Joined in 2023 
82 
63 About this deal
Murder Before Evensong has all the elements that make up a classic detective story: a pitch-perfect setting, a genuine puzzle, a gruesome murder (or more) and engaging characters. The first in the Canon Clement series is a truly entertaining read and will leave you yearning for more!
I am sure much of it will be based on his own experiences and certainly Daniel Clement’s personality is very reminiscent of Richard Coles’ own. As the police moves in and the bodies start piling up, Daniel is the only one who can try and keep his fractured community together… and catch a killer. Sure, murders do happen, but, contrary to what I thought, this is not a story where the vicar, rectory, or whatever, investigates them. When Daniel announces a plan to install a lavatory in church, the parish is suddenly (and unexpectedly) divided: as lines are drawn, long-buried secrets come dangerously close to destroying the apparent calm of the village.
the plotting is woefully underdone (it's the kind of murder where anyone could have done it so you have to pick by motive), the murderer unconvincing, and the motive even less so.
While he sometimes struggles to bring variety to his characters’ voices, his gentle reading nonetheless conveys the rhythms of life in this picture-postcard village, and the contemplative existence of its rector. For those of us who enjoy listening to and watching Richard Coles (now ex Rev), it’s not a surprise to read such an intelligently written, warm and funny book.Richard Coles was born in Northampton, England and educated at the independent Wellingborough School (where he was a choirboy)and at the South Warwickshire College of Further Education, Department of Drama and the Liberal Arts.
Murder Before Evensong was written by the Reverend Richard Coles and it is a slow burner of a cozy mystery. I have read a lot of mystery,romance diction recently by current American authors but they don't shine in the way that this does -- they are OK but only 3. The local dissent allows Coles to introduce the characters and then a murder occurs, which Daniel becoming involved in the investigation. If Weidenfield and Nicolson want a successful series, they’d better get a grip, otherwise, they’ll leave themselves open to the charge that the obvious answer to the budding author’s question of how to get published in crime fiction, is “First become a celebrity. To me, the murder plot felt subdued and unimportant in comparison to other happenings in Daniel Clement's story.There is a motive, however, and, when I thought my eyes couldn’t roll anymore, after the reverend’s sudden realisation of who the murderer is, they still rolled some more as I read about the motive for the murders. Canon Daniel Clement is Rector of Champton, where he lives alongside his widowed mother – opinionated, fearless, ever-so-slightly annoying Audrey – and his two dachshunds, Cosmo and Hilda. Murder Before Evensong, the first book in the Canon Clement Mystery series, was an instant number 1 Sunday Times bestseller. Richard is Patron of Greatwell Homes, a Housing Association providing social and affordable housing in east Northants, and is Chancellor of the University of Northampton. The third book in Gaiman’s trilogy once again takes listeners into the nocturnal kingdom of the Dreaming, where the otherworldly characters are voiced by James McAvoy, David Harewood, Regé-Jean Page, Kat Dennings and more.
Murder Before Evensong has all the elements that make up a classic detective story: a pitch-perfect setting, a genuine puzzle, a gruesome murder (or more) and engaging characters. normally that's great at the start so you get a feel of the place and people but not when it's 80 pages of it. Oh dear, obviously I read a completely different book to all the celebrities who have written glowing endorsements of this book. He has been there for eight years, living at the Rectory alongside his widowed mother - opinionated, fearless, ever-so-slightly annoying Audrey - and his two dachshunds, Cosmo and Hilda . When Daniel announces a plan to install a lavatory in the church, the parish is suddenly (and unexpectedly) divided: as lines are drawn, long-buried secrets come dangerously close to destroying the apparent calm of the village.
Two thirds of the way through, his mother comments on how good at detecting he is when, to my mind, he hasn’t done any. I was hoping (given The Reverend Richard Coles' past life and amusing anecdotes) for something like Richard Osman's Thursday Murder Club books, but featuring a rector, alas it was not to be. As always in this type of novel, there were a host of other characters from the nearby Lord of the Manor to the women who run the flower arranging. There is no indication (that I can see) as to when it is set, which is hugely discombobulating to the reader who imagines it must be present day. In January 2011 The Reverend Richard Coles was appointed as the parish priest of St Mary the Virgin, Finedon in the Diocese of Peterborough.
Great Deal 
New Comment