Book Review 58
Murder At The Monastery
by The Reverend Richard Coles
Canon Daniel Clement has suffered a secret humiliation and to recover takes respite at the monastery where he was a novice. But the monastery doesn't allow the break he needs, for tensions are building there too. There is a death at the monastery, and Daniel thinks it might be murder.
Meanwhile back at Champton, Daniel is the subject of village gossip, his mother Audrey is up to something again, there's trouble at the dress shop, trouble up at the big house, and the puppies are running riot.
As dark secrets unfold, can Daniel solve the mystery at the monastery without the help of Detective Sergeant Neil Vanloo?
A note to caffyolay. You might not want to read the penultimate paragraph of this review, as given you have read the other books it might well give the ending away.
This is the third Canon Clement book; a book I was really looking forward to reading, given how much I had enjoyed the previous two ( Murder Before Evensong and A Death In The Parish). I was also looking forward to it, ironically enough because of its setting. I do like a good 'closed room/community' crime novel and have enjoyed several set in similar places; I was expecting to love, or at least really like, the book. Sadly, it fell way, way, way short of my expectations; it is the worse book I have read this year.
If I had to give a title to my review it would be: Where was the editor? Why did he or she permit this book to be published? At least as a novel. Had it been a novella it could have been a good book. Because in terms of it being (meant to be being) a murder mystery, it wasn't. It was an Ecclesiastical, self-indulgent wiffle-waffle, with a lead character who behaved in a way that was impossible for me to believe a man would behave, especially given it was set in the 1980s; it would be hard to believe it today, but in the 1980s? No; I couldn't believe it at all.
Given Richard Coles is a Churchman and his 'detective' is a Churchman I expect his books to have some ecclesiastical content. I expect it in the same way as I expect an armature detective who loves cats to have cats in the book, or someone who acts to have some references to plays or films, etc. etc. But I do not expect it to dominate the book. I expect it to be as it was in his previous two books. I found myself scan reading the vast proportion of the book, skipping over most of the ecclesiastical detailed to the nth degree stuff. I can honestly say, I didn't miss anything that was pertinent to the actual murder. In fact there was very little actual murder solving, another thing that is rather vital in a murder mystery book.
The book also skipped back and forth between the monastery and Daniel's home village where his mother and her dogs are staying at the manor house, because of the fire at the Rectory at the end of Death In The Parish. Again, almost all of the scenes back in Champton, were unnecessary and didn't add anything to the book. The few bits that were pertinent, could have been condensed into a very short chapter - if that.
Whilst Coles remains a good writer in terms of words on the page, this book just didn't work. The was little, if any, of the gentle humour from previous books; the new characters never came across as real and the established characters were flat, compared with the previous two books. Coles has written several non-fiction books, a couple dealing with the death of his male partner, but also a couple about his life in the pop world before he moved into the religious world and a couple that are more religious based, but I believe are fairly light with an element of humour. He is a skilled writer - I still cannot conceive as to why he wrote this book in the way he wrote it.
I actually truly believe, that someone could read the first two and the last two chapters and the chapter where the murdered chap was found and not miss anything of great importance - hence my comment that it would have made a good novella. That is a very sad thing to say.
At the end of my review of A Death In The Parish, I made a comment about being surprised by the ending. I also said I wasn't sure the ending resolved things and that it would be interesting to see what happened if there was (as at that point we didn't know if there would be) a third book. Without giving too much away I can only say I was surprised by how unsurprised I was by the ending of this book.
Coles has written a Christmas novella, which I bought (on special offer) before I had read this book (also, thankfully, bought on special offer). At the moment I'm not certain I shall read it. That said, I probably will, or at least I'll start it - but not straight away. I am certain, at least at the moment, that if there is a fourth book, I shall not be buying it. I really am very disappointed by this book.