A Morbid Taste for Bones
Series: Brother Cadfael, Book 1
By: Ellis Peters / Narrated By: Patrick Tull
Length: 8 hrs and 44 mins
The world of sleuthing comes to the Brother who’s done it all
I’m not much into Mysteries—it takes a lot for me to pay attention long enough to keep track of clues and red herrings—but give me a good old fashion spin on religion, and I’m there! I’d seen the Brother Cadfael mysteries for quite some time (there are A LOT!), but it took a Kindle/Whispersync sale to get me started on the series.
And I must admit it: I found it fairly amusing.
We start with Brother Cadfael in his beloved garden with two fellow Brothers—one prone to religious fits, the other prone to outbursts of cynical exuberance. Brother Cadfael himself is no stranger to cynicism or exuberance, after all, he was once a soldier who traveled the world and sowed his wild oats with the best of them. But he finds a great measure of comfort in his “retirement” after such a full life, weeding, pruning, reaping the bounty of harvests that add color and spice to his life.
Life would be great, but his Order is in dire need of a saint to work miracles. EVERYbody has a saint to worship; EVERYbody has bones and holy relics interred where they work… and worship… And so a saint is found, in Wales no less. Brother Cadfael is tagged to be the interpreter as a group goes to procure said saint’s bones.
Chaos ensues.
The people don’t WANT the holy virgin’s bones taken away, and when their spokesman, who shouted the Brothers down, turns up dead with an arrow sticking outta him, the Brothers shout that it’s because the man went against the will of the virgin herself. But to Brother Cadfael, things are just starting to get interesting.
Mostly A Morbid Taste for Bones is a story of Brother Cadfael and his views of the world, rather than a full-blown mystery. There’s a smattering of clues, with a red herring or two thrown in and just a pinch of observation for a touch of humor. And there’s quite a bit of the mystical, of people doing strange things out of fear of God, of people doing stranger things out of adoration of God.
The drawback is that it is, at times, overwritten. When we come to denouement, the battle between good and evil, things just draaaaag on as each push, each shove is chronicled. Then when all is said and done, we’re treated to a couple rather lengthy epilogues (‘cause we obviously need EVERYthing spelled out, over and over and over). I mean, really. If I’d thought for one second that I’d missed something, it was completely explained to me several times.
Patrick Tull does a magnificent job with narration though his female voices are a trifle breathy and whispery. It kinda became hard to hear the heroine at times, even when she was incensed or enraged (and she was, quite a bit!). But he did really well with Cadfael, adding intelligence and wryness to the colorful character. He even added some excitement to the above said scuffles that kept my interest going.
Maybe A Morbid Taste for Bones isn’t the most thrilling audiobook you’ll ever hear, or the most clever. But it was rather amusing, and I’m kinda sorta kicking around the idea of getting the next in the series. After all, a little bit of history thrown into my fiction totally tickles me.
As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.