I heard about this book and thought it sounded very charming, so when I saw it in the airport bookstore, I thought it was the perfect time to strike it off my TBR list.

Murder Before Evensong is a story about life in Champton, with one or two murders thrown in. Canon Daniel is the rector of Champton, where he lives with his elderly mother and two dogs. The first challenge in the book starts on page one, when Daniel uses his sermon to announce his intention to install a lavatory in the Church. This is promptly opposed by the Flower Brigade, who wanted to expand their back area for their own purpose (no loos, just cake and flowers). This might have been the main event around the book is centered, if not the for the fact that Anthony Bowness, the cousin of the local nobility in the village, is murdered at the back of the Church after an Open Day.

To be very honest, even though this is being sold as a cosy mystery, it’s more about life in a small parish in the past (a handphone is considered rare) than it is about the murder. I just finished a Christie novel and it occured to me that there aren’t that many clues for the reader here – there aren’t even many clues for Daniel! Most of the deduction is based on how things fit, and though things are explained in the end, it does feel like more hints could be done.

That said, once I realised it was not really a mystery (and I kind of realised it when the murder only occured in chapter 9), it was easy to sit back and just enjoy life in the village. It’s got a fairly large cast of characters and a lot of infighting, especially between Daniel’s mother and some of the ladies in town. I was quite interested in the controversy over installing toilets in the Church, which is why I felt it was a bit of a pity that that particular storyline ended rather abruptly.

Speaking of the Church, I just wanted to note that the book, while having lots of discussion about theology, is not in any way a Christian book, since it contains nothing of the Gospel message or of the transforming power of Christ, which I think is de rigueur in most modern Christian fiction. I mention this also because it makes the target audience a bit tricky – people with absolutely no idea about the Christian faith might find all the discussions about theology confusing while Christians who wanted to read a Christian mystery might be disappointed. My best guess is that Coles wanted Daniel to function as a kind of Father Brown, where his vocation informed his understanding of human nature and thus help him as a detective, but Father Brown never had to actively pastor a parish in his mysteries and thus avoided this problem. Plus, Chesterton wrote in a different time and his works were already generally infused with his beliefs.

I think that this is a book for a particular type of reader – one who is looking for detailed descriptions of life in a small community, can handle a big cast of characters, is at least somewhat familiar with Christianity, and who doesn’t really need a mystery. I’ll have to admit that I got confused with some of the characters at times, but I generally enjoyed being immersed in Champton life which meant that I didn’t quite mind the mystery took a backseat. So, not quite what I expected, but still an enjoyable book.