Ann Cleeves's Northumberland-based Inspector Ramsay novels have a distinctive flavour of their own. ... This is a strong, dark crime novel, distinguished by its intelligent, spiky characterisation. These are people whose actions are rooted deeply and plausibly in their own psychology. Cleeves is particularly good at showing the claustrophobia of enclosed lives."

A lesson in Dying" is an early Ann Cleeves mystery, more in keeping with a Golden Age British detective story. It is about a small village where everybody knows everybody's business, but nobody knows the whole truth, and what happens when one resident gets ahold of a little too much information about several other residents. When the time drew near for Israel to die.” When the time draws near for you or I to die. You see, death is the great leveler. Irrespective of how athletic one might have been in one’s youth, or how successful, or otherwise, in the middle years of business; how attractive to other people in terms of the externals of who and what we are; how engaging in conversation; how diffident in company; whatever the characteristics of our life, there is one event which levels us all out immediately and completely. And that one event is here before us. For you see, the great question of life is not, “How do we face life and live in this world?” The real question is the one which is beyond that, in that final exit sign on the motorway of life. The question is: “How will I face death, and where will I live in the next world?” And indeed, no pastor has ever done his job properly, nor prepared his people effectively to live life in all of its fullness, unless he has prepared them to fight that final enemy and to make that final passing journey. And yet, despite that, the preoccupation of so much, so many sermons, has to do with telling people, “Don’t worry about that, let’s concentrate on now. Let us enjoy this, and let us experience that, and let us be concerned about all of these temporal, ephemeral, transient elements of life.” Not that they are irrelevant—they are vitally important—but they are not ultimately the issue, for no one, as we have said with great frequency, knows what it is to live unless they have learned how to die. And Jacob serves as a wonderful illustration of how to die.Ann Cleeves's six murder mysteries featuring Inspector Stephen Ramsay were published in the 1990s, and have become collectors items. Like Ann's Vera Stanhope, Inspector Ramsay is based in Northumberland, and the books show all aspects of that multi-faceted county. There’s something about that here. He is indicating something by his posture. At the same time, you will notice in 48:10, his “eyes were failing because of old age and he could hardly see.” These are little indications of the fact that he was about die. The diminishing of his physical powers. Jacob’s Fading Mental Capacity

And she quotes Job 10:12: “You gave me life and showed … kindness and in your providence watched over my spirit.” And then she concludes in this way: It is strange, yet appropriate, that I am writing this to you on Independence Day, for I am anticipating the day when I will truly be free in the Lord. Please celebrate my homecoming with me. And in seeking to help those who are facing the prospect of death, let us remember that, as we have said before, it is absolutely imperative to balance hope with reality, to encourage each other to prepare for the worst while at the same time praying and trusting for the best. And where this morning death has not reached out to us, it would be good that we heard it rattling its chains to stir us into action and to call us to faith in Jesus. The great question of life is not, “How do we face life and live in this world?” The real question is the one which is beyond that, in that final exit sign on the motorway of life. The question is: “How will I face death, and where will I live in the next world?”.Now it is not an immediately appealing subject, death. It is a very necessary subject, but it remains one of the most removed considerations from late-twentieth-century culture. Indeed, one could argue that we have done our level best over the last fifty years to anesthetize all of us from the actuality of the one event for which we need all to prepare. You can see from the list below that I have read a lot by this author and generally really enjoyed them. I can't believe that I have never come across the Inspector Ramsay series before, but then it pre-dates both the Vera and the Shetland series. Now, if you’ll take your Bible and turn with me again to Genesis 47 and pay particular attention to verse 29 and the opening phrase: “When the time drew near for Israel to die.” It’s a striking phrase, is it not? Anyone who is reading the text carefully will, with any sensitivity, be caused to wonder at such a phrase certainly not simply because it speaks to the history and destiny of this man, Jacob, but because we find ourselves mirrored in such a phrase. Because although we would rather on many, if not most occasions, distance ourselves from this awful truth, the fact is that for each of us there will come a day when it will be apparent that the time has drawn near for us to die. And whether it is happening suddenly, without any sense of premonition or warning, or whether as a result of the onset of a protracted illness, there will be those who whisper behind their hands and walk from our rooms and remark to one another, “Surely, the time has come for him or for her to die.”