Murder Before Evensong: The instant no. 1 Sunday Times bestseller (Canon Clement Mystery)

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The time period of the tale is never directly revealed but I’d guess late ‘80s or early ‘90s based on clues peppered throughout (am I the only person who didn’t know Celine Dion won Eurovision in 1988. There were perhaps too many characters introduced initially but I suppose it was important to set the scene and introduce us to Daniel Clement (I can’t see him as anyone else but the author), his parish and work. It could be anyone from this cast of indistinguishable characters, or no one, because there doesn’t seem to be any discernible motive. They would, of course, and the murders would enter local folklore, generate tales of dogs refusing to go into church, or birds no longer singing in the trees around the bath house. 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.

But the cast is overblown and not terribly distinct en masse, and includes a bunch of people who play no part in the story at all (why did we need the brother? Je suis fan de toutes les séries cozy et j'en ai lu des centaines de livres en anglais sur ce thème.

beyond the fascinating story with its rich characters, the real discovery here is the sniffing out of the author's formidable talent for writing about English life with English humour. The story was set in the late eighties and this was primarily established by many updates about what Daniel and his mother were watching on TV. The Reverend Richard Coles gives us a serpent in England's pastoral Eden - and whodunit fans can give praise and rejoice. A dispute over installing a toilet at the church where the main people campaigning against were middle aged / elderly women?

Coles' rendering of his fictional church, St Mary's, in the village of Champton, twinkles with quirky detail and sharp humour. At the 100 page mark we did finally get a murder, which is way too late for a book with ‘murder’ in the title. Overall, a pretty good debut and, if this is the start of a series, I would happily read more of Canon Daniel Clement’s crime-solving adventures in future books.From that moment of hope that this would be a book filled with humorous interactions the story line went downhill. 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. Expected an amusing tale of murder and intrigue against a backdrop of interesting characters a la Thursday Murder Club (also by a "celebrity" author). 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 .