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Summer of the Danes (Brother Cadfael Mysteries) |  | Author: Ellis Peters
Publisher: Mysterious Press
Category: Book
List Price: $35.00
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Seller: mightymounts
Rating:  9 reviews
Sales Rank: 425345
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1st
Pages: 256
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 8.6 x 5.7 x 0.9
ISBN: 0892964480
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.912
EAN: 9780892964482
ASIN: 0892964480
Publication Date: June 1, 1991
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
In the summer of 1144, a strange calm has settled over England. The armies of King Stephen & Empress Maud, the two royal cousins contending for the throne, have temporarily exhausted each other. On the whole, Brother Cadfael considers peace a blessing & agrees to accompany a friend to Wales. When Cadfael is captured by an army of Danish mercenaries, he finds himself in the midst of a brotherly quarrel that could plunge an entire kingdom into deadly chaos.
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 9
 That's All She Read August 20, 2009
Nan Hawthorne (Bothell, WA)
[...]
I have now officially read every single Brother Cadfael mystery novel. It took me quite a time to find this one in a format I can access readily. I found it at last on Audible.com and downloaded it to my Kindle2.
This is just barely a mystery. There is a murder. There is a call to track down the killer. The killer is, in fact, revealed. Brother Cadfael does supply the forensics, meager though they be. But that is simply not all that relevant to the story. This is an adventure and love story unlike any Brother Cadfael you have read.
Brother mark, now a deacon in the Bishop of Lichfield's service, arrives at the Abbey of St. peter and St. Paul as he makes his way on a special mission. He is to travel to the two bishops in Wales to present gifts from his own bishop. One is Gilbert, a new bishop, a Norman who speaks no Welsh, and the other is a thoroughly Welsh and well-beloved bishop. The mission is to remind each of the importance of sticking together. Mark asks for and receives Brother Cadfael as companion and translator on his traversals. On the way they meet a young woman, Helleth (sorry, I can't find the spelling online), who is the daughter of a canon who wants her out of the way. The same night as a liegeman of Prince Owine's rebellious brother Cadwallader bisits the prince's court and is thereafter murdered, Helleth disapears and a horse with her.
Jump to main plot. Mark, Cadfael and Helleth all wind up prisoners of the Dublin Danes that Cadwallader has hired to convince Owine to give him back his lands lost after one of his rebellions. Their captors treat them splendidly, and something seems to start up between the tall, robust, sexy Danish captain of the longship that captured Helleth and Cadfael and Helleth herself. As the struggle between Danes, Owine's Welsh and Cadwallader's Welsh goes through a series of broken oaths, sneakiness, ill-considered loyalties, and efforts by Mark at diplomacy, Helleth and the Dane are ever in the background making googoo eyes ever-so-subtly at each other. Meanwhile the man who was supposed to marry Helleth is creeping about. I know, you are rooting for the Dane. Me too. Cadfael gets a few weeks off from sleuthing and just watches it all transpire.
It may be that Cadfael fans will be disappointed, and perhaps this is why the novel was so hard for me to locate. I liked Helleth a lot, she was a refreshing female role. I also liked her Danish sweetie. It's a nice story of a woman who wants to choose her own mate. I suppose Peters made it a Brother Cadfael mystery so his fans would buy the book. After all, that's why I read it, though I liked her other novels I've read that were published under the name Edith Pargeter. I would say the adventure part of the novel is something Sharon Kay Penman could have done more with, but it's fine as a backdrop for the love story.
 Just not a mystery, and not as engaging as it should be December 28, 2008
David Wilkin (La Habra Heights, CA USA)
I am finding as I read these novels that Peters is not consistent. This one should not be labeled a mystery. Oh there is a body and early enough that one thinks a mystery is to be solved, but Cadfael certainly has no part in it, or so little at the begining that one thinks that Peters/Pargeter wanted to indulge in the aspects of the time period that she found more fascinating.
Through 17 earlier adventurers we have warmed to Brother Cadfael and seen that his keen mind and his ability to be a deep study of human nature leads him to uncover man's basest nature, that of the murderer. Here in this novel we see that Cadfael still is an observer of humanity and history, but his skill set in solving crime is unneeded. Prince Owain and his brother Cadwaladr have a falling out. Cadwaladr is banished, in order to get back to his lands, he hires Dane raiders from Dublin, hence the title.
Cadfael happens to be deep in Wales and far from Shrewsbury as a translator for his old protege, Brother Mark and immediately he is caught up on the edge of events. But the body and the murder have little to do with the Danes and the two princely brothers. Indeed at the end of the book, Peters just conveniently resolves it. What happened to the smart Cadfael who allowed me to read alongside his discoveries to solve the mystery too?
Lust for Power November 8, 2008
Nash Black (Jamestown, KY)
THE SUMMER OF THE DANES, number 18 in this charming medieval series by the late Ellis Peters was my introduction. Stories have been told and characters set and it left many questions about what went before, maybe enough to set me to reading the entire series.
An older style with long descriptions of the landscape of Wales and travels, which were beautifully done. Today's reader would do well to take it on a long flight where you have time to read and nowhere else to go.
The murder is almost lost in the struggle between the participants and remains a mystery until the last pages.
Nash Black, HAINTS and WRITING AS A SMALL BUSINESS
Strained relations May 16, 2006
Beverley Strong (Australia)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This 18th chronicle of Brother Cadfael has less about him and more about history. In fact, he really only appears at the beginning and at the ending and doesn't have any hand at all in the solving of crimes. The story springs from the tempestuous relationship between Owain Gwynedd, Prince of Wales and Cadwaladr, his treacherous and headstrong younger brother. The brothers have had no peace between them for years as Cadwaladr is forever plotting to seize power for himself, being beaten at this game by his brother and then counting on the strong family ties that exist in all Welshmen, to be forgiven and taken back into the fold. This time, he has gone too far however, and has hired Danish mercenaries to attack Owain's troops. These Danes have been settled in Ireland for generations (a fact I did not know) and were just as much Irish as Danish and were Christian to boot! It was an interesting read for the historical contents alone, even if Cadfael scarcely appeared.
not quite as good as the rest of the series March 15, 2006
M. R. Gawe (Vermont)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
The first 50 pages are mostly travelogue, and the next 50 pages are mostly set-up. The story doesn't really take off until around page 115. Once it gets going, it's good, but I found myself skimming huge paragraphs of bucolic description in the beginning. It's worth reading if you're working your way through the series, but if you're looking for an introduction to the Cadfael series, don't start with this book.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 9
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