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? ( )

Adequate entry in the series. I didn't guess the murderer but felt a little let down by how the mystery concluded. ( )