The Cadfael Chronicles

Dead Man's Ransom

About this book

In February of 1141, men march home from war to Shrewsbury, but the captured sheriff Gilbert Prestcote is not among them. Elis, a young Welsh prisoner, is delivered to the Abbey of Saint Peter and Saint Paul to begin a tale that will test Brother Cadfael’s sense of justice—and his heart.

By good fortune, it seems, the prisoner can be exchanged as Sheriff Prestcote’s ransom. What no one expects is that good-natured Elis will be struck down by cupid’s arrow. The sheriff’s own daughter holds him in thrall, and she, too, is blind with passion. But regaining her father means losing her lover. The sheriff, ailing and frail, is brought to the abbey’s infirmary—where he is murdered. Suspicion falls on the prisoner, who has only his Welsh honor to gain Brother Cadfael’s help. And Cadfael gives it, not knowing the truth will be a trial for his own soul.

The Cadfael Chronicles · 21 books

In publication order
  1. The Sanctuary Sparrow 1983
  2. Dead Man's Ransom 1984 This book
  3. The Pilgrim of Hate 1984
  4. An Excellent Mystery 1985
All 21 in order

Subjects

  • brother cadfael (fictitious character)
  • cadfael, brother (fictitious character), fiction
  • clergy, fiction
  • crime, fiction
  • england, fiction
  • fiction
  • fiction, crime
  • fiction, historical
  • fiction, historical, general
  • fiction, mystery & detective, general
  • great britain, fiction
  • herbalists
  • history
  • large type books
  • monks