(no subject)

[skygiants]

An Excellent Mystery, the eleventh Cadfael book, is . . . kind of strange, and I'm not really sure what to make of it. The A plot follows a friend of Cadfael's as he stalks hunts for a missing girl that he had a crush on a few years back and would like to marry, except, oops, she joined a convent while he was dilly-dallying! Except, oops, she never actually got to the convent! WHERE COULD SHE BE. The B plot involves what seems to be a sexual predator in the abbey, who might be gay, except whenever he hits on pretty young monks he's thinking about his horrible cheating ex-wife, so maybe he isn't gay? And at the end he's very ashamed of himself and as far as I'm aware it never comes up again? Either way, it's . . . a weird way of handling the topic, especially when you add in the factor of Fidelis/Julian and his/her 'marriage' to Humilis and the way that the title of the book explicitly points to an examination of the theme of marriage. The latter might be more thoughtful and interesting if it wasn't all mixed up with the B plot; as it is, I think Peters maybe bit off more than she could chew.

The Raven in the Foregate, on the other hand, is such a usual kind of Cadfael mystery that it's almost Cadfael-by-numbers. It has all the elements:

VICTIM: I am the Victim Nobody Likes! And now I'm dead.
SUSPECT: I'm a cheerful young lad who's befriended Cadfael, and therefore despite damning circumstance I couldn't possibly be the murderer.
CADFAEL: You couldn't possibly be the murderer!
LOVE INTEREST: I've just met the suspect, and it's true love at first sight. No, seriously, I'm 100% positive we have a great future!
CADFAEL: Don't worry, you crazy kids, I'll make sure you end up together!
POLITICS: We're here! We're confusing! Somebody sympathetic probably supports Queen Maud!
HUGH BERINGAR, KING'S SHERIFF: Well, I mean, if they're sympathetic then that's fine, I don't actually care all that much. Especially if they're friends of Cadfael's.
PLOT: In an ironic twist, nobody we like is actually the murderer!
HUGH BERINGAR: So I don't have to hang anybody sympathetic? Rock on.
CADFAEL: Another mystery solved! Good job, self.

I am pretty sure that there are at least seven or eight Cadfael books that contain almost this exact plotline. This isn't a complaint, mind; you read Cadfael books expecting this sort of thing. Notable factors in this one include Hugh Beringar being devious and a piece of clever irony at the end.

Comments

[catslash.livejournal.com]

Ahaha, that's the exact plot of the only Cadfael book I've read. I read it because it involved a saint's relics, which we had been discussing in one of my classes at the time, so it seemed serendipitous that I would happen to come across it.

[skygiants]

Ha, that is indeed serendipitous. Saint's relics actually figure in several of the Cadfael books, most prominently the first and . . . tenth one, I think, and maybe others I haven't gotten to in my reread yet. Did you enjoy it?

[catslash.livejournal.com]

It was okay. I don't know, I was pretty sleep-deprived from insomnia at the time, so I probably did well just to follow the plot. I'll have to try another one sometime.

[skygiants]

That's fair! I wouldn't say they're for everyone, either, but I'm a big fan of the reasonably well-researched medieval atmosphere.

[rymenhild.livejournal.com]

Also, in Excellent Mystery, the pretty young monk being hit on is the altogether-too-angelic Rhun, who is all, "Oh, I don't mind, he must be suffering a great deal, I'll pray for him." *beatific smile*

(The Cadfael-by-numbers thing? So true. So, so true. If the next one's The Rose Rent, it's about the same story, except this time it has Sister Magdalen.)

[skygiants]

That and Fidelis, who . . . can't speak, and therefore doesn't accuse, and by the end is leaving the monastery anyways, and also has some OTHER THINGS going on. And Urien is just like "oh, girl parts, even better! I think. Maybe?"

(It is indeed The Rose Rent, but to be fair Sister Magdalen kind of makes everything at least twice as awesome.)

[vivien]

Hahaha... your Cadfael by numbers is, indeed, on the mark. I don't enjoy mystery series because they do all tend to be alike, but I enjoyed the three Cadfael mysteries I read.

[skygiants]

It's true, half the reason I'm going so slowly through the Cadfael books is because I'm a bit worried about them all blurring together if I go through them quickly! That said, though, I mock with fondness; I read the Cadfael books more for the way she draws the world than for the plots anyway. (And it's kind of a nice ego boost to always be able to put your finger on the murderer.)

[gramarye1971]

CADFAEL: Don't worry, you crazy kids, I'll make sure you end up together!

To which I would then add:

CADFAEL: Let me use my forensic science medical/herbal/military/Welsh knowledge to develop a plausible explanation for the death of the Victim Nobody Likes!

Cadfael-by-the-numbers is awesome. ^_^ I wish I had more of my books with me. (Though now I am reminded that I still have not yet taken a stab at picking my way through the Japanese translation of The Confession of Brother Haluin, which I gleefully pounced on when I stumbled across it in a bookshop in Narita Airport, of all places.)

[skygiants]

*giggling* SO TRUE. I was just thinking I'd forgotten the line about Cadfael's medieval CSI!

Yeah, I spend half my time waiting for various Cadfael books to come in for me at the library, since all my actual copies are at home - for some reason they're almost all large-print editions (apparently the only people who read Cadfael in NYC are little old ladies with failing eyesight, and me!)

. . . I would be SO CURIOUS about a Japanese Brother Cadfael translation. *laughing* If only I spoke Japanese! (And now I'm trying to envision a Cadfael manga.)

[genarti]

Not Japanese, obviously, but should you be interested, I did pick up Un cadavre de trop on the free books table at work a couple of weeks ago. *grin*

[skygiants]

. . . it's true this is not irrelevant to my interests. *laughing*

[genarti]

Yeah, I picked it up thinking "I have no idea if I'm going to actually bother to read through this whole novel in French, but it's entirely too relevant to my interests to leave sitting on the table next to the outdated copies of textbooks."

Someday, I will actually organize my shelf of Books In Random Other Languages I Studied Once, and then I will facepalm at how many there are.

[ceitfianna]

I think you could do by the numbers for so many mysteries especially short stories. I think that's why they make up my comfort reading, I can just relax into the characters and setting knowing the mystery will be solved.

Oh and Ashie pointed me to a non-fiction book that you'd probably enjoy, Blooming English.

[skygiants]

Oh, you totally can. Although now I think about it, maybe that's why I enjoyed the Benjamin January books so much all through; while you'd see some trends, the plots really were hugely varied, and the characters went through a lot of major development over the course of the series.

I have not heard of it!

[ceitfianna]

Its a book about English and its a collection of short pieces that were first presented on Australian radio. I just started reading it today and it made me smile a lot.

Yes, I adore when mysteries surprise me. I keep trying to find the third book of the Benjamin January books, but its currently eluding me.

[skygiants]

*makes note* Thanks!

And good luck - I hope you're able to get ahold of it. :D