The book started well and the initial murder was sufficiently well carried out to spark my interest but then the book really sagged. The story wasn’t bad but there was just so much detail that the plot became bogged down. The story was set in the late eighties and this was primarily established by many updates about what Daniel and his mother were watching on TV. There was just too much incidental information that did nothing to give us extra information about the characters or the plot. This first in a new series is a charming, warm and witty tale of secrets and murder set among the parishioners of a quaint English village. The No.1 Sunday Times bestselling crime novel, perfect for fans of Richard Osman’s The Thursday Murder Club series.

When Daniel announces a plan to install a lavatory in church, the parish is suddenly (and unexpectedly) divided: as lines are drawn, long-buried secrets come dangerously close to destroying the apparent calm of the village. 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.

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Reverend Richard Coles on loving and losing his partner David: ‘The world was shattered and I was blown up’ 29 March, 2021 I feel fairly confident that I will as the characters grow on me the novels will continue to improve. Formed in 1985, The Communards had their annus mirabilis a year later when Don’t Leave Me This Way, thumping cover of a soul classic, became the biggest-selling single of the year in the UK (at a time when singles really mattered). It is a funny thing. Somewhere in those years someone decided that the standard format for synthpop was a duo comprising a charismatic singer and an apparently introverted boffin on keyboards. Think Soft Cell, Pet Shop Boys, Erasure, Yazoo, Eurythmics, Blancmange.

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. Oh dear, obviously I read a completely different book to all the celebrities who have written glowing endorsements of this book. 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. 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. 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.English villages are notorious havens for murderers – think of all the untimely deaths to have taken place across the county of Midsomer or in Agatha Raisin’s new home of Carsely in the Cotswolds. Now, with a nod to its most famous predecessor, Miss Marple’s home of St Mary Mead, the quintessentially English village of Champton joins the fray. “Two murders… in as many weeks. That must surely be way above the odds for an English country village, even St Mary Mead. What on earth is going on?” says the daughter of one of the victims. 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. 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. A deviation from his previous bestselling non-fiction titles, Murder Before Evensong is the first novel in The Reverend Richard Coles’ Canon Clement Mystery series. 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.

The provision of such a convenience might seem like a sensible plan – particularly given those caught short while visiting the church have historically been known to relieve themselves against one of the more secluded outside walls – but it divides the parish like nothing else. The staunchest supporters of the anti-lavatory campaign are the dedicated members of the flower committee, while those in favour of the new facilities include Lord Bernard de Floures and others from the ‘Big House’. I relished looking forward to reading this one; it was everything I hoped – an utter delight from beginning to end! A dispute over installing a toilet at the church where the main people campaigning against were middle aged / elderly women? Too ridiculous for words.As the series sleuth, Daniel is very clearly the main character in Murder Before Evensong, which translates into him also being the most well-developed character, even if he does start out as something of an everyman. He has a patient, warm-hearted but slightly resigned perspective on his parish and plenty of timely and acute observations to offer. He really comes into his own as an amateur detective following the second murder, which suggests that he’ll be a stronger character from the outset in future books. Daniel’s interactions with his mother Audrey, brother Theo and various elderly parishioners (who do occasionally blur into one) also add a lot of humour to the story. 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’s a really interesting point. You’re right,” Coles says. “I think there is something about the boffin and the street urchin that works rather well. Perhaps we like contrast. Perhaps pop music enjoys the energy that that gives.” 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’ 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. One of the most disagreeable habits that Christianity has is of adding public dimensions to your private life,” he says. “So, it was necessary to find some way of describing it. But reality was, of course, not entirely consistent with that. I can say that now because I’ve retired. But we had a relationship — sometimes it was one thing, and sometimes it was another thing. We worked out a way of doing it.” No, I deeply resented it at the time,” he says with impressive frankness. “I was consumed with envy. That was inadmissible at the time. You had to pretend you didn’t mind, but you did mind. Also, if you stand next to someone who’s prodigiously talented they get a lot of light and air. And if you’re in the business of light and air yourself, you can feel that your diet is a little thin. Not that that was Jimmy’s intention.”Murder Before Evensong is a light-hearted and engaging cosy mystery populated by a cast of bygone English eccentrics who find themselves entangled in a perplexing puzzle that can only be solved by the most tenacious of amateur sleuths. 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.