Reviews and Critical Reception
Kirkus Reviews is unusually positive about this novel:
Back once again to 12th-century England, rife with civil and border wars: an unsuccessful Welsh foray over the border has left Shrewsbury's Deputy Sheriff Hugh Berenger with wild young Welsh prisoner Elis ap Cynan and badly wounded Sheriff Gilbert Prestcote. And prisoner Elis, though betrothed since childhood to another, falls madly in love with Prestcote's daughter Milicent--a glowing romance until Prestcote is murdered, with Elis the prime suspect! Who can clear up this tangle? Warm, worldly Benedictine monk Brother Cadfael (The Devil's Novice, etc.), of course--Peters' herbalist-sleuth and romantic Mr. Fixit. So, while Milicent takes refuge in an isolated nunnery, soon under attack by marauding Welsh (a grand, good/evil battle ensues), Cadfael closes in on the murderer--and brings on a denoument that combines rough justice and love triumphant. For anyone with a taste for period mystery: another fine Peters performance--charmingly inventive, textured with intriguing subplots, and as rich as ever in fresh period details.
Publishers Weekly
In this mystery featuring 12th-century Brother Cadfael, a Welsh lord captured by the English is to be exchanged for Gilbert Prestcote, sheriff of Shropshire, who is held by the Welsh. When Prestcote dies in Welsh hands, Cadfael suspects murder and reveals the motives of the captors. PW commented: ``Peters's local color is at its most engaging in the tangled family trees that sprawl across a contentious border. (May)
Cecily Felber, an author herself, explained how this novel inspired her to write her own, in the same era and part of the world:
This is the book, with its mentions of Madog ap Maredudd and the contingent of Welsh soldiers who took part in the Battle of Lincoln, that is partly responsible for my own books. ... Another charming step along the journey of Cadfael!
Read more about this topic: Dead Man's Ransom
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