St. Peter's Fair by Ellis Peters

St. Peter's Fair by Ellis Peters

St. Peter's Fair was a grand event, attracting merchants from across England and beyond. With the pause in the Civil War during the summer of 1139, the fair would bring some much-needed gaiety to Shrewsbury.

But a wealthy merchant is found murdered in the river Severn. Brother Cadfael offers to help the merchant's niece, Emma; but while he searches for the killer, two more men are murdered--like her uncle, apparently for the valuables they possessed at their death. Cadfael races to save the young woman, knowing that during Civil War, betrayal can come from any direction, and even good intentions can kill.

Ellis Peters is a pen name for Edith Mary Pargeter (1913-1995), a British author recognized with popularizing the historical mystery with her book Chronicles of Brother Cadfael. Cadfael, a Welsh Benedictine monk who lived at Shrewsbury Abbey in the first half of the twelfth century, has been described as having a fascinating mind and the daring of a knight-errant. The character has been adapted for television, and the books have brought Shrewsbury and its history to the attention of the world. For Death and the Cheerful Woman, Pargeter earned an Edgar Award in 1963, and the Cartier Diamond Dagger, an annual prize granted by the Crime Writers' Association of Great Britain, in 1993. In 1994, she was made an officer of the Order of the British Empire, and the British Crime Writers' Association created the Ellis Peters Historical Dagger award, which was eventually renamed the Ellis Peters Historical Award, in 1999.