I saw this book while browsing in the library (yay serendipity!) and since I’ve been reading more about English history this year, I thought it would be nice to grab a historical mystery.

One Corpse Too Many takes place in a monastery in the summer of 1138, as Brother Cadfael discovers that there is one extra corpse among those that he was supposed to bury. And while many may think that one more traitor is not an issue, to Brother Cadfael, this murder requires justice.

This novel takes place while King Stephen and Empress Maud (also called Empress Matilda) battle it out for the throne of England. I was so happy to actually recognise the time period, thanks to having read She-Wolves pretty recently. Basically, Stephen wasn’t supposed to be king; before the previous king died, he made his nobles swear that his daughter Maud would be Queen (aka the first Queen of England). Unfortunately, Maud was not in England when the king passed away and Stephen stepped in and took the throne. A protracted civil war took place after that because many people (who had sworn loyalty to Maud) did not actually want a woman on the throne so loyalties were divided and people started fighting.

It’s in the middle of this fight that the story takes place. While Brother Cadfael has no allegiance to either side, practically all the other characters do. King Stephen even plays a pretty big role in the novel, given that he is the dominant authority in the area, and it is his hunt for supporters of Empress Maud that leads Godith (the daughter of Queen Maud’s ally) to take refuge with Brother Cadfael. And it is this fight between divided loyalties that was the most interesting to me. The book makes it clear that there are good people on both sides, even if they don’t appear good at first. One of the characters even has a pretty nice ‘redemption’ arc; he seems rather suspicious at first, but by the end, we realise he’s not that terrible a person.

With this tug-of-loyalties taking prominence in the book, the mystery, sadly, gets sidelined. While the book managed to convince me of the murderer’s guilt, it did feel a little as though the deduction was pulled out of thin air. It felt like Brother Cadfael’s quest to keep Godith safe and find out what happened to one part of the mystery (stolen treasure is involved) overshadowed the part where they looked for the murderer. I mean, they talked about it, but there were a few red herrings so I was pretty confused as to how Brother Cadfael saw through the red herrings to the truth. Especially since the time between the truth of the red herrings and the reveal of the murderer was so short.

Overall, though, I enjoyed this book. I don’t think I’ve seen a mystery set in the time of Empress Maud/King Stephen and I enjoyed reading about the characters and their various stories. While I wish there was a little bit more emphasis on the mystery, I am pretty satisfied with how this book went and would definitely look for more mysteries involving Brother Cadfael.