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A review by cleheny
Dead Man's Ransom by Ellis Peters
3.0
Another Cadfael mystery with some vividly drawn supporting characters, true love at first sight (I begin to wonder if Peters knows how to write any other kind), and the interaction of Welsh and English law and custom.
Again, Peters does a fine job of depicting the ravages of civil war on the 12th C Shrewsbury population. The story opens following the Battle of Lincoln, in which Stephen was taken prisoner by Maude's forces. The battle itself was the result of the opportunistic maneuverings of the border barons, particularly Ranulf of Chester. The tensions along Shropshire's border--both the English border with Chester and the Welsh border with Powys--give this particular story a great deal of military and political tension.
In this case, the mystery is secondary to the larger political and military story. Its function is to open certain political developments in Shropshire and put Cadfael in a position to involve himself in the goings-on. There's some interesting, if--again--predictable, motivation behind the crime. The main romantic figures have some interest to them, even if Elis, the romantic hero, is unrelentingly self-involved and idiotic.
Again, Peters does a fine job of depicting the ravages of civil war on the 12th C Shrewsbury population. The story opens following the Battle of Lincoln, in which Stephen was taken prisoner by Maude's forces. The battle itself was the result of the opportunistic maneuverings of the border barons, particularly Ranulf of Chester. The tensions along Shropshire's border--both the English border with Chester and the Welsh border with Powys--give this particular story a great deal of military and political tension.
In this case, the mystery is secondary to the larger political and military story. Its function is to open certain political developments in Shropshire and put Cadfael in a position to involve himself in the goings-on. There's some interesting, if--again--predictable, motivation behind the crime. The main romantic figures have some interest to them, even if Elis, the romantic hero, is unrelentingly self-involved and idiotic.