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A review by frater
An Excellent Mystery by Ellis Peters
2.0
I'm usually a fan of Cadfael but this "mystery" is not as excellent as may be claimed by the title. The writing is evocative as always, the characters well drawn and believeable, but the issue with this particular novel is the plot - in that nothing really happens.
By the sixth chapter, the big "reveal" is already painfully obvious, the hints d0led out through the rest of the novel border on condescending in their obviousness, and even the question of how exactly Cadfael is going to untwist everything into a happy ending feels a bit trite and boring by the end. The solution borders very closely on a deus ex machina, and though that may be thematically appropriate for a mystery solving monk, it's still unsatisfying in a novel.
By the sixth chapter, the big "reveal" is already painfully obvious, the hints d0led out through the rest of the novel border on condescending in their obviousness, and even the question of how exactly Cadfael is going to untwist everything into a happy ending feels a bit trite and boring by the end. The solution borders very closely on a deus ex machina, and though that may be thematically appropriate for a mystery solving monk, it's still unsatisfying in a novel.