The Confession of Brother Haluin

Six-word review: Improbable tale charms indulgent series fan.

Extended review: It's not hard to picture the author chuckling quietly to herself as she pieced together the fifteenth chronicle of a medieval monk whose monastic life seems to be as riddled with episodes of violent death as if he were a spiritual ancestor of Miss Marple or Jessica Fletcher. The first book of the series takes place in the spring of the year 1137, and this one begins in December of 1142. That's an average of nearly three dastardly crimes per year within the reach of the quiet, well-run abbey in Shrewsbury, all of which depend somehow on Brother Cadfael for their solution and the invocation of justice.

So it's no wonder that by now the author has ventured rather show more far into the realm of unlikelihood, albeit with the usual complement of concealed identities, long-hidden sins, thwarted romances, and complicated family relationships.

However, if we've stayed with the series this long, we love Brother Cadfael, and we're just happy to watch him going about his business, doing what he does best, which on most days is growing and tending his herb garden, preparing remedies, and offering wise counsel to those who seek it, and on surprisingly frequent occasions is investigating crimes and exposing culprits.

In this installment, it doesn't even matter that Cadfael has almost no detecting to do. His main function is to serve as a go-between and catalyst while the dramas of others play out. That's enough. I got what I came for. show less

Brother Haluin makes a deathbed confession but doesn't die. He wants to make some reparation, but sets off an unexpected series of events.

One of her best, not so much because of the mystery, the answer to which was pretty obvious, but because of the atmosphere and the characters, especially the formidable dowager, Adelais.

The mystery of this Brother Cadfael book was obvious and the lengths gone to “solve” it a bit tedious, but otherwise this book was a good character study and another nice time capsule of medieval England.

THE CONFESSION OF BROTHER HALUIN is the fifteenth instalment in Ellis Peters' Cadfael series.

In the severe winter of 1142, the roof of the Abbey collapses under the weight of the heavy snowfall. One of the monks assigned to the task of repairing the roof is Brother Haluin. He falls from the roof and crashes to the ground, unconscious and badly hurt. Cadfael nurses him through the first night. Fearing he will not recover, Haluin makes a sickbed confession to Cadfael and Abbot Radulfus. He tells of a burden of guilt, carried since his youth, over a love affair that ended badly. Believing that his survival is a sign to make restitution, Brother Haluin receives Abbot Radolfus' blessing for pilgrimage of penance to his old home. Because show more Cadfael is privy to the confession, he is enlisted to aid Brother Haluin in his journey.

When they arrive at their destination, they find that things are not all as they seem, and that another tragedy is in the offing. Then a murder occurs. Cadfael unravels the mystery, the sinner atones insofar as possible, and Haluin finds peace.

THE CONFESSION OF BROTHER HALUIN is an involved but absorbing plot which is sorted out by Cadfael in his inimical style. What makes this and the other Cadfael tales enjoyable is the charming, unhurried way in which Peters tells the tale. show less

In this the 15th Brother Cadfael Chronicle, we watch unfold the unhappy consequences of long distant, long hidden deception. The author gives us an important lesson in the sorrows brought about by suppressing devious actions of the past which can only be rectified by the sometimes painful process of revealing truth. Brother Cadfael, the medieval monk of Shrewsbury Abbey reflects, "Truth can be costly, but in the end it never falls short of value for the price paid." The tangled tale begins with the inexplicable rejection of a suitable husband for a daughter and proceeds to the burdening of the young suitor with false guilt driving him into the cowl at the Benedictine Abbey of Shrewsbury with a heaviness that now 18 years later is still show more consuming him. Brother Cadfael, resident herbalist and amateur sleuth of the Abbey, is the partner in the redemption of this young monk as they make pilgrimage together to the tomb of his long lost beloved and to the revelation of painful occurences of the dark past. Ellis Peters can not only tell a good tale, but she also has a remarkable insight into human nature--the motives that drive us and the consequences of our unfortunate choices. show less

This is a perfectly serviceable whodunnit. It's slightly overwritten and repetitive, even though it's pleasingly short and sharp. There's not really a great deal of actual mystery or suspense in the plot—you can see the major moves coming a mile off. The writing is more clever than it first appears: there's a (surely deliberate) archaism to the prose, which subtly cues you in to thinking in olde worlde terms without having everyone be like "forsooth my liege, verily" etc.

All in all reading this (and I assume the other Cadfaels) is a fine way to kill two or three hours if you happen to have one to hand, but nobody is going to be rediscovering these as lost classics in 50 years time.

Satisfying entry in the Cadfael series, about a fellow monk with a secret, and a need to atone for it. I guessed the solution to the mystery, but it was still "good fun".