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

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The murder itself was an event so long coming that in the meantime I began to come up with alternative titles for the book. He co-presents Saturday Live on BBC Radio 4 and appears, from time to time, on QI, Have I Got News For You, and Would I Lie To You? I didn't like that the historic period it was written about was entirely unclear (only identified as 1988 more than halfway into the book when Daniel's mother watches Celine Dion win Eurovision in the TV), felt this was a missed opportunity for nostalgia and context.

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. Sadly I have to put this one as a DNF, I so wanted to like this book as I am a big fan of cozy murder mystery books in little villages but after 100 pages it just wasn't the one for me. 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. Murder takes yonks to actually take place, there is zero characterisation, and it just felt like a slog to finish, honestly.When Daniel announces he will be installing a lavatory at the back of his church, there is uproar among the congregation, who are unaccustomed to change.

Oh dear, obviously I read a completely different book to all the celebrities who have written glowing endorsements of this book. There was a lot of ecclesiastical language, as might be expected, but which would have benefited from a glossary and I gave up looking up the numerous Latin phrases. This is set within living memory of the Second World War, (from television shows mentioned, I put it at the early Eighties, but I may be wrong,) and the village housed many of the Free French, who have left their mark behind. Parish life simply continued after the first murder; Daniel went in depth about his walks with the dogs and continued to meet more people.

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. It could be anyone from this cast of indistinguishable characters, or no one, because there doesn’t seem to be any discernible motive. 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? Second, this was like some nineteenth century novel that you got forced to read at school, billed as a funny detective story. Canon Daniel Clement must solve mysteries temporal and theological while surviving his parishioners tender ministries.