Murder at St Saviour’s (A Flora Steele Mystery)
Flora Steele and Jack Carrington are on their way to see the film Giant when they hear a discordant clang from St. Saviour’s bell tower. At the door of the tower, they find a small group of their neighbors from Abbeymead, Sussex, muttering “How could this have happened?” Sprawled on the granite flagstones below a slowing swinging bell rope is the body of Lyle Beaumont, the curate who had been in the village for only a matter of weeks.
Murder at St. Saviour’s is the fifth in the Flora Steele mystery series which began with The Bookshop Murder in 2021. True to the cozy mystery genre, it ticks off the boxes: amateur sleuths (bookshop owner Flora and crime writer Jack), an intimate setting (Abbeymead), and violence that occurs offstage.
The series is set in the mid-1950s with small village accoutrements—bicycling, a musty book shop, a church bell-ringing crew. Characters are likable and exhibit traits of classic sleuths—the calm, careful probing of stalwarts such as Miss Marple and Father Brown. The plot is sufficiently circuitous, exploring the past and present histories of village newcomers and dropping surprises along the way. Just the ticket for relaxing under a light quilt with a steaming cuppa at the ready.
