O Santo Ladrão (Crónicas do Irmão Cadfael #19)

[The Holy Thief (Chronicles of Brother Cadfael #19) by Ellis Peters na tradução portuguesa de Isabel Veríssimo]: Ano da Graça de 1144. Agosto. No auge de um quente Verão, o conde de Essex sucumbe a uma flecha fatal – mas apenas depois de uma febre prolongada durante a qual os seus oficiais fizeram todos os possíveis para o salvar do fogo do inferno restituindo as muitas propriedades que ele anexara, incluindo a abadia de Ramsey. A abadia encontra-se num estado tão lastimável que é feito um pedido a todas as casas da Ordem Beneditina para que ajudem a restaurá-la. E uma embaixada parte para Shrewsbury, num peditório. Mas quando fortes chuvas trazem a ameaça de cheias para Shrewsbury, e as relíquias sagradas de Santa Winifred têm de ser removidas para um lugar seguro, a descida das águas revela que foi cometido um roubo. Está assim montado o cenário para as magistrais capacidades de investigação do irmão Cadfael serem postas à prova. Mas, antes de o caso ser resolvido, ao crime de roubo é acrescentado um homicídio...

[The Holy Thief: The Nineteenth Chronicle of Brother Cadfael]: In the chill autumn of 1144, rising flood waters endanger the sacred remains of St. Winifred, the abbey's most cherished possession. When the bones disappear and a corpse is found, Brother Cadfael needs his prayers answered to catch a killer.

The Holy Thief is a medieval mystery novel by Ellis Peters set in 1144–1145. It is the 19th and penultimate volume of the Cadfael Chronicles, first published in 1992. It was adapted for television in 1998 by Carlton Media for ITV. Heavy rains flood the river which in turn floods the Abbey, threatening the precious reliquary of Saint Winifred. When the waters recede, the saint is gone, beginning a long search with tangled motives, including a murder that challenges the monks.

[ Historical Introduction to Plot] On 16 September 1144, Geoffrey de Mandeville's reign of terror in the Fens comes to an end when Geoffrey succumbs to an infection, brought on by a minor graze from an arrow. King Stephen had worked for a year to confine the marauding within a ring of forts and castles. In the heat of August, the one-time Earl of Essex went out without his chain mail and helmet at Burwell, northeast of Cambridge, where an archer's arrow reached its target. Besides being stripped of his lands by King Stephen, he and his eldest son were excommunicate for his seizure of Ramsey Abbey, which he used as his headquarters. There was no place for him to be buried, so rejected was he from England and his religion. Empress Maud gave the title back to the younger namesake son, but she could not grant the lands – a fairly empty gesture. The rest of England was relieved as they learned by the passing of small bands of brigands looking for places to lay low, that they could again venture out without fear of seizure or murder by his organised band of brigands and marauders. As de Mandeville is dying, his allies who hope to mend fences wrote grants returning church property to its owners, including Ramsey Abbey. Before the end of 1144, Abbot Walter[1] gets word he again has an Abbey to lead in the Fens. He sends word to collect his prior and sub-prior, and ask all the monks to return, to rebuild their home after more than a year away. The devastation is so extensive, the brothers not only begin work themselves, but also reach out to their fellows in other Benedictine monasteries in England for aid.

Romance / Aventura / Suspense e Mistério / Romance policial