Monk's Hood

Adapted for television by Russell Lewis from the novel by Ellis Peters, "Monk's Hood" was the fourth in a series of 90-minute Cadfael mysteries. In 12th century Shrewsbury, a young man is murdered, apparently so that the killer can get his or her hands on the victim's inheritance. Investigating the case, warrior-turned-monk Brother Cadfael (Derek Jacobi) is enmeshed in the bureaucracy of conflicting Welsh and Norman Laws. Complicating matters is the fact that the dead man was killed by one of Cadfael's own poisonous concoctions -- and, even more intriguing, the victim's widow Aldith (Sophie Lawrence) was Cadfael's childhood sweetheart. First broadcast in England on June 19, 1994, "Monk's Hood" appeared in America a few months later as part of the PBS anthology Mystery.