The Abbot's Agreement by Mel Starr

April 14, 2021

The Abbot's Agreement by Mel Starr

Surgeon and bailiff Hugh de Singleton is en route to Oxford to purchase a Bible when he finds the body of a young Benedictine monk. The novice master at the nearby abbey confirms that the body is one of their novices. Plague has been in the area recently but the boy did not die from the Black Death: he was murdered, stabbed in the back. The ailing abbot strikes a bargain with Hugh: if he will take on the task of finding the murderer, the monks in the abbey scriptorium will make a Bible for him.

But this is more than a murder for money or revenge. As Hugh investigates the boy's background and the other monks, a more serious conspiracy surfaces, one that will affect the abbey's very existence. Hugh soon begins to wonder if the promised reward of a costly Bible is worth the danger.

The seventh outing for Hugh de Singleton is an interesting mystery and will keep you guessing. But the series' real beauty is the historical context and the picture of daily life in the Middle Ages. At one point, Hugh speaks with the dying abbot about the afterlife and forgiveness, topics that we take for granted but that were considered heretical at the time. As one monk tells Hugh, if there is no purgatory, then no one would pay the monks to pray for the souls of their beloved dead, and the abbey's revenue stream would dry up. Highly recommended for readers of historical mysteries.

Stained glass window depicting Benedictine monks in the scriptorium