The Saturday Morning Post (No. 33)

Time for another Cadfael Mystery 

But before that, just a quick note on the paintings I use to identify a book review post as opposed to my regular blog post. I use these to paintings for my book reviews because two of my books are featured in the paintings. The book that appears in the painting above is When Patty Went to College by Jean Webster. Published March 1903. It was my Grandmothers which she had signed in her maiden name meaning that it has been in the family for well over a hundred years. The book featured in the other painting is A Princess of Mars, by Edgar Rice Burroughs, the Grosset & Dunlap October 1917 edition which makes it likely over a hundred years old as well. Time flies.

My reviewer criteria. I like light, entertaining novels. I like smaller scale stories rather than epics. I like character focused novels featuring pleasant characters, with a minimum number of unpleasant ones. I greatly value clever and witty writing. I like first person, or close third person narratives. I dislike a lot of "head jumping" between POVs and flashbacks. I want a story, not a puzzle. While I am not opposed to violence, I dislike gore for the sake of gore. I find long and elaborate fight, action, and battle sequences tedious. Plot holes and things that happen for the convenience of the author annoy me. And I fear I'm a born critic in that I don't mind pointing out what I don't like in a story. However, I lay no claim to be the final arbitrator of style and taste, you need to decide for yourself what you like or dislike in a book.

Your opinions are always welcome. Comment below.

A 2023 Read

Saint Peter's Fair  by Ellis Peters   A

As I believe I have mentioned several times before, I am not a great fan of mysteries, in large part due to the fact that mystery writers seem to always create mysteries about murders. Whether this is due to the laziness of mystery writers or the demands of their audiences I can not say, but it generally annoys me. Especially when they toss in several more murders to cover up the first, as if that ever happens in real life. Or when every fourth person in the village is murdered every other month. All of which is to say that a murder mystery that earns a grade of A from me, must be special. The Cadfael stories are special.

There are several factors that make them special, starting with the writing and the characters. She seem to bring the characters to life with her engaging writing. She gives the reader the wise and worldly monk Cadfael who plays the "detective" along with a number of young, personable, characters, often in trouble whom he helps. Second, is the setting - which includes a map, which is always a big plus for me - but more importantly, the historical setting, which is a turbulent time in England with two claimants, King Stephen and Empress Maud vying for the throne of England. Peters sets her story squarely within that historical era, each story jumping 3 or 4 months ahead over the course of 8 years. I want stories to take me somewhere else, and Peters' 12th century England does that with what seems to me to be authentic detail. They're a fantasy grounded in history. And finally, while there is in each book a murder, or two, or three, they involve events that arrive at the abbey in a turbulent time, and thus, they seem a natural element of the story and the times, not a motheaten convention.

This story involves the yearly fair of St Peter put on by the Abbey of St Peter and Saint Paul. Merchants, customers, and perhaps others, have arrived for the three day fair. The Shrewsbury merchants are unhappy because they must close their shops for the three days, losing business, and the city, worn ragged by the siege of the previous year needs money as well. The prior declines to change the terms of the charter, and a minor riot by the youth of the city results, which apparently leads to the murder of a merchant, for which one of the city lads involved in the incident is suspected of committing. Brother Cadfael, and his friend, the under sheriff believe him to be innocent,. They suspect that the murder was not a simple act of a thief. As in all the books there is element of a whodunit in the story, but with a focus on character and colorful storytelling.