One Corpse Too Many: The Second Chronicle of Brother Cadfael (The Cadfael Chronicles)

In the summer of 1138, war between King Stephen and the Empress Maud takes brother Cadfael from the quiet world of his garden to the bloody battlefield. 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: ninety-five bodies lie in a row, and the extra corpse tells 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 boys' clothing, a missing treasure, and a single broken flower - the tiny bit of evidence that Cadfael believes can most easily expose a murderer's black heart . . . The year is 1138. King Stephen and his cousin the Empress Maud are caught in a bitter struggle for the British crown. When Stephen finally captures the castle of Shrewsbury, one of Maud's few remaining hold-outs, his victory is a bloody one. Ninety-four prisoners, the surviving defenders of the Empress's castle, are taken. And ninety-four are hanged. Brother Cadfael of the nearby Abbey of St. Peter and St. Paul is called upon to give a decent burial to the dead. But before they can reach their final resting place, Cadfael discovers an extra corpse. This is no soldier- the ninety-fifth body is that of a youth, killed by a knife to his pale young throat. An amateur detective with no small share of courage, Cadfael is determined to identify the young man- and his murderer. For help he has a lovely young fugitive with her won supply of bravery, and together they set out to solve this charming and suspenseful mystery. "You'll love Brother Cadfael, wily veteran of the Crusades....this was England before the age of tea and crumpets." *Los Angeles Times Book Review* --Taken directly off the back of the 1990 American version of the book SUMMARY: An ingenious killer disposes of a strangled corpse on a battlefield. Brother Cadfael discovers the body, and must then piece together disparate clues--including a girl in boy's clothing, a missing treasure and a single flower--to expose a murderer's black heart. Fiction,Historical,Political,General,Historical - General,Mystery & Detective,Historical fiction,Suspense,Monks,Mystery & Detective - General,Detective and mystery stories,Great Britain,Detective,Fiction - Mystery,Traditional British,Mystery & Detective - Traditional British,Mystery,Cadfael; Brother (Fictitious character),Shrewsbury (England),Cadfael; Brother (Fictitious character) - Fiction,Great Britain - History - Stephen; 1135-1154 - Fiction,Monks - England - Shrewsbury - Fiction,Monastic and religious life 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.

An ingenious killer disposes of a strangled corpse on a battlefield. Brother Cadfael discovers the body, and must then piece together disparate clues—including a girl in boy's clothing, a missing treasure and a single flower—to expose a murderer's black heart.

After an appalling massacre on the walls of Shrewsbury, there are found to be 95 corpses when there should have been 94. Brother Cadfael sets out to find the killer Brother Cadfael agrees to bury the defenders of Shrewsbury Castle who were hanged as traitors to King Stephen. He discovers a extra body, that of a murder victim On the nineteenth day of June, when the eminent visitor arrived, Brother Cadfael was in the abbot's garden, trimming off dead roses. Brother Cadfael's abilities are tested to the limit in this reissue of the second Cadfael chronicle. Brother Cadfael, a medieval detective of sorts, investigates when one too many prisoners is slain Brother Cadfael discovers 95 corpses after a massacre on the walls of Shrewbury.