I loved the premise of this book and Rev Richard Coles writes really well when he is describing village life and the church and its place withtin that community. The plot is somewhat flimsy and overly complicated but it is an enjoyable read and I'm loking forward to the characters developing over the series.the

In "Murder Before Evensong" by Richard Coles, Canon Daniel Clement is forced to change from dealing with the usual challenges of a man of the cloth (a role that includes managing divisions caused by proposing a lavatory is installed in the church) to instead becoming a sleuth, investigating the murder of Anthony Bowness, cousin to Bernard de Floures, the patron of Champton. Living in the Rectory alongside his widowed mother Audrey, and his two dachshunds, Cosmo and Hilda, Daniel tries to keep the community together and catch the person who did the dastardly dead with a pair of secateurs.

I had high hopes for this novel. The setting seemed promising and Coles is a clever orator. However, whilst it picked up later on I found his tone far too arch and knowing, and sadly, all too pleased with itself. I have a wide vocabulary, but I found Cole's wish to show off his unnecessary and annoying and it got in the way of being able to enjoy what should have been a cosy murder story. I also wondered if Cole's had made a mistake in following the adage 'write about what you know,' as this seemed to close to home, mired down with detail and written for Cole's edification rather than for the readers.

Wanted to like this more than I did sadly, I found it hard to stick with and did drop it a few times before battling to the end. There’s nothing inherently bad about it, just did grab my attention as much as I’d have liked.

An excellent first outing for Canon Clement and the village of Champton. This book is as much a tale of the residents and rural parish life as a murder mystery. The parish disputes and village gossip are accurately drawn. Richard Coles uses his own knowledge of the Church and passages of prayer are skilfully interwoven in the paragraphs. I loved this book and can’t wait for the next one in the series.

When murder occurs in Canon Clement's parish of Champton, the reverend finds himself assisting with investigations, but will they find the murderer?

Canon Clement is a likeable, realistic character - as are all of those that feature in this well-woven story. The parishioners, and all their foibles, are believable and I found myself interested in life in Champton rather quickly. The prose flows nicely, there are times where it feels a little stilted but it generally portrays the life you'd imagine of a Church of England Rev in an ever-evolving world.
In tone, this book is similar to Richard Osman's 'The Thursday Murder Club' but it is far more plausible and realistic in my opinion - making it that bit more enjoyable. This is a slow paced murder story in the sense that only right at the end is there unbearable tension before the murderer is revealed - and you won't be disappointed!

I was fortunate to be given copy to review via NetGalley.

Murder Before Evensong is Rev Richard Coles’s first foray into writing murder mysteries. I’m a massive fan of Richard Coles and think he’s a tremendous raconteur and was delighted to receive an advance copy of this book.

Canon Daniel Clement is the rector in the picture postcard village Champton St Mary. He shares the rectory with his two dachshunds and his forthright mother, Audrey. As this is the first in a series, time was taken to set up all the core recurring characters. I loved the characters and found some reminiscent to characters who lived in the village I grew up in. That said, as much as I loved the tweeness of Champton St Mary, I did find myself re-checking the book details on Netgalley to check on the genre of the book - I got to chapter 9 and no-one had yet been murdered!

This definitely for fans of cozy murders and Midsommer Murders. I would certainly read the next instalment of the Canon Clement series to see how it unfolds.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers, Orion Publishing Group, , for making this ARC for me to review for a fair and honest review.

I was looking forward to this book but sadly it didn't really work for me. I felt that the book qas too hard to get into, and walked away from it quite a number of times. The characters as well as the plot did not engage me as i had hoped they would. I skipped and skim-read a lot of the books to just get to the end.

The Reverend Richard Coles has many strings to his bow. He had a number one hit single with the Communards; he is an ordained priest; he’s been on Celebrity Masterchef; and he’s an experienced radio presenter. He’s also a published author of non-fiction and Murder Before Evensong is his first novel. Is there anything this man can’t do?!

Canon Daniel Clement is a rector, living in the tiny English village of Champton St Mary. He’s unmarried and shares the rectory with his mother, who may be elderly but is still capable of winning at parish politics. There is a sub-plot concerning Daniel’s desire to install a loo at the back of the church and the Church Flower Guild’s vehement opposition. Another sub-plot concerns Daniel’s younger brother, Theo, a famous actor, who has landed a part as a vicar and wants to shadow Daniel for a few days. The main plot, though, involves murder – and not just one.

