Monk's Hood by Peters is the third mystery in the Brother Cadfael series. While Abbott Heribert travels to London to found out if he will continue as the abbot of Shrewsbury, the Bonels moved into one of the cottages of the abbey. Gervase Bonel is suddenly taken ill one night; and Cadfael arrives with another brother, recognizes that Bonel has been poisoned, and attempts to save his life. Unfortunately, the poison (monk's-hood) has been in his system too long, and the attempts to save his life are in vain. As he dies Cadfael recognizes that the source of the poison is of his own making for a topical treatment and reports this to the sheriff's sergeant. The suspicious immediately falls on Bonel's stepson; and while the sergeant goes to hunt for his suspect, Bonel's widow, who he recognizes as the woman he loved before setting off on the Crusades, pleads with him to help her son. For her sake and because the means of murder came from his own supplies, Cadfael investigates working around the obstacles placed before him by the imperious Prior Robert.
As with her other mysteries in the series, Monk's Hood is full of descriptive language, multiple plot twists, and the type of satisfactory ending that only Cadfael can achieve. I would heartily recommend this for ages 14 and up.
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