Dead Man's Ransom, the 9th book in the Chronicals of Brother Cadfael series by Peter Ellis, is set during the British civil war in the 1100s. I enjoy the time period and learning about how certain things were done as well as the entertaining mystery. This offering has a unpleasant event that surprised me, but it will not stop me from continuing the series. The blurb is more than sufficent to get the reader on the right path as the book begins.

Despite a few bits of truly wonderful writing, this installment badly blew it. It not only continued the formula, but doubled down on it, and threw in a ridiculous ending.

And yet I will continue on, since the last time I was tempted to quit and didn’t I was rewarded. And I do need some simple sweetness mixed into my other reading. Fingers crossed.

3 ½ stars
History raids and battles play the largest part of any Cadfael mystery in the series up to this point.
In a series pretty well known for

Spoiler

happy endings and romances blossoming, this book was a surprise in that the murderer not only gets away but he also gets the girl. Eliud kills the sheriff so that his cousin, the hero of the story Elis can marry the sheriff’s daughter Melicent. That leaves the way open for Eliud to marry Elis’ betrothed Cristina. In the end the murderer Eliud is snuck back to Wales to marry. Hugh and Cadfael aren’t to bothered by the outcome, so I guess I’m not either.

Cozies Reading Challenge

My least favourite of the series so far - I didn't like the ending and thought it was out of character for Cadfael to allow a murderer to escape.

With civil war disrupting the peace of Shropshire, new alliances are forming. The Sheriff, Gilbert Prestcote, is captured in a battle, and badly injured. Offered in exchange is a young Welshman who was left behind as drowned on a raid against a Shropshire convent. Elis is kin to a man close to powerful Welsh leader Owain Gwynedd, and Hugh Beringar, left in command in Shrewsbury, hopes the Welsh will agree to send Prestcote home. Brother Cadfael, himself a Welshman with kin in the border country, is sent as emissary to offer the trade.
Scarcely has Cadfael returned, and the injured Prestcote brought home by his Welsh captors, than all is upended. Someone, either in the Cloisters or among the Welsh delegation, smothers Prestcote as he lays sleeping in the abbey infirmary. Of the most likely suspects, Elis may be the most suspected, as a foreigner and with motive--he has fallen for Prestcote's daughter Melicent, and sought her father's approval. Did he in a fit of anger kill the man who stood between him and his passion? Or did the stableman Anion, with a grudge against Prestcote for executing his half-brother, take his chance to avenge an unjust death?
Meanwhile, the northern borders remain under threat, and Beringar and Gwynedd agree to share defense. But this draws men away from Shrewsbury, leaving the southern borders open to attack by another Welsh lord. Cadfael works to resolve the murder, even as he is drawn to help in the fighting. But can his efforts save the lives of two who are bound as brothers?
This is my first encounter with the fascinating Sister Magdalen, once the mistress of a wealthy baron, but now under the veil at Godrick's Ford, and rescuer of Elis the Welshman. I hope I can find more tales involving her, who seems a soulmate in spirit and wisdom to Brother Cadfael. I'll also be interested to see what befalls the Shropshire district as leaders change and alliances reshape the politics of a region destabilized by the imprisonment of King Stephen. Frankly, the history in this tale was more interesting than the murder.
Loving this series so far, as lately as I've come to it. I hope I can find more volumes as I am starting the last of three currently on my shelf.

I liked this one. The Welsh context was really interesting and the story rattled along. I didn't see the end coming either.