Sidney Chambers and the Shadow of Death
The Shadow of Death, despite its ominous title, is first in a series of interconnected, gentle mysteries set in 1953, and featuring the humane self-examination of Sidney Chambers, vicar of Grantchester.
Each Thursday evening, Sidney and his great friend Inspector Keating share a backgammon game and a couple of pints. This connection and a startling number of murders and thefts within Sidney’s circle of friends and parishioners thrust the charming priest into criminal investigations. He has a talent for reading human nature and the inner workings of the heart. Epiphanies of criminal identification come to Sidney at the most unlikely moments—stray pieces of conversation, crossword clues, flickers of recognition between apparent strangers.
Sidney protests—perhaps too often for my taste—that he did not become a priest to get mixed up in solving crimes. He prefers to think the best of men, but tracking down murderers has him focusing on suspicions and evil. An old-fashioned pleasure of a read.
