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

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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. 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. 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 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.Murder Before Evensong is a gentle and humorous read.
The characters and the setting are all an absolute joy. 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.

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. 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.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.