One of my favourite reviews described my book as āa bloodstained version of the world of Barbara Pym.ā Perfect! I write crime novels set in the Church of England. I also read mysteries with churchy connectionsālots of them. My shelves hold hundreds, featuring clerical sleuths (and even a few clerical murderers), books set in churches, cathedrals, and monasteries (past and present). I love to explore the questions I am so often asked when talking about the books I love: why is there such a plethora of them, and why does the Church, which represents āgoodness,ā appear so often in novels which feature unspeakable crimes?
From the very beginning of her writing career, Iāve loved the novels of P.D. James. Her clear-eyed understanding of the human condition, and the precision of her writing, have always set her a bit apart from other writers in the genre, but this novel blew me away. As she explores the death of two men in the crypt of a London churchāone a prominent member of Parliament, the other a homeless vagrantāshe transcends genre altogether and creates a work of such depth and complexity that it resonates with me still, many years later. She wrote some fine books both before and after, but this will always be for me the high water mark of one of my all-time favourite writersāand role models.
Two men lie in a welter of blood in the vestry of St Matthew's Church, Paddington, thier throats brutally slashed. One is Sir Paul Berowne, a baronet and recently-resigned Minister of the Crown, the other an alcoholic vagrant. Dalgliesh and his team, set up to investigate crimes of particular sensitivity, are faced with a case of extraordinary complexity as they discover the Berowne family's veneer of prosperous gentility conceals ugly and dangerous secrets.
'Compulsive . . . heart-pounding suspense.' Sunday Times
From a generation of writers before P.D. James, Dorothy L. Sayersā book represents the best of the āGolden Age of Crime Fictionā. It is hugely atmospheric, both of its time and its location. As the flood waters rise and threaten a remote Fenland village, the residents flock to the village church for refuge from the deluge. But there is a mysterious death; fortunately for the rector, Lord Peter Wimsey just happens to be on hand to get to the bottom of it before the dramatic conclusion. Sayers grew up as a vicarās daughter in the Fens, and she employs her knowledge of bell-ringing and other arcane church matters to great effect. This is one for regular re-reading!
When his sexton finds a corpse in the wrong grave, the rector of Fenchurch St Paul asks Lord Peter Wimsey to find out who the dead man was and how he came to be there.
The lore of bell-ringing and a brilliantly-evoked village in the remote fens of East Anglia are the unforgettable background to a story of an old unsolved crime and its violent unravelling twenty years later.
'I admire her novels ... she has great fertility of invention, ingenuity and a wonderful eye for detail' Ruth Rendell
Deputy Jenna Hart has only been working in her sleepy hometown of Pearl Springs for seven months when city officials begin to be targeted by a killer. Twenty years ago, the construction of a dam caused people to lose their land to eminent domain. That wound has not healed withā¦
This trilogy of novels is altogether darker than Sayers, as Andrew Taylor tackles nothing less ambitious than āthe making of a murderer,ā as well as the history of the Church of England in the twentieth century. If the latter sounds dull, itās not! Figuratively looking through the wrong end of a telescope, he peels away the layers of the story as he goes backward in time in the cathedral city of Rosington, from the wrenching kidnapping of the daughter of a woman priest, to the events in the far past which culminated in tragedy. Like Dorothy Sayers, though, Andrew Taylor grew up as the child of an Anglican clergyman, so there is real authenticity here, as well as fine writing and a gift for creating suspense.
Like an archaeological dig, The Roth Trilogy strips away the past to reveal the menace lurking in the present: `Taylor has established a sound reputation for writing tense, clammy novels that perceptively penetrate the human psyche' - Marcel Berlins, The Times
The shadow of past evil hangs over the present in Andrew Taylor's Roth Trilogy as he skilfully traces the influences that have come to shape the mind of a psychopath.
Beginning, in The Four Last Things, with the abduction of little Lucy Appleyard and a grisly discovery in a London graveyard, the layers of the past are gradually peeledā¦
Set in the evocative, spooky borderlands known as the Marches, between England and Wales, this is part of a series by Phil Rickman. Through the novels we follow the trials and tribulations of Merrily Watkins, a parish priest and the official exorcist for the Hereford diocese of the Church of Englandāthus introducing a strong element of the supernatural. Merrily is a believable and sympathetic protagonist, with her share of human weaknesses, and sheās surrounded by a rich, unforgettable cast of ongoing supporting characters: daughter Jane, musician Lol, and the wonderful Gomer Parry. It was difficult to choose one book from this fine series, but I settled on this one because it features one of my own favourite churchesāKilpeck, in the wilds of Herefordshire.
When Aidan Lloyd's bleak funeral is followed by a nocturnal ritual in the fog, it becomes all too clear that Aidan, son of a wealthy farmer, will not be resting in peace.
Aidan's hidden history has reignited an old feud, and a rural tradition begins to display its sinister side.
It's already a fraught time for Merrily Watkins, her future threatened by a bishop committed to restricting her role as diocesan exorcist for Hereford. Suddenly there are events she can't talk about as she and her daughter Jane find themselves potentially on the wrong side of the law.
Imogeneās client has a special request. The only hitch is, the client is dead. Itās an ordinary day at Harryās Hair Stop until Imogene hears her favorite clientās dying wish. Two days later, she finds herself in the embalming room at Greener Pastures Mortuary, bottle of hair dye and scissorsā¦
Flavia de Luce is surely one of the most originalāand the most delightfulādetective characters ever written. The precocious eleven-year-old lives in a crumbling manor house in the English countryside, with her vague father, beastly older sisters, and faithful retainer Dogger. Her interest in chemistryāand deathātend her get her into trouble on a regular basis. In this book, Flavia is on the scene when the body of the church organist turns up in the medieval tomb of St Tancred, the parish churchās patron saint. Predictably, she sets out to solve the murder, tearing about the village on her faithful bicycle Gladys. Alan Bradley evokes a worldārural England in the 1950sāthat many of us would love to return to (in spite of the murders!) and has created an unforgettable heroine. If you enjoy mysteries that make you smile, rather than creep you out, then Flavia is the girl for you. Haroo!
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY NPR ā¢ NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
From award-winning author Alan Bradley comes the next cozy British mystery starring intrepid young sleuth Flavia de Luce, hailed by USA Today as āone of the most remarkable creations in recent literature.ā
Eleven-year-old amateur detective and ardent chemist Flavia de Luce is used to digging up clues, whether theyāre found among the potions in her laboratory or between the pages of her insufferable sistersā diaries. What she is not accustomed to is digging up bodies. Upon the five-hundredth anniversary of St. Tancredās death, theā¦
The fifth of the Callie Anson novels, and set firmly in the 21st century, Desolate Places concludes the series and ties up many loose ends from previous books.
Rusty Allen is an Iraqi War veteran with PTSD. He moves to his grandfather's cabin in the mountains to find some peace and go back to wilderness training.
He gets wrapped up in a kidnapping first, as a suspect and then as a guide. He tolerates the sheriff's deputy withā¦
After a traumatic event, Jack Douglas hikes across America. In North Dakota, he finds work on an oil rig until a violent turn of events forces him to seek seclusion in the Alaskan wilderness where he's stalked by the mythical Amaroq wolf.