Books with author Ellis Peters

Brother Cadfael discovers a murder amid the wreckage of Shrewsbury Castle in this mystery series featuring “a colorful and authentic medieval background” (Publishers Weekly). In the summer of 1138, war between King Stephen and the Empress Maud takes Brother Cadfael from the quiet world of his garden into a battlefield of passions, deceptions, and death. Not far from the safety of the abbey walls, Shrewsbury Castle falls, leaving its ninety-four defenders loyal to the empress to hang as traitors. With a heavy heart, Brother Cadfael agrees to bury the dead, only to make a grisly discovery: one extra victim that has been strangled, not hanged. This ingenious way to dispose of a corpse tells Brother Cadfael that the killer is both clever and ruthless. But one death among so many seems unimportant to all but the good Benedictine. He vows to find the truth behind disparate clues: a girl in boy’s clothing, a missing treasure, and a single broken flower . . . the tiny bit of evidence that Cadfael believes can expose a murderer’s black heart.

A recent murder in Wales leads Detective Inspector Felse to the mysterious disappearance of an architect and a case dating back to ancient Rome. When archaeologist Alan Morris disappears in Turkey, his great-niece, Charlotte, regrets never having gotten to know him better. In an attempt to better understand him, Charlotte begins reading the books he wrote. One of them leads her to visit the Roman site of Aurae Phiala on the Welsh border—the last place her great-uncle worked before leaving for Turkey. But when Charlotte arrives, she finds more than just a few old stones. . . . First there is a charming young man, coincidentally staying at the same hotel, who is very insistent on being her guide. Then a troublesome schoolboy disappears and a corpse is found. Detective Chief Inspector George Felse is called in to solve a case with origins in ancient Rome. City of Gold and Shadows is the 12th book in the Felse Investigations, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.

When Shrewsbury Castle falls, Brother Cadfael discovers a murder mystery amid the wreckage In the summer of 1138, war between King Stephen and the Empress Maud takes Brother Cadfael from the quiet world of his garden into a battlefield of passions, deceptions, and death. Not far from the safety of the abbey walls, Shrewsbury Castle falls, leaving its ninety-four defenders loyal to the empress to hang as traitors. With a heavy heart, Brother Cadfael agrees to bury the dead, only to make a grisly discovery: one extra victim that has been strangled, not hanged. This ingenious way to dispose of a corpse tells Brother Cadfael that the killer is both clever and ruthless. But one death among so many seems unimportant to all but the good Benedictine. He vows to find the truth behind disparate clues: a girl in boy’s clothing, a missing treasure, and a single broken flower . . . the tiny bit of evidence that Cadfael believes can expose a murderer’s black heart.

The grave of a Cornish poet reveals a centuries-old mystery and leads Detective Inspector Felse on a dangerous trail of secrets and crime. While on a seaside vacation in Cornwall with his son, Dominic, Detective Inspector George Felse can’t help but investigate a dark mystery of smuggling, missing bodies, and murder. Jan Treverra was a legendary Cornish poet and smuggler who died two centuries ago. But when local scholar Simon Towne arranges to open Treverra’s grave in search of his long-lost literary legacy, the tomb yields two dead bodies . . . and neither one is the body of Jan Treverra. In this derelict seashore graveyard, Felse uncovers a trail of violence in Maymouth’s history that casts shadows centuries long. . . . A Nice Derangement of Epitaphs is the 4th book in the Felse Investigations, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.