certainly, it applies to this Brother Cadfael book, the 20th in the series. Yes, he discovers who kills the traitor, but that's the least of his discoveries--and of ours. We learn a lot about the faction fights in the civil war going on between King Stephen and Empress Maud of England, long before most of the monarchs I had ever heard of, and even more about what it means to live in the monastery (and to leave it).