In these six
interrelated stories Sidney Chambers, now an Archdeacon, and his
friends face new challenges. Sidney and Hildegard, his wife, take a
nostalgic trip to her home in Germany to find that it's no longer the
way she remembered it. Amanda's husband faces problems from his
ex-wife, causing Amanda grief. Leonard, Sidney's former curate, has
choices to make about his identity and life style.
All the stories are
told with a humanity that is reassuring in today's world. Sidney is
an imperfect person. He struggles with his desire to take the
occasional drink even during Lent and has an affinity for the ladies
although he is happily married, but his realization of his own
imperfections makes him a compassionate priest. The other characters
in the stories are well developed giving the problems a realism that
is sometimes missing in Christian fiction.
This is the fifth
book in the Grantchester series, but I found it easy to enjoy the
stories even though I hadn't read the first four books. However, I do
think that familiarity with the earlier books would make some of the
character's problems more immediately understandable.
The stories are much
like the mysteries of Agatha Christie or Dorothy Sayers. There is
little violence. Most of the stories are character driven mysteries
that require Sidney to use his understanding of human nature as well
as external clues to solve the crimes.
I recommend this
book if you enjoy a good mystery with interesting characters and a
minimum of violence.
I received this book
from Net Galley for this review.
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