This is is book one of the Canon Clement mystery series. It’s set in 1988, in the fictious village of Champton, which is in many ways a fairly typical English village. Canon Daniel Clement is the rector of the parish. He is a kindly, thoughtful man in his forties, he loves books and music and he’s not very worldly, but he understands people and he’s very perceptive.
The book begins with a church service at the end of which Daniel announces a plan to install a lavatory in the church. This leads to a divide in the parish and all manner of politics follow, with each faction trying to get their way. It’s church and village politics of the sort that everyone’s used to, until one of the villagers is murdered.
Everyone in the village is shaken and Daniel Clement finds himself in the middle of events as the person that many in the parish are turning to, for comfort and counsel. The police are investigating, asking questions, and inevitably, things long buried start coming to the surface.
Another murder follows, as these things usually do, and Daniel finds himself working with Detective Sergent Neil Vanloo to try to find the person responsible before they kill again.
This is a well-crafted, well-written mystery. The book starts slow, as the author takes his time to set the scene and introduce the characters. I found it a bit difficult to get into, but I stayed with the book and I’m so glad I did. Once you get into the story, the characters are the setting are the best things about it. This is an excellent read.
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There are five books in this series so far, and I ‘ve read and enjoyed all of them.
between the pages 