Summary: A graceless priest comes to Holy Cross church in Foregate and alienates his parish and is found dead, while a young man who came with him, assigned to Cadfael, is not what he seems.

December of 1141 finds both Abbot Radulfus and Hugh Beringar on the road. The Abbot is called to Winchester for a council to reaffirm church loyalties to King Stephen, now free after an exchange in which Robert of Gloucester returned to the side of Empress Maud. He returns with a priest, formerly clerk to Bishop Henry, along with his housekeeper, Diota Hammet and her nephew Benet, an apparently simple, unskilled young man. He is assigned to help Cadfael. Shortly after, Hugh, who assumed but has never been confirmed in the office of Sheriff, goes to a council with Stephen, his future uncertain.

Father Ailnoth is appointed to the parish of Holy Cross in Foregate. The former priest, Father Adam has recently died and was loved by the parish for his pastoral care, particularly the mercy he showed and the light penances he gave when the people came to confess their sins. Father Ailnoth is cut of different cloth and in just the brief time before Christmas has alienated most of his parish. Passionate but believing Eluned could not resist the enticements of men but came in genuine penitence. Ailnoth refuses her absolution, penance, and communion. Cast out from the church, she throws herself in a pond. A young worker comes pleading for Ailnoth to baptize his dying infant. Ailnoth will not come until he finishes praying his office. The infant dies and then Ailnoth refuses the babe burial in consecrated ground. He strikes boys with his staff when their play near the parish house annoys him. He accuses the baker, an upright man and known for his bread, of giving short measure, He gets into a property dispute.

Meanwhile, Cadfael has taken joy getting to know the lad Benet who works hard at all the tasks he has given with cheer. He quickly realizes there is more to Benet than was apparent. He’s a quick study with the herbs, and can be trusted to look after things in Cadfael’s absence. But he wonders, who is this young man, really? He notices when Diota visits not only his affection for his aunt but the message he slips her. He also sees the visit of Sanan Berniere from the house of local noble Ralph Giffard, formerly associated with Maud, and the instant bond that forms between her and Benet, who is plainly not cut out for a monastic life.

Christmas Eve is a cold blustery night signaling the coming of winter. Cadfael is out walking when he sees Father Ailnoth rapidly walking out of town, and Giffard unhappily walking back. He also notes clues that Benet and likely Sanan had been in his workshop during the latter part of Matins. Early Christmas morning, Diota comes to the monastery. Father Ailnoth never returned home. A search is formed and his body is found, out past the mill, with a wound on the back of his head.

There are a host of suspects who had motives to kill the priest. Hugh arrives home as newly confirmed Sheriff to confront this situation. He also has a task from Stephen, to hunt down Ninian Bachilar, a supporter of Maud suspected to be in Shrewsbury. Giffard, eager to put his connections with Maud in the past, announces that Benet is Ninian, from the secret message Diota had carried, and accuses him of murdering Father Ailnoth, who had learned of the young man’s true identity from Giffard. Father Ailnoth’s hasty mission out of town was to confront Ninian, who had been supposed to meet Giffard.

Benet/Ninian, with the help of Sanan has gone into hiding, but not before telling Cadfael the truth. In fact, Cadfael at points warns the young man not to tell him certain things. Neither Cadfael nor Hugh are convinced that Ninian is Father Ailnoth’s killer and play a coy game of turning a blind eye to what each knows about the fugitive young man and the woman who loves him. The discovery of two missing articles, not found with Ailnoth’s body, hold the clues to how Ailnoth met his end, if the pieces can be put together.

Peters makes an interesting contrast in the story between the graceless Ailnoth and the ways Hugh and Cadfael approach his death, seeking truth to be sure but without jumping to graceless conclusions, seeing all those who could be suspects in their full humanity. There is a commentary here about how law is administered, both in church and society. In Cadfael, we see devotion to God and in Hugh, devotion to the king, and yet both pursue very different paths than the hapless Father Ailnoth, who never had the chance to learn mercy. ( )

Pleasantly slow-moving evocation of life in the middle ages. Atmospheric, but not quite atmospheric enough. A simple quickly-solved mystery, not enough every day detail or character building to satisfy. Dialog is sometimes a little off, sounding stilted or contrived. ( )

I enjoyed this book (see below.) The less said about what happens in the book, the better, in my opinion. One of the reasons I liked this so much the first time is a mystery to me, because I might have given this 4 stars this time, but am going to go with what I put here first. However, I quite liked the "guest star" characters and a number of things particular to this mystery. In addition, I particularly enjoyed Cadfael's continued friendship with a recurring character, but if you've never read any books in this series please read the second one before any subsequent ones, although the ideal way is to read them in order from the first one.

This is my second time reading this book and I know I rated it 5 stars, but I can't find any review or a date for when I read it before sometime between 2016 and 2018 (when I read the one right before and after it so since I first added this on July 8, 2017, I'm going with the end of that month for a first read. ( )

Natividad del señor, año 1141. El abad Radulfo regresa de Londres, trayendo consigo a un sacerdote para el beneficio vacante de la Santa Cruz; un hombre de gran pestancia, erudción y disciplina, aunque carente de humildad y capacidad de comunicación con los demás. Cuando le descubren ahogado en el estanque del molino, la sospecha se extiende en distintas direcciones, particularmente, hacia un joven que acompañaba al sacerdote, que había sido enviado a trabajar en el huerto de fray Cadfael y que estaba claro que carecía de vocación sacerdotal. Es más, pronto se atrae la amistad de una joven tan hermosa como temible.

The new priest for Foregate proves to have no compassion nor mercy with his obsession of his new job. When he is found dead, there are plenty of suspects. Cadfael finds little evidence to show murder yet how to prove that is complicated by lack of witnesses or was there any? ( )