The year is 1327. Franciscans in a wealthy Italian abbey are suspected of heresy, and Brother William of Baskerville arrives to investigate. His mission is suddenly overshadowed by seven bizarre deaths that take place in seven days and nights of terror. Brother William turns detective. His tools are the logic of Aristotle, the theology of Aquinas, the empirical insights of Roger Bacon - all sharpened to a glistening edge by his wry humor...

"We shall all, in the end, be led to where we belong. We shall all, in the end, find our way home. In a time of war, a mysterious child appears at the monastery of the Order of the Chronicles of Sorrowing. Gentle Brother Edik finds the girl, Beatryce, curled in a stall, wracked with fever, coated in dirt and blood, and holding fast to the ear of Answelica the goat. As the monk nurses Beatryce to health, he uncovers her dangerous secret, one that imperils...

Their magic tree house takes Jack and Annie back to a monastery in medieval Ireland, where they try to retrieve a lost book while being menaced by Viking raiders.

In March of 1348, the awakening of an ancient evil drives fay creatures from the woods, causes Crowfield Abbey to crumble, and haunts the dreams of the monks, but the demon seems especially drawn to Will, who is beginning to realize the significance of his Sight.

A morbid taste for bones: When a young monk claims to see visions of St. Winifred, Cadfael and a party from Shrewsbury Abbey trek to Wales to excavate her holy relics and are met with much hostility. The raven in the foregate: Father Ailnoth, the new parish priest earns the scorn of all his parishioners. After refusing to baptise the illegitimate baby of a local woman, the priest is found dead in the river. The rose rent: A beautiful and wealthy...

Twelfth century Shrewsbury comes dramatically to life in Ellis Peters' story of Brother Cadfael--a good man in an evil world.