{"id":11992,"date":"2019-07-06T15:33:50","date_gmt":"2019-07-06T19:33:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/?p=11992"},"modified":"2025-07-02T16:19:49","modified_gmt":"2025-07-02T20:19:49","slug":"the-holy-thief-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/11992","title":{"rendered":"The Holy Thief"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Holy Thief<\/a><\/em> (1992) Ellis Peters<\/a><\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>Set in England in 1144.<\/p>\n

The 19th Brother Cadfael book.<\/p>\n

Geoffrey de Mandeville, Earl of Essex, is dead. The war rages on, but the Abbot of Ramsey was able to return and assess to damage to his abbey. He then sent out members to call for the return of those who fled, and to ask for assistance in the rebuilding of his all-but-destroyed abbey.<\/p>\n

In a country still torn between two rivals for sovereignty, and plagued by numerous uncommitted lords more interested in carving out kingdoms of their own, wise men observed their hospitable duties and opened their houses to all, but waited to examine credentials before opening their minds.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

To Brother Cadfael’s abbey comes Sub-Prior Herluin and Tutilo, seeking assistance. He also sees the arrival of a French troubadour seeking a place to over-winter.<\/p>\n

We also see the end coming to Donata (who we met in an earlier mystery. <\/p>\n

(T)his woman was now so closely acquainted with death that the subtle creaking of the opening door was present in her voice, and the transparent pallor of the bodyless soul in her face.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I really liked that we spend a little time with her at the end of her life. She was a complicated person in the earlier mystery, and it was lovely to see her in her final hours.<\/p>\n

But the most fascinating character is the young woman, Daalny, who travels with the troubadour.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is a very good poet and minstrel, never think other wise. What I know, he taught me. What I had from God, yes, that is mine; but he showed me its use. If there ever was a debt, that and food and clothing would still have paid it, but there is none. He owes me nothing. The price for me he paid when he bought me.\u201d <\/p>\n

He turned to stare her in the face, and judge how literally she meant the words she had chosen; and she smiled at him. \u201cBought, not hired. I am R\u00e9my\u2019s slave, and better his by far than tied to the one he bought me from. Did you not know it still goes on?\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

A not very subtle reminder of what life was actually like at the time.<\/p>\n

In this story, Cadfael sees the hand of God (or perhaps Saint Winifred) in a more obvious way than in any other story except perhaps for that of Brother Rhun. <\/p>\n

It’s a lovely story–one of my favorites–and is also the last story I read on my previous run-through. So the last two stories will be new-to-me.<\/p>\n

Publisher: MysteriousPress.com
\nRating: 9\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Holy Thief (1992) Ellis Peters Set in England in 1144. The 19th Brother Cadfael book. Geoffrey de Mandeville, Earl of Essex, is dead. The war rages on, but the Abbot of Ramsey was able to return and assess to damage to his abbey. He then sent out members to call for the return of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[13,30,190,292,33,8,41,26],"tags":[120,119,549,877,878],"class_list":["post-11992","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9-10","category-british","category-cozy","category-ebook","category-historical","category-mystery","category-reread","category-romance","tag-brother-cadfael","tag-ellis-peters","tag-high-middle-ages","tag-medieval","tag-the-anarchy"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/piQkW-37q","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":6173,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/6173","url_meta":{"origin":11992,"position":0},"title":"The Holy Thief","author":"Michelle","date":"November 8, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"The Holy Thief (1992) Ellis Peters Set in England in 1144. Two very different groups have stopped by the Benedictine abbey: a troubadour and his entourage, and a brother and a novice from Ramsey--seeing funds and help to rebuild the abbey and the city there, destroyed by Geoffrey de Mandeville,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "9\/10"","block_context":{"text":"9\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/9-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"holy_thief","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Holy_Thief.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6123,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/6123","url_meta":{"origin":11992,"position":1},"title":"The Sanctuary Sparrow","author":"Michelle","date":"October 16, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"The Sanctuary Sparrow (1983) Ellis Peters Set in England in 1140. The seventh Brother Cadfael mystery begins with a mob howling for the blood of a young man chased into the abbey, seeking sanctuary. They claim a man has been killed, and want vengeance. The abbot holds no truck with\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"the-sanctuary-sparrow","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/The-Sanctuary-Sparrow.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":10987,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/10987","url_meta":{"origin":11992,"position":2},"title":"Saint Peter’s Fair","author":"Michelle","date":"August 8, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Saint Peter's Fair (1981) Ellis Peters Set in England in 1139 The Abbey is having it's annual horse fail--Saint Peter's Fair--and the merchants of the town of Shrewsbury are unhappy, for unlike the abbey, the town took damage the previous year when King Stephen took the town, and the Abbey\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Saint-Peters-Fair.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":11145,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/11145","url_meta":{"origin":11992,"position":3},"title":"An Excellent Mystery","author":"Michelle","date":"October 4, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"An Excellent Mystery (1985) Ellis Peters Set in England in 1141 The war between Stephen and Maud continues, leading to the burning of much of Winchester. This causes two monks to appear at the abbey of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, seeking refuge and shelter at their brother abbey. But\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "7.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"7.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/7-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/An-Excellent-Mystery-e1511012747949.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6106,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/6106","url_meta":{"origin":11992,"position":4},"title":"A Morbid Taste for Bones","author":"Michelle","date":"October 10, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"A Morbid Taste for Bones (1977) Ellis Peters Set in England and Wales in ~1137. I picked this up on sale--and by accident. I'd confused Ellis Peters with Peter Tremayne (whose real name was Peter Berresford Ellis, so it's not that ridiculous of a mistake) and so picked up a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"a-morbid-taste-for-bones","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/A-Morbid-Taste-for-Bones.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":10939,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/10939","url_meta":{"origin":11992,"position":5},"title":"A Morbid Taste for Bones","author":"Michelle","date":"July 10, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"A Morbid Taste for Bones (1977) Ellis Peters Cadfael is a brother at Shrewsbury abbey of Saint Peter and Saint Paul. Unlike most of his brethren he came to his calling late, having spent his younger years as a Crusader--and perhaps also an adventurer. Nothing troubled his peace but the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/A-Morbid-Taste-for-Bones.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11992","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11992"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11992\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11992"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11992"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11992"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}