When Helmut Schauffler is discovered with a cracked skull face down in a pool of water, many Comerford residents believe the deed couldn’t have happened to a better person.

A German displaced person, Schauffler was often in fights but always claimed to be the victim — of misunderstanding or anti-German sentiment.

Police Sergeant George Felse soon discovers that while clues are sparse, there is no lack of suspects.

Farm wife Gerd Hollins is herself a German, but she’s also Jewish and lost her entire family in the Holocaust. Teacher Chad Wedderburn and shepherd Jim Tugg are veterans of World War II. Wedderburn is much decorated but left his military service with a hatred of war. Tugg is outspoken about his resentment of Schauffler’s life in England when so many of Tugg’s war comrades never came home.

Felse observes that Schauffler’s murder had “by whatever agency . . . (created) a crack in the known world, (that) was growing, was letting in the slow, patient, feeling fingers of chaos.” Neighbors are looking sideways at neighbors and wondering.  The peace and trust of the community have been damaged.

Felse also faces another problem: his 14-year-old son Dominic discovered the body and has an intense interest in the progress of the investigation. So much so, that he and his friend, tomboy Pussy Hart, are running their own investigation. Felse fears that Dom’s involvement is psychologically unhealthy and potentially dangerous.

Set in 1952, this book and its sequels are far from 12th century Cadfael Chronicles that Peters is best known for. But just as Brother Cadfael, the Benedictine monk who investigates the crimes of his times, must rely on observation and reasoning rather than technology to solve his mysteries, so must George and Dominic Felse in their investigations into Schauffler’s death.

Where most mysteries focus on the puzzle of “who dunnit,” Peters does a wonderful job of examining the effect of a murder on a community. She sensitively describes the relationship between George Felse, his wife Binty and Dom, who is on the cusp of adulthood, whether his protective parents are ready for it or not. The many characters in this book are skillfully drawn and wonderfully appealing.

This book is followed by these, which also feature George Felse:

• DEATH AND THE JOYFUL WOMAN (Book 2); winner of a 1963 Edgar Award
• FLIGHT OF A WITCH (Book 3)
• A NICE DERANGEMENT OF EPITAPHS (Book 4)
• THE PIPER ON THE MOUNTAIN (Book 5)
• BLACK IS THE COLOUR OF MY TRUE LOVE’S HEART (Book 6)
• THE GRASS WIDOW’S TALE (Book 7)
• THE HOUSE OF GREEN TURF (Book 8)
• MOURNING RAGA (Book 9)
• THE KNOCKER ON DEATH’S DOOR (Book 10)
• DEATH TO THE LANDLORDS (Book 11)
• CITY OF GOLD AND SHADOWS (Book 12)
• RAINBOW’S END (Book 13)

Ellis Peters is the pseudonym of Edith Mary Pargeter, OBE, BEM. While she is noted for medieval detective series, The Cadfael Chronicles, she also wrote modern mysteries such as the Felse Investigations series.

During World War II, she worked in an administrative role in the Women’s Royal Naval Service (the “Wrens”). By Jan. 1, 1944, she had reached the rank of petty officer and was awarded the British Empire Medal (BEM) in the New Year Honours. She visited Czechoslovakia in 1947 and became fascinated by the language and culture. She published award-winning translations of Czech poetry and prose into English. While in Czechoslovakia, she fell in love with a Czech man. He married another woman and they remained friends. She never married.

Although she never attended university, she became a self-taught scholar in areas that interested her. Her series are known for their well-researched foundations. She wrote under several pseudonyms, including John Redfern, Jolyon Carr and Peter Benedict. The name of Ellis Peters was borrowed from her brother Ellis and a variation of the name of the daughter of friends, Petra.

Her work won numerous awards including ones from the Mystery Writers of America and the British Crime Writers Association. In the 1994 New Year Honours, she was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for her contributions to literature. In 1999, the Crime Writers Association established the Ellis Peters Historical Award for best historical crime novel of the year.