Judy Lesley's Reviews > The Devil's Novice

First published in 1983, this is the eighth novel in the Chronicles of Brother Cadfael. For a great story it's hard to beat a novel written by Ellis Peters. In this one a younger son is presented to the abbey of Saint Peter and Saint Paul of Shrewsbury as a new entrant into the order, nineteen year old Meriet Aspley, by his father. From the beginning Meriet is a study in contradictions with an unrestful spirit which has an unfortunate way of manifesting itself during times when the abbey should be sleeping. Cadfael knows he must earn the trust of this young man before his year of service is up even though Meriet seem to desperately want to take his vows as quickly as possible.

This is such a good story that it was a real pleasure to read it. A main focus of each of the stories in this series is a mystery that Cadfael solves using skills he learned before he joined the order of the Benedictines. In this one, at least for me, the mystery was almost a background note playing out while the complications in the life of Meriet were discovered. The characters came vividly to life for me and the historical time period was well presented to form the reason this crime and this life changing experience meshed so well together. This is one of my favorite Brother Cadfael stories.