Brother Cadfael: Murder, Justice, and the Benedictine Rule

A virtual book study group focused on the Brother Cadfael mysteries, by Ellis Peters

THIRD Sundays, starting in FEBRUARY 2022, at 4:00 PM, via Zoom. (April’s meeting will be 2nd Sunday, 4/10.)

Sign up for the Brother Cadfael Book Discussion Group here!

Please be sure to order your book(s) ahead of time. If you need assistance purchasing a book, please email linda@stmbts.org.

St. Michael’s is offering this virtual Book Study Group throughout 2022 to feed both mind and spirit, while participating in the life-giving joy of Christian community. This virtual Book Study Group is open to anyone. Be encouraged to invite a friend!

About the Brother Cadfael mystery series:

Set between the years 1137 and 1145, the series focuses on Brother Cadfael, former Crusader and now monk of the Abbey Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul in Shrewsbury, England. As herbalist and healer, Cadfael is more often called out into the community than the other monks, and frequently finds himself in the role of amateur detective/forensic scientist when untimely death occurs.

The backdrop for the Chronicles of Brother Cadfael is civil war in England – factions supporting the Empress Maud battle those supporting her cousin, King Stephen, over their respective rights to the English throne. Adding flavor and another historical dimension, Cadfael is originally Welsh, and Shrewsbury sits very near the English border with Wales where Prince Owain holds sway over an entirely different culture, legal system, and approach to faith.

The stories wrestle with the typical themes of murder mysteries – vengeance, jealousy, greed, lust, guilt, and justice – but with a rich foundation in a distinctly Medieval worldview and suffused with Benedictine Christianity: devotion and estrangement, sin and redemption, honor and betrayal, vocation and aimlessness, doubt and faith, and a sprinkling of miracles. Each story has much to discuss from theological, social, political, and personal perspectives.

There are 20(!) books in the series, most less than 250 pages (mass market format) long, and all “brisk reads.” All are available in paperback (new or used) or Kindle from Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/bookseries/B00CJ41WD4

We will start with Book 1, A Morbid Taste for Bones, and go right through to the end!