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A review by ericwelch
The Hermit of Eyton Forest by Ellis Peters
4.0
Peters, nom de plume of Edith Pargeter, and also author of the Inspector Felse series, as well as some other historical novels, situates the Brother Cadfael series during the anarchic times of King Stephen in the early twelfth century.
Cadfael is a monk at the Benedictine Abbey of Shrewsbury. He came to the cowl rather late, after service in the crusades, so he often takes a more worldly and practical approach to solving riddles than his fellow monks. He and his friend, Hugh Beringer, the under-sheriff, work together to solve murders, of which there seem to be plenty. The victim in this novel is Richard, elevenyear- old son of a wealthy lord who dies and leaves all his property to Richard. Richard was being schooled at the abbey, and despite entreaties from the boy’s grandmother to return him to her, the abbot refuses, citing the importance of Richard’s father’s wish that the boy receive a good education. The grandmother, the lady Dionysia, wants Richard’s return so she can marry him off to an old woman (she’s twenty-two) and gain ownership of some contiguous lands. Richard, certainly sly for his age, watches bemused, but disappears in the forest following a series of mishaps predicted by a hermit, reputed to be holy, who has the ear of Lady Dionysia. Nothing is as it appears.
Soon Cadfael is forced to keep a secret from Hugh, something he is rarely called upon to do, in order to protect the lives of two others, one a murderer, the other, an escaped vassal. Typically, before the solution is discovered, the forest is littered with the bodies of murdered men. This is a good one.
Cadfael is a monk at the Benedictine Abbey of Shrewsbury. He came to the cowl rather late, after service in the crusades, so he often takes a more worldly and practical approach to solving riddles than his fellow monks. He and his friend, Hugh Beringer, the under-sheriff, work together to solve murders, of which there seem to be plenty. The victim in this novel is Richard, elevenyear- old son of a wealthy lord who dies and leaves all his property to Richard. Richard was being schooled at the abbey, and despite entreaties from the boy’s grandmother to return him to her, the abbot refuses, citing the importance of Richard’s father’s wish that the boy receive a good education. The grandmother, the lady Dionysia, wants Richard’s return so she can marry him off to an old woman (she’s twenty-two) and gain ownership of some contiguous lands. Richard, certainly sly for his age, watches bemused, but disappears in the forest following a series of mishaps predicted by a hermit, reputed to be holy, who has the ear of Lady Dionysia. Nothing is as it appears.
Soon Cadfael is forced to keep a secret from Hugh, something he is rarely called upon to do, in order to protect the lives of two others, one a murderer, the other, an escaped vassal. Typically, before the solution is discovered, the forest is littered with the bodies of murdered men. This is a good one.