Peters, Ellis

▪ 1996

      (EDITH MARY PARGETER), British novelist (b. Sept. 28, 1913, Horsehay, Shropshire, England—d. Oct. 14, 1995, Madeley, Shropshire), wrote scores of detective novels and other fiction, but she was probably best known as the creator of Brother Cadfael, a middle-aged Welsh Benedictine monk who uses his skill as the abbey herbalist and his vast knowledge of the world from his years as a youthful Crusader to solve murders and other crimes in 12th-century England and Wales. She was born Edith Mary Pargeter and trained as a pharmacist's assistant. Beginning in the mid-1930s she wrote (using her own name and several pseudonyms, most notably Ellis Peters) crime novels and historical fiction in her spare time, including a novel based on her World War II experiences in the Women's Royal Naval Service, She Goes to War (1942). She gained a wider audience with a series of 13 contemporary crime novels (1951-78) featuring the Felse family—Police Inspector George Felse, his wife, Bunty, and their son, Dominic. In 1977 Peters published A Morbid Taste for Bones: A Mediaeval Whodunnit, the first of 20 Brother Cadfael novels. (She also wrote a volume of shorter pieces.) Starting with One Corpse Too Many (1979), she concentrated on producing the Brother Cadfael books, several of which were later filmed for television with Derek Jacobi in the title role. A 21st novel remained unfinished at her death. She was also an accomplished translator of Czech-language literature and was the winner of the 1968 Czechoslovak Society for International Relations Gold Medal and Ribbon. She was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1994.

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▪ British author

pseudonym of  Edith Mary Pargeter 

born Sept. 28, 1913, Horsehay, Shropshire, Eng.

died Oct. 14, 1995, Madelay, Shropshire

      English novelist especially noted for two series of mysteries: one featuring medieval monastics in Britain and the other featuring a modern family.

      Peters worked as a pharmacist's assistant during the 1930s and served in the Women's Royal Navy Service from 1940 to 1945. Beginning in the mid-1930s she wrote historical fiction and crime novels, using her own name and several pseudonyms. Though her first crime novel, Murder in the Dispensary, was published in 1938 (under the name Jolyon Carr), for most of the next 20 years she concentrated on other genres. She Goes to War (1942) is based on her experiences in military service. Under her own name she published the mystery Fallen into the Pit (1951), featuring 13-year-old Dominic Felse. In Death and the Joyful Woman (1961), he returns as a 16-year-old whose girlfriend is connected with murder; the novel, like the many Felse family mysteries that followed it, was published under the name Ellis Peters.

      Peters's interest in Shropshire history led her to write the mystery A Morbid Taste for Bones (1977), set in the 12th century. It features the monk and herbalist Brother Cadfael, who before taking his vows had been a lover, sailor, soldier, and fighter in the First Crusade. He returns in One Corpse Too Many (1979), and in the 1980s and '90s Peters published 18 Cadfael novels and one book of stories featuring Cadfael. They include The Virgin in the Ice (1982) and The Heretic's Apprentice (1989). Many of the Cadfael mysteries were adapted for television, featuring Derek Jacobi in the title role. Under her own name Peters wrote crime and historical fiction, including the four-volume Brothers of Gwynedd series (1974–77), and translated more than a dozen volumes of prose and poetry from Czech and Slovak into English. She was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1994.

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