Reviews
This and one other novel by Ellis Peters were tied for No. 42 in the 1990 list of The Top 100 Crime Novels of All Time by the Crime Writers Association. (The other novel is The Leper of Saint Giles.) In the UK this was published as Hatchard's Crime Companion, edited by Susan Moody.[16][17] This novel is also on the top 100 list compiled in 1995 by the Mystery Writers of America.[18]
Kirkus Reviews was only moderately impressed with the story saying Brother C. traps and dispatches the loony killer (disposing of the body with great wit), matches the daughter up with the right swain, and encourages a restless monk to drop out and enjoy the flesh. Considering the materials, this polished Ellis Peters pleasantry could have been much duller, cuter, and talkier than it is.[19]
The Wall Street Journal named it one of their "Five Best Historical Mystery Novels" in 2010.[20]