Description
By (author) Coles, Richard
Short /annotation:
AN INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES NO. 1 BESTSELLER
The first novel in the Reverend Richard Coles” Canon Clement Mystery series.
:
THE INSTANTLY ICONIC NO. 1 BESTSELLER
”Devotees of Midsomer Murders and AgathaChristie”s Miss Marple stories will feel most at home here”
Guardian
”I”ve been waiting for a novel with vicars, rude old ladies, murder and sausage dogs… et voila!”
Dawn French
”Cosy crime with a cutting edge”
Telegraph
”Whodunnit fans can give praise and rejoice”
Ian Rankin
”Charming and funny”
Observer
Even better than I knew it would be”
India Knight
”Quintessentially English”
Sunday Express
”An absolute joy”
Adam Kay
””Wry,tongue-in cheek and whimsical”
Daily Mail
”Glorious”
Robert Webb
”Beautifully written, charming, funny, intelligent and mordant too”
Sunday Times
”Pitch perfect”
Philip Pullman
”A cunning whodunnit”
Daily Express
Canon
Daniel Clement is Rector of Champton, where he lives alongside hiswidowed mother – opinionated, fearless, ever-so-slightly annoying
Audrey- and his two dachshunds,
Cosmo and Hilda.
When Daniel announcesa plan to install a lavatory in the church, the parish is suddenly (andunexpectedly) divided: as lines are drawn, long-buried secrets comedangerously close to destroying the apparent calm of the village.
Andthen Anthony Bowness – cousin to
Bernard de Floures, patron of Champton- is found dead at the back of the church. As the police moves in andthe bodies start piling up, Daniel is the only one who can try and keephis community together… and catch akiller.
Review quote:
I”ve been waiting for a novel with vicars, rude old ladies, murder and sausage dogs … et voila!
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The Reverend Richard Coles gives us a serpent in England”s pastoral Eden – and whodunit fans can give praise and rejoice.
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Cosy and charming, Murder Before Evensong isless about the shock and gore of murder than its ripple effect on asmall, close-knit community. Devotees of Midsomer Murders and AgathaChristie”s Miss Marple stories will feel most at home here.
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Britain”s favourite vicar might be hanging up the dog collar, but in Murder Before Evensong he proves to be the unlikely heir to Barbara Pym…
Coles is free here to unleash a splendidly caustic wit on those parishioners who deserve it… as Daniel locks horns with his flock over the matter of whether the vintage pews in St Mary”s can be moved to make way for a new lavatory, Coles rivals Barbara Pym in his ability to make supremely low-stake conflict gripping… Like all the best cosy mysteries, this is comforting but not anodyne. And the style suits the content perfectly: wonderfully feline when it comes to jokes, but moving easily to unselfconscious wisdom when required. Auden would have admired this novel for meeting his requirements for the classical detective story: but he might also have recognised Coles as being, at his best, a fellow artist with words.
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Even better than I knew it would be. Really well plotted… beautifully written, charming without being twee, funny, intelligent and mordant too. It”s cosy, yes, but waaay better than “cosy crime” suggests.
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Murder Before Evensong is like a walk in the country on a warm summer”s evening… one during which your fellow ramblers can be murdered horribly at any moment. Canon Daniel Clement is an inscrutable and erudite detective, while four-legged sidekicks Hilda a
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