A Morbid Taste for Bones [Large Print] [Hardcover]

Ellis Peters (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1981

Murder in the twelfth century is no different from murder today. There is still a dead body, though this time with an arrow through the heart instead of a bullet. There is still a need to bury the dead, to comfort the living - and to catch the murderer. When Brother Cadfael comes to a village in the Welsh hills, he finds himself doing all three of those things. And there is nothing simple about this death. The murdered man's daughter needs Cadfael's help in more ways than one. There are questions about the arrow. And the burial is the strangest thing of all ...

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'A pleasing, and unusual mixture of suspense and historical fiction.' Evening Standard 'Soothing, but no shortage of mayhem.' The Observer 'A cult figure of crime fiction.' Financial Times --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Jennifer Bassett is Series Editor of the Oxford Bookworms Collection, for which she has written original stories One-Way Ticket and The President's Murderer. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 368 pages
• Publisher: Ulverscroft Large Print Books (June 1981)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0708906591
• ISBN-13: 978-0708906590
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (62 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,801,426 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

36 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good start to an epic pilgramage, August 18, 2000

By 

Steve Benner "Stonegnome" (Lancaster, UK) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: A Morbid Taste for Bones: The First Chronicle of Brother Cadfael (Mass Market Paperback)

Ellis Peter's first Cadfael murder mystery takes as its setting the events surrounding the translation of the holy relics of Saint Winifred from the remote Welsh village of Gwytherin to the Benedictine Abbey of Saint Peter and Saint Paul in Shrewsbury in 1138. Taking this real event as her starting point, Peters weaves an enchanting if rather overly romanticised tale of mediaeval rural and monastic life. Naturally, the practical common sense and basic human decency of her very worldy central character, Brother Cadfael, win out in the end. Here, he neatly side-steps all of many power-struggles - secular, political and ecclesiastical - going on around him, to provide everyone with their heart's desire and solve the inevitable murder mystery into the bargain! Ellis Peters' writing style is so wonderfully erudite that one can always forgive her the occasional lapse into stereotypical characterisation or silliness of plot which tend to pepper her novels. "A Morbid Taste for Bones" is no exception in this regard, and whilst the story's central murder mystery is not at all hard for the reader to solve, the telling of it is so captivating that the book is hard to put down until it's finished!

Incidentally, I would recommend reading this book before any others in the series, because otherwise you will know which of the main suspects can be eliminated immediately! Of course, if you've seen the TV dramatisation, you'll know the main outcome already, but even then, the book is sufficiently different to still make it well worth reading. Recommended.

36 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Journey Through a Decade, December 4, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: A Morbid Taste for Bones: The First Chronicle of Brother Cadfael (Mass Market Paperback)

A Morbid Taste For Bones is the start of a 20-book series about Brother Cadfael. The Cadfael books are absorbing reads, as others here have stated. I would like to add that you will enjoy the series so much more if you read the books in order. They chronicle the decade of civil war in England, between the factions of King Stephen and the Empress Maud. The books always have the ongoing story of this, in a little history lesson, usually at the beginning of the book. It can be complicated history for those coming to it, as I did, uninformed. But we are taken through the war years with these stories, and in chronological order, they tell the story of the civil war, along with the mystery of each book.

Also, the characters and their relationships develop along the way. Hugh Beringer comes into the picture early in the series and eventually becomes deputy to the sheriff, who is loyal to King Stephen. Hugh and Brother Cadfael begin their relationship with suspicion, but they come to respect each other for the intelligence and integrity each has. Hugh meets and marries Aileen, has a baby boy, and, around the ninth book, becomes the sheriff of Shrewsbury. By this time Cadfael and Hugh are fast friends.

Cadfael has his own secrets, little episodes of his life in the Crusades, that catch up with him during the series...but not right away. Later in the series, Cadfael confides in his dear friend Hugh, also relating the secret of this first book, Morbid Taste For Bones, which Hugh had not been privy to before.

I just loved this series, and I tend to think of it as one *really big* book! So do read all 20, and read them in order. They are all available, and all except one (The Hermit of Eyton Forest, no. 14) tell which number it is in the order, right on the front cover. Brother Cadfael is one of the most endearing characters ever created. Lose yourself with him in 12th century England when you need a break from the 20th or 21st century.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great first in an addictive series, June 4, 2001

By 

K. Eames "Just a guy with a nose" (Down in the valley, the valley below) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: A Morbid Taste for Bones: The First Chronicle of Brother Cadfael (Mass Market Paperback)

I have read the first ten books in this series (mostly) in order, and would recommend doing so. Otherwise, you'll miss referneces to previous incidents of importance, and also lose a sense of continuity. Reading the series in order also allows you to enjoy the development of Cadfael's character and other characters who continue to appear throughout the series. Be advised, however, that most of those characters don't make their appearances until later books.

This first mystery serves as an excellent introduction to Cadfael himself, the historical backdrop of medieval England and Wales, and the general literary pattern of the Cadfael stories. It is a pleasant and enjoyable read for those who don't necessarily need their mysteries to be of the noir persuasion and who have a love of history. The title is a little bit deceiving, tempting you to think the story is more violent than it is - though there is certainly a murder to be solved

Read it, and begin a pleasant and long-standing association with Brother Cadfael.