Thank you so much to the publisher, the author, and netgalley for sending me an e-ARC to read. I gave this book three stars.

I enjoyed reading this novel from Richard Coles.

It was easy to identify with church politics and how slowly things can move in order to introduce change.

Well written and easy to read. I recommend this book.

I read a lot of crime novels. I rarely choose a 'Cozy', and usually avoid titles (in any genre) written by anyone already a 'celebrity', but the blurb sold it to me, and I am extremely glad I read it.
Champton is the sort of English village found in countless novels from the Golden Age of Crime Writing. The story is set in 1988 and I love all the evocative period touches.
The characters are all just that little bit odd or eccentric, just like you find in small village communities even today, and some make perfect red herrings.
I loved the light coating of theology and the gentle tongue-in-cheek humour which was just as enjoyable as trying to unravel the plot.

Unfortunately this was far too wordy, descriptive and lacking in substance to really grip me as a murder mystery. The plot seems to take a sideline in favour of describing the village scenery and church - which is OK in small doses to set the scene, but not so much that it takes over the story. The characters are also very underdeveloped, particularly our vicar and this is a shame because there's a lot of potential and some moments of really nice writing, that are all just overshadowed by the lack of plot.

There's glimmers of good here, but unfortunately I think it could have done with some hard editing to streamline the wordy descriptions and develop the characters.

This is a cosy crime mystery. There are a lot of characters but they are well developed. There was humour throughout. I didn’t guess any of the twists. I enjoyed it

Charming and something of a balm to sink into, in a world that demands constant action and attention.

A great little mystery, but more than anything a funny, enjoyable and engaging universe to be within. I'm definitely going to read the future books.

Unfortunately I was disappointed with this book. I initially started it, but then stopped and didn’t pick it up for a week or so, then I tried again and persevered. It has been a hard slog to be honest, slow paced, lots of Church/Christian references that I didn’t really understand so it made the story disjointed. Because of the slow pace I was not gripped and forced myself to be interested in the characters and story and made myself continue when actually I wanted to put the book down and read something different.
It was a bit confusing in places where the flow of conversation got a bit muddled. All the characters got quite confusing and there is not really any sense of detective work at all!
There were one or two places where I felt it may have been getting somewhere and it flowed slightly better for a page or two and for that reason I have rated it 2 stars as I’m feeling generous, but I wouldn’t recommend this book and I won’t be buying anymore by this author.

Delightful, light hearted, well written and fun. I really enjoyed this book. Characters were fun and storyline was good.
Highly recommend

My initial interest in this book was sparked by my enjoyment at seeing the Rev on various television shows. His sense of humour and manner towards life appeals to me so I couldn't wait to see how this translated into his writing.

I'm a big fan of cosy mysteries, and this one was as enjoyable as any that I have read. Set in what I believe to be the 80's (based on the cultural references made in the book) and in a typical English village, the scene was set for murder, mystery, and humour.

Loved the way the story was written and can't wait to explore where these characters go in future novels.

Gentle but really enjoyable mystery. I hope the characters will appear again in more books in future.

I really thought I was going to enjoy this as I loved hearing Richard Coles on Saturday Live, but I found myself falling short.

The storyline is based in a rural village and the parish church, it seriously could be anywhere in rural England, and it´s vicar, Daniel.

I´m sure other people will really enjoy this book and any future novels by Richard, but it just wasn´t my cup of tea.


My thanks to NetGalley and Orion Publishing Group for giving me the opportunity to read an advanced copy in return for an honest review.

An enjoyable cosy crime.

Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher for allowing me to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

Ahhh, I was so disappointed in this book! I really expected to love it. I really enjoy cosy crime and I loved the first few chapters so I fully expected to really enjoy this book. Unfortunately it just fell really short for me and it felt quite flat.

It was quite slow going and I felt like I was really struggling whenever I picked it up as not a lot was happening to keep my interest. It does take some time before there is an actual murder so I perservered.

For any confusion, the book is set in 1988 (I mention this as it isn't actually mentioned in the book but after a few comments about Eurovision/a young Celine Dion/Arsenal v Luton) I worked out the year!

I'm hoping this is just a blip as I would like to see how the second book turns out.

Fans of Agatha Christie and Father Brown will love this exciting new cosy mystery series! I so loved getting to know the parishioners of Champton! Thank you for the ARC!

I don’t often read cosy crime, not because I don’t like it but when you have a TBR pile as big as mine they often get overlooked. I have had Murder by Evensong on my list for quite some time and decided it was about time it was put to the top of the pile to give me a change of pace.
Canon Daniel Clement is Rector of Champton and usually he doesn’t have to worry about more than the usual church related things. The book opens with the community divided over the installation of toilets of all things and some of the parishioners are up in arms over the fact that pews would have to be removed to accommodate this in fact one parishioner schemes quite well in the hope to prevent this happening. When the body of Anthony Bowness is found in the church Daniel feels that he has to try to uncover what happened to assist the police investigation.
So, I am going to start by saying after reading the start of the book I was convinced I knew who was behind the murder and why but as I read more I soon realised that my assumptions were a little too convenient especially when a second body was found. With secrets being revealed the number of suspects like the number of bodies began to increase and it was interesting working out what actually happened.
Daniel Clement for me was definitely the kind of character I expected a man of the church to be and at times I think he went for the quiet life with both his family and his parishioners as much as possible and trust me once you see what his mother could be like I can understand why and some of the other characters would also be a test of both patience and faith.
As a cosy crime novel this is a slow burner as it is quite a while before the murder actually takes place. Richard Coles takes this time to establish characters and setting so that you can easily picture Champton and the roles that everyone plays in its day-to-day existence. You can see that he has really pulled on his own experiences to ensure that Daniel is believable, and I am quite sure that some of the other characters would be based on people he had come across during his time in the church. Daniels two dachshunds added some of the lighter moments in the book and I kinda fell in love with them.
As this is the first book in the series it will be interesting to see how the characters develop and what else Canon Daniel Clement will get involved in next and if Champton ends up the next Midsummer where it may not pay to move to.

I wanted to love this but I just didn't. I kept putting it down and had no urge to read on. There were just too many cliches, the characters seemed one-dimensional. Halfway through and sadly I gave up on it.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC.

A lovely cosy Murder mystery from Richard Coles, I have no doubt that this title is going to do well and it will fill a winter evening that’s for sure

This was probably the most generic cozy mystery I have read in a long time. It read pretty well and was quick and easy to get through but the premise and the reveal is something I have seen a million times before. If you want that maybe as a comfort read then it should be fine but I was hoping for something a little more. The reveal is something that I have read and watched multiple times and the characters I didn't really form a connection to. This was quite a disappointment for me but I can see the merit of this book as well hence the 3 stars. However, I don't think I'll be reading the next instalment.

A impressive debut novel from the Rev Richard Coles.
Charming & well written, the scene is set very well with a good range of characters.
The story is interesting as slowly the plot unravels. A great cosy crime mystery.
My thanks go to the author, publisher and Netgalley for providing this arc in return for a honest review.

I'm a huge fan of Rev. Richard Coles so was really keen to read his debut novel. I did enjoy this one but found it harder to get in to than I was expecting. I did enjoy meeting all the characters though and feel like this novel is a great set up for future books in the series. I'm keen to read more from him in the future!