Ellis Peters "A Morbid Taste for Bones"
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Ellis Peters
Detectives come in all shapes and sizes, in any place and in any century. Today there is Inspector Morse; in the nineteenth century there was Sherlock Holmes; and eight centuries ago, in the great abbey at Shrewsbury, there was Brother Cadfael.
Brother Cadfael is a monk. He is the abbey’s gardener and knows a great deal about plants and herbs, and their medicinal uses. He also understands people, which is very useful when Prior Robert decides to go to Wales to bring back the bones of a long-dead saint. In the twelfth century every great church and abbey wants to have some holy relics, and Prior Robert believes it is God’s wish that the bones of Saint Winifred should come to Shrewsbury.
But the people of Gwytherin in the Welsh hills don’t see it like that at all. Why should their very own Saint Winifred be taken away to England, a foreign country? And when murder is done, it will need all Brother Cadfael’s experience and understanding to find the murderer. In fact, it will need a miracle...
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Text Analysis: Unique words: about 1,400. Total words: 16,250
Hard words: abbey, alibi, arrow, bailiff, bandage, Benedictine, bishop, blacksmith, bless, bow, cart, chapel, coffin, coward, cross, curse, deer, determined, devil, Father, feather, fit, forgive, glory, grave, habit, herb, herbalist, holy, jug, load, loft, messenger, miracle, monastery, monk, motive, niece, ox, petal, ploughman, prey, priest, prince, relics, reliquary, saint, sword, vision, well
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