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Canon Daniel Clement is Rector of Champton, a small village with its own stately home owned by Bernard de Floures. The most exciting thing to happen in Champton is the argument as to whether the church should install a lavatory or a buttery for the flower arrangers, then Bernard de Floures' alcoholic cousin is found by Daniel, murdered in one of the pews, with a pair of secateurs no less! But no sooner have the press departed to pastures new and the village returned to some sort of normality, than another body is found floating in the lake. As detailed as a lot was, some other aspects could’ve done with more elaboration. Midway through this book Eurovision with Celine Dion was mentioned. It was only then that I recalled a podcast with Richard Coles, where he explained his book was set in the 80’s. This is not mentioned anywhere, neither in the book itself nor the blurb. What’s the point of a historic setting if this isn’t mentioned anywhere? I found Canon Clement to be a bit of a non-entity. He's not quite as mean-spirited and whiny as his fellow fictional rev-sleuth Sidney Chambers, but apart from "fed up with certain members of the family" and "a little creative with parish statistics" he doesn't seem to have much personality. (His mother and brother on the other hand would make an excellent sleuthing team...)
Throw in some tonally-jarring casual mentions of animal death and the 2-star rating is cemented. Whether you're a cat person, a dog person or a rabbit person, you're guaranteed to feel a little twinge of pointless distress at some point along the way. I was really looking forward to reading this book. I like the author, Richard Coles and am always on the look out for a new crime series so this book based around the Rector of a small English village sounded perfect. It was a bit disappointing though.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. So the scene is set for more than one murder in the company of a cast of finely drawn characters, immediately recognisable to anyone familiar with parish life. Coles is a sharp observer of human nature, but his observations are tempered with both humour and compassion, and much of the pleasure in the book lies in the incidental asides: “uncertainty and cluelessness, the hallmarks of authentic Christian discipleship”, or “supper, a light collation, he hoped, after the pound and a half of date and walnut cake he had felt duty-bound to consume”. That points the way to the second volume: threatened pastoral reorganisation has been staved off only temporarily, we sense, and the author hints that it will be resurrected, with murderous consequences. I can hardly wait. But between a family of idle aristocrats, embittered clam frogs and the son of a punk-looking Lord, he has a good range of suspects. First, when exactly was this book set, I'm sure if I could be bothered to piece together the clues I could work it out, late 1980s/early 1990s? 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.
What was with all the pretentious words/phrases? For the first chapter or two I didn't mind. Oh how nice I thought, it's not dumbed down. Then the novelty wore off. As readers we were expected to be familiar with a load of French and Latin phrases and some pretty hard vocab. I didn't understand why; I can't imagine the cast of characters would really have used that language, so maybe it was just the author showing off. Whatever it was, it was quite annoying. There were also a lot of historical and literary references and ecclesiastical terminology.
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Oh dear, obviously I read a completely different book to all the celebrities who have written glowing endorsements of this book. Eventually Daniel rose from his stall, the dogs uncurling from his feet, and walked them down the aisle to where he had discovered Anthony's body. The crime scene had been cleaned by the specialist team; they had done such an excellent job that an ghouls in search of bloodstains would have to use their imagination. 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." I relished looking forward to reading this one; it was everything I hoped – an utter delight from beginning to end!
The Rector of Champton, Canon Daniel Clement is lives with Audrey, his widowed mother and his two dachshunds, Cosmo and Hilda in the Rectory. The big news in the parish is the announcement of a new toilet in the church which seems to cause more rumpus than anyone expected.A cosy crime novel by ex Communards musician Reverend Richard Coles. This was a decent read and a solid start to the Canon Clement series that left me thinking that it has a lot more to offer. We get a good insight into the characters and the novel was well written making it an entertaining read. Ultimately we found out who did it because the rector had an amazing moment of insight during his sermon at the funeral for one of the victims. Riiiiiight. Clever bloke! The policemen were portrayed particularly poorly as people who ambled around chatting and drinking tea and never actually doing any crime solving at all. This book simply didn’t know what it wanted to be; diaries of a reverend, a murder mystery, or a comedic twist on church life. Blending it all together means we’ve got a murder mystery that doesn’t center murders, a comedic plot that never develops, and detailed descriptions of church services which feel too lengthy and out of place.
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