Can you believe we're nearing the end of another year of reading together? I hope you've already started the Ordinary Time (autumn) pick, One Corpse Too Many (Cadfael series) by Ellis Peters. If not, there's still plenty of time to get started!

Publisher's Summary:

In the summer of 1138, war between King Stephen and the Empress Maud takes Brother Cadfael from the quiet world of his garden into a battlefield of passions, deceptions, and death. Not far from the safety of the abbey walls, Shrewsbury Castle falls, leaving its ninety-four defenders loyal to the empress to hang as traitors. With a heavy heart, Brother Cadfael agrees to bury the dead, only to make a grisly discovery: one extra victim who has been strangled, not hanged.

This ingenious way to dispose of a corpse tells Brother Cadfael that the killer is both clever and ruthless. But one death among so many seems unimportant to all but the good Benedictine. He vows to find the truth behind disparate clues: a girl in boy's clothing, a missing treasure, and a single broken flower . . . the tiny bit of evidence that Cadfael believes can expose a murderer's black heart.

Have you noticed that Christian authors represent a significant number of classic murder mystery series (with a shocking number of clergy members with a side hustle of sleuthing)? Here's a brief reflection in The Anglican Journal on why that might be: "Christianity is 'one big murder mystery.'"


And here's what Eugene Peterson felt about the genre: 

 

“When I don’t know what to do, I read a murder mystery. Murder mysteries are the cleanest, least ambiguous moral writing that we have. All the while you are reading, no matter how confused you are about motives or the significance of clues, you know that eventually the murderer will be identified and justice done. Just stay at it long enough and everything will be sorted out.”                                                 
                                                                                                                                                                                                      -- Eugene Peterson, The Pastor: A Memoir 

Alongside One Corpse Too Many, we will also spend time discussing the poems you are reading from A Century of Poetry: 100 Poems for Searching the Heart, edited by Rowan Williams, the former Archbishop of Canterbury. 


As always, everyone is welcome, whether or not you've been reading the current book. We always spend the first part of our time together chatting about the other books we've all been reading. Honestly, as fascinating as our book discussions are, talking about other books is one of my favorite parts of what we do together!

Details for our next reading discussion

What:
One Corpse Too Many by Ellis Peters
Selections from A Century of Poetry by Rowan Williams

When:
Sunday, November 15, 4–6 pm

Where:
Church lounge

Please RSVP and bring a snack to share:
📧 tamarahillmurphy@gmail.com

2026 reading list with discussion dates

Please know that while I've done my best, we may need to change dates or titles as we approach each one.