A Morbid Taste for Bones by Ellis Peters First Edition MacMillan 1977. No previous owner's inscriptions or marks, contents and edges free of any foxing or toning. A VG+ copy in like original dust jacket. Not price clipped and with no tears, loss or fading.

In the mist-shrouded cloisters of 12th-century Shropshire's Shrewsbury Abbey, worldly-wise herbalist-monk Brother Cadfael joins a zealous pilgrimage to remote Welsh borderlands to exhume the bones of Saint Winifred, coveted as a relic to bolster the monastery's prestige. Amid fervent piety and simmering Anglo-Welsh tensions, the expedition erupts into violence when the saint's custodian is slain, igniting accusations of sacrilegious murder that threaten bloody reprisal. Cadfael's keen senses for potions and prevarications unravel a tangle of greed, ghostly omens, and hidden motives, blending ecclesiastical intrigue with rustic realism in a tone of contemplative cunning laced with wry medieval melancholy.

This inaugural Cadfael chronicle enchants readers with its immersive evocation of monastic sleuthing and herbal lore, appealing to historical mystery devotees who savor Peters' meticulous period detail and empathetic humanism, akin to the cloistered conundrums in Umberto Eco's "The Name of the Rose" but with gentler, more folksy grace. Collectors esteem it as the foundational relic of a beloved series, embodying the cultural renaissance of cozy historical whodunits through its enduring fusion of faith, forensics, and frontier frictions that shaped subgenre tropes. Its thoughtful thrills target both armchair historians craving authentic atmospheres and escapists seeking moral puzzles, bridging scholarly intrigue with soothing narrative balm.