The Cadfael Collection

Product Description In this unique mystery series based on the bestselling books by Ellis Peters, Sir Derek Jacobi (I, Claudius) stars as Brother Cadfael, a compassionate seeker of truth and justice in chaotic world medieval England. DVD special features include exclusive audio comments by Derek Jacobi, Derek Jacobi essay, Ellis Peters materials, production scrapbooks, cast filmographies, and captions/subtitles for the hearing impaired. Collection Includes One Corpse Too Many The Sanctuary Sparrow The Leper of St. Giles Monk?s Hood The Virgin in the Ice The Devil?s Novice St. Peter?s Fair A Morbid Taste for Bones The Raven in the Foregate The Rose Rent The Pilgrim of Hate The Potter?s Field The Holy Thief Amazon.com Never tell Brother Cadfael, the medieval mystery-solving monk, your theory of how a crime "must" have been committed. "We must always be wary of 'must,'" he states. "Nothing is certain." And so attest these divine mysteries based on the books by Ellis Peters and originally broadcast in the U.S. on the PBS series Mystery! Each of the 13 feature-length episodes in The Cadfael Collection is self-contained but plays against the backdrop of England's civil war between forces loyal to King Stephen and those to Empress Maud. Derek Jacobi (I, Claudius, Gladiator) stars as Cadfael, who at one point is aptly described as "an odd kind of monk." The former "soldier, sailor, sinner, and Crusader" has his faith tested by crimes of royal intrigue and baffling murders that seem to plague the neutral ground of 12th-century Shrewsbury. "The Virgin in the Ice" is a good introduction for Cadfael initiates. This story of "violence and cruelty" involves the near-fatal beating of a young monk, the murder of a nun, and the disappearance of two children. Local undersheriff Hugh Beringar (played over the course of the series by Sean Pertwee, Eoin McCarthy, and Anthony Green) relies on Cadfael when murder subverts his efforts to keep the peace. A tense standoff between these two friends heightens the climax of "St. Peter's Fair." Americans have never seen a sleuth such as Cadfael, a fascinating character who is at once a man of God, of science, and even of action. You'll find few Benedictine monks so skilled at using a quarterstaff. --Donald Liebenson