(no subject)
Sep. 13th, 2010 11:20 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
skygiantsAn 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.
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.
