The Devil’s Novice by Ellis Peters
The Abbey of Shrewsbury has welcomed a new novice, but while Meriot is everything the Benedictine brothers can wish for by day, calm, obedient, and ardent in his piety; by night he is someone, or something, else entirely. By night Meriot’s sleep is haunted by nightmares of frightening intensity. Nightmares that Brother Cadfael, the abbey herbalist, believe point to a mind and soul haunted by dark deeds of a more earthly nature than a supernatural one.
When the body of a young priest connected with Meriot’s past is found in the woods near Shrewsbury it is up to Brother Cadfael to determine what secrets are being concealed by the young man the other brothers call “The Devil’s Novice”.