Edith Pargeter

Edith Mary Pargeter (28 September 1913 – 14 October 1995), also known by her pen name Ellis Peters, was an English author of works in many categories, especially history and historical fiction, and was also honoured for her translations of Czech classics. She is probably best known for her murder mysteries, both historical and modern, and especially for her medieval detective series The Cadfael Chronicles.

Personal life Pargeter was born in the village of Horsehay (Shropshire, England), daughter of Edmund Valentine Pargeter (known as Ted) and his wife Edith nee Hordley. Her father was a clerk at the local Horsehay Company ironworks. She later moved with her parents to Dawley where she was educated at Dawley Church of England School and the old Coalbrookdale High School for Girls. She had Welsh ancestry, and many of her short stories and books (both fiction and non-fiction) are set in Wales and its borderlands, or have Welsh protagonists.

After leaving school she worked as a temporary labour exchange clerk, then as an assistant at a chemist's shop in Dawley, during which time her first novel, Hortensius, Friend of Nero, was published in 1936. She became fluent in Czech and published award-winning translations of Czech poetry and prose into English. She was pleased that she could support herself with her writing from the time after the Second World War until her death.

Her Cadfael novels show great appreciation for the ideals of medieval Catholic Christianity, but also a recognition of its weaknesses, such as quarrels over the finer points of theology (The Heretic's Apprentice), and the desire of the church to own more and more land and wealth (Monk's Hood, Saint Peter's Fair, The Rose Rent).

Later life In 1992 her mobility began to decline after a fall during a service being televised for Songs of Praise at Shrewsbury Abbey. She had a further fall in 1994 at home that led to the amputation of a leg at Princess Royal Hospital, Telford. To commemorate Pargeter's life and work, in 1999 the CWA established their Ellis Peters Historical Dagger award (later called the Ellis Peters Historical Award) for the best historical crime novel of the year.

Pargeter's Cadfael Chronicles are often credited for popularizing what would later become known as the historical mystery.

Adaptations

Her novella The Assize of the Dying was adapted as the 1958 film The Spaniard's Curse. Directed by Ralph Kemplen, it starred Tony Wright, Lee Patterson, Michael Hordern, Susan Beaumont and Henry Oscar.

Death and the Joyful Woman was adapted for The Alfred Hitchcock Hour in 1963. Directed by John Brahm, it starred Gilbert Roland, Laraine Day and Don Galloway.

Death and the Joyful Woman was again adapted, this time for Czech television, as Smrt a blazená paní (Death and the Blessed Lady), directed by Pavel Háša.

Thirteen of her Cadfael novels were adapted for television as Cadfael between 1994 and 1998. Episodes were adapted by Russell Lewis, and starred Derek Jacobi, Julian Firth. Michael Culver and Terence Hardiman.