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

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I also could’ve done with some explanation on specific church terms. I’m interested in Protestantism and Catholicism, but didn’t have much knowledge on the Anglican Church. A lot of the terms used I was therefore unfamiliar with. On top of that a lot of vocabulary used I didn’t quite get the hang of either. This is largely due to me not being a native English speaker, or me not being familiar with Latin phrases, but the way the sentences were structured definitely didn’t help either. A lot of (to me seemingly) posh words were bundled up in huge sentences. Initially I re-read these sections, but as I started to realise there wasn’t much important information to be found I started skimming over them instead. It therefore wasn’t as accessible as other cozy crime novels would be. 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. I was hoping (given The Reverend Richard Coles' past life and amusing anecdotes) for something like Richard Osman's Thursday Murder Club books, but featuring a rector, alas it was not to be. I kept reading right to the end but the style didn't change. I don't think I will be requesting the next book. It sounds bad, but the pandemic has been quite good for us,” agrees Phoebe Morgan, editorial director of HarperCollins. “Particularly in the commercial area of the market. Obviously there have been times where things have been difficult – and especially for the authors. But it has also shown that there’s a bigger appetite for reading than ever.”

Second, this was like some nineteenth century novel that you got forced to read at school, billed as a funny detective story. There was an interminable amount of detail about the life of a rector, the prayers, the ceremonies, and a lot in Latin which meant nothing to me. In addition, frankly there are absolutely no clues whatsoever to help the reader guess the murderer and the identification of the murderer comes out of left-field. Half of Daniel's (and his mother's) thoughts went straight over my head, too obtuse and loaded with religious terminology. Canon Daniel Clement is Rector of Champton. He has been there for eight years, living at the Rectory alongside his widowed mother – opinionated, fearless, ever-so-slightly annoying Audrey – and his two dachshunds, Cosmo and Hilda. The series is centred around the character of Daniel Clement, Rector of Champton and starts in 1988. The blurb reads: “Canon Daniel Clement is Rector of Champton. He has been there for eight years, living at the Rectory alongside his widowed mother – opinionated, fearless, ever-so-slightly annoying Audrey – and his two dachshunds, Cosmo and Hilda.

I relished looking forward to reading this one; it was everything I hoped – an utter delight from beginning to end! But despite all this, I enjoyed the book quite a bit. It is well-written and smart with a touch of humour. Overall, a pretty good debut and, if this is the start of a series, I would happily read more of Canon Daniel Clement’s crime-solving adventures in future books. I’m pretty sure I read most of this book without actually reading it, because I couldn’t bother. Most of the story is about the daily occurrences of the parish and there is no crime investigation. Sure, murders do happen, but, contrary to what I thought, this is not a story where the vicar, rectory, or whatever, investigates them. He just stays there, doing what he normally does, until the last chapters of the book, where he has a certain, I don’t know, realisation?, and he knows exactly who the murderer is. And I can assure you it is nearly impossible to guess in this instance. It could be anyone from this cast of indistinguishable characters, or no one, because there doesn’t seem to be any discernible motive. Champton joins St Mary Mead and Midsomer in the great atlas of fictional English villages where the crimes are as dastardly as the residents delightful. Canon Daniel Clement must solve mysteries temporal and theological while surviving his parishioners tender ministries. Delightful! And only Richard Coles could pull this off so joyfully and with such style. Biscuit-thieving Cosmo, too, will soon have his own fan club. * Damian Barr * This is very much a cosy mystery, with the central character, Canon Daniel Clement, Rector of Champton St Mary, with echoes of St Mary Mead, and a cast of characters which includes the Big House and Lord de Floures, as well as Daniel’s widowed mother and his actor brother. 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.

So much was over-explained, like the past of characters or the surroundings of an area. This really didn’t add anything to the narrative whatsoever. I still found most characters very bland, their pasts barely reflected who they were in the present. The church events or religious pondering felt particularly unnecessary to the plot. In the early stages of this book the biblical references served to link those stories to the world of Champton. I really liked that approach. Gradually the book resorted to simply telling us all about specific church services. Funerals were written about in a detailed way, complete with Bible quotes, and prayers were written out fully. I get why this is important to Coles, or to Daniel, but it didn’t serve the plot in any way. 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? However, the runaway hit was The Thursday Murder Club, an Agatha Christie-esque murder mystery set in a retirement complex, published in September 2020. It has now sold well over 1 million copies, spawned a sequel (The Man Who Died Twice), and had its movie rights snapped up by Steven Spielberg. Osman is a well-known TV personality and Viking won the rights to the novel after a 14-way auction in 2019, so its success wasn’t totally out of the blue. Still, Bourton feels in retrospect it was perfectly placed to capitalise on the pandemic.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. Canon Daniel Clement is Rector of Champton, where he lives alongside his widowed mother – opinionated, fearless, ever-so-slightly annoying Audrey – and his two dachshunds, Cosmo and Hilda. Reverend Richard Coles has written a series of crime novels for Weidenfeld & Nicolson, launching with Murder Before Evensong, a "twisty whodunnit" about a murder in a church.

If you like your murder mystery to contain any degree of sleuthing, you may be bemused. Events seem to unfold around Canon Clement without him taking even a cursory interest. Author Richard Coles is well known in the UK for being a previous member of The Communards and also for appearing on many television shows as a witty and companionable guest, so I was keen to read his first mystery and I was delighted that I found it a really enjoyable read.It’s set in 1988, when our traditional institutions were responding to a changing world in interesting ways — and when the disruptions and damage of the Second World War were still shaping the lives of its survivors. I loved writing it. I hope you enjoy reading it. NB No parishioners were harmed in the writing of this novel.” I’ve been waiting for a novel with vicars, rude old ladies, murder and sausage dogs… et voila!’ Dawn French