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The Potter's Field (1989)

by Ellis Peters

Other authors: See the other authors section.

Series: Brother Cadfael Mysteries (17)

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1,728239,949 (3.85)136
Fiction. Mystery. Historical Fiction. HTML:The medieval monk digs for clues when a body is unearthed by a plow: "His detecting talents are as dazzling as ever" (Publishers Weekly).
When a newly plowed field recently given to the Benedictine Abbey of Saint Peter and Saint Paul yields the body of a young woman, Brother Cadfael is quickly thrown into a delicate situation. The field was once owned by a local potter named Ruald, who had abandoned his beautiful wife, Generys, to take monastic vows.

Generys was said to have gone away with a lover, but now it seems as if she had been murdered. With the arrival at the abbey of young Sulien Blount, a novice fleeing homeward from the civil war raging in East Anglia, the mysteries surrounding the corpse start to multiply.
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» See also 136 mentions

English (21)  French (1)  Spanish (1)  All languages (23)
Showing 1-5 of 21 (next | show all)
Originally published in 1989. Ellis Peters (a.k.a. Edith Mary Pargeter 1913-1995), a British author, wrote 23 books in the Chronicles of Brother Cadfael, a monk who solves murder mysteries. This is book #17, but is the first book I've read in this series. It takes place in medieval town of Shrewsbury, in the 12th century.

Very hard to get into because of the writing style. The author is British, and therefore, her writing style is a little hard to follow. Also, this is a very Catholic-type novel with the use of all their authority figure heads, which I know nothing about. A potter’s wife is discovered buried in his field after he is admitted into the priesthood, or monkhood. He was believed to be the killer, but as the investigation proved him innocent in the end, it turned out a very prominent man in the county, who was now dead, was the actual killer. Just a downright boring story! ( )
  MissysBookshelf | Aug 27, 2023 |
Sometimes I am able to guess the truth before Cadfael, and, delightfully, this was not one of those times. ( )
  blueskygreentrees | Jul 30, 2023 |
The abbey receives land from another abbey & as they prepare the land, a body of a woman shows up. A monk, a novice, & a noble lady are in the center of the mystery. As Cadfael presses to save a young man from being hanged for a crime he didn't commit, he discovers a long buried secret never meant to be told. ( )
  walterhistory | Aug 17, 2022 |
The remains of a woman are uncovered as an unused field is being plowed. Was she the estranged wife of a man who recently took vows to become a monk? The weave is tangled in this one, indeed, and I wasn't sure whodunit until the end, when I discovered how wrong I was. Good twisty mystery. ( )
  fuzzi | May 28, 2021 |
A potter's field is generally thought of as a graveyard for the unknown or the indigent. Not so in this novel - the field is one that had belonged to a potter. When the Abbey of St. Peter and St. Paul in Shrewsbury obtained the field, they decided to use it for planting crops. What they discovered were the bones of a young woman. The potter has come to the Abbey as a novitiate and his abandoned wife was believed to have gone off with a lover. So who is this woman? We are introduced to another young monk fleeing from the terrible war between Empress Maud and King Stephen and his mother as well as various other characters. A mystery to savor. ( )
  fdholt | Jun 24, 2019 |
Showing 1-5 of 21 (next | show all)
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» Add other authors (2 possible)

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Peters, Ellisprimary authorall editionsconfirmed
BascoveCover artistsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Chwat, SergeTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Janssens, PieterTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Maass, Hans-JoachimTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Menini, María AntoniaTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Michowski, MarekTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Ooide, KenTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Pelitti, ElsaTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Pošustová-Menš… StanislavaTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Thorne, StephenNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Tull, PatrickNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
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Saint Peter's Fair of that year, 1143, was one week past, and they were settling down again into the ordinary routine of a dry and favorable August, with the corn harvest already being carted into the barns, when Brother Matthew the cellarer first brought into chapter the matter of business he had been discussing for some days during the fair with the prior of the Augustine priory of Saint John the Evangelist, at Haughmond, about four miles to the northeast of Shrewsbury.
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Fiction. Mystery. Historical Fiction. HTML:The medieval monk digs for clues when a body is unearthed by a plow: "His detecting talents are as dazzling as ever" (Publishers Weekly).
When a newly plowed field recently given to the Benedictine Abbey of Saint Peter and Saint Paul yields the body of a young woman, Brother Cadfael is quickly thrown into a delicate situation. The field was once owned by a local potter named Ruald, who had abandoned his beautiful wife, Generys, to take monastic vows.

Generys was said to have gone away with a lover, but now it seems as if she had been murdered. With the arrival at the abbey of young Sulien Blount, a novice fleeing homeward from the civil war raging in East Anglia, the mysteries surrounding the corpse start to multiply.

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