Murder Before Evensong belongs to the “cosy mystery” genre. It’s undemanding; has a lot of humour; and has us trying to work out whodunnit. It’s also a very good picture of a parish priest trying his best; despite his very human foibles of exasperation and even anger – and despite parishioners disagreeing with his plans for his church. I was unconvinced by the murderer’s motive and I don’t think anyone could confidently guess their identity from the text alone. There were also a couple of lapses in the plot: the fact that the police have prohibited access to the church is mentioned several times but then it’s casually mentioned that Daniel enters the church because it’s been “restored by the police to his custodianship.” If the lack of access is so important, one would expect to be told of the restoration as it happened, not some time after the event happened off-stage.

Despite my gripes, I enjoyed the book and I’ll definitely look out for the rest of the series, but – based upon this first book in the series - I’m afraid I wouldn’t rush to pay full price upon first release. I’ll wait to find subsequent books in a charity shop at half-price or less. Sorry, Reverend Coles!

#MurderBeforeEvensong #NetGalley

If you’re a fan of Cozy Mystery’s then you’ll enjoy this, it’s a bit more than that, but it’s certainly not a fast paced, twisty thriller.

This is a book to sit down with a cup of tea, in the garden and just enjoy the ride, it’s a nice gentle murder story in a parish - nothing overly heavy - it is what you get on the tin to be honest.

Very enjoyable, I felt fully immersed in the parish, and really liked all the characters. Wonderful!

My thanks to Netgalley and Orion Publishing Group for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review

Absolutely loved the well mannered Danial, his badly mannered mother and the diverse crew of crazy parishioners in this cosy mystery set in the English countryside.
The first in a new series, very grateful for the advance copy - thanks to the publishers and author.
Will post on Amazon after publication.

I thought this was a well written book and enjoyed the minutiae of clerical life, and occasional theology. However, there were so many characters to introduce that the start of the book was really slow and then I found I got the people mixed up and realised I didn't actually care about any of them. As a positive there will presumably be fewer to remember in the sequel.
Thank you to netgalley and orion publishing for an advance copy of this book

Canon Daniel Clement is happily going along in life, his parish of Champton, with it's patron of Lord De Floures (Bernard to his friends).
There are the usual squabbles in the Parish, most recently the opposition to his suggestion of installing a lavatory in the Church - the congregation are getting older and not all of them can make use of the unvisited corner of the Church grounds. He and the parish council are swords drawn with the flower committee who would rather extend their room to accommodate their needs.
This all pales into insignificance when Daniel discovers the body of Anthony, the Church Warden and cousin of Lord De Floures in the Church one evening. No one seems to known why he was killed, but the general feeling is that it's someone local. When another body is discovered a short while later everybody becomes a suspect.
The Police investigation carries on with the backdrop of English Village Life, acutely observed by Daniel's actor brother Theo who is set to play a vicar in his next role and wants to know everything there is no know, but not the boring bits.
I enjoyed this but was a bit overwhelmed at times by the vicar speak for some of the items and I couldn't help but hold Richard Coles in my minds eye as the lead character. Nice story and I look forward to the next book.

Nearly a DNF, the beginning is so slow and a very strange writing style. Far too many characters and no real interest in the victim. Thank you netgalley for the advanced copy

I will equate this to a Marvel origin story. Slow to start because its setting everything up and introducing us to the characters and their back story. On the whole very enjoyable and I liked the links to the church, Latin sayings and the life of a rector. I thought the reasons for the murders slightly strange but wasnt expecting it to be the person it was. A good first novel and will read the second if there is one

I found this quite entertaining ,a bit Father brown like in its background ,but saying that a very enjoyable read .

I love cozy crime, so I picked up Murder Before Evensong. I thought it would make a change from my usual cozy crimes, which it did.

I enjoyed this book, which is set in 1988 (something that is not mentioned in the blurb). The pace is slow and gentle, which made a nice break from my previous book. I enjoyed reading about all the procedures that Daniel carries out in the church, and getting to know the various characters in the village. The solution to the murders was interesting and unexpected (and rather sad).

The only thing I found a little frustrating, was that there were virtually no clues, and I didn’t know the characters well enough, to have a go at solving the mystery myself. I prefer murder mysteries where I feel like I have some idea of who did it (even if I’m wrong!). I feel like the series may improve with later books, as we now know the characters better.

Overall, this was a gentle and interesting read. It made a pleasant interlude.

I was given a free copy of this book, my opinions are my own.

I struggled to get into this book at first not because of the storyline but rather the tone of the words/language which seemed like the author was trying just a bit to hard to get the opening right. However after a while the writing became more confident and I found I really enjoyed the story. I found the interaction between the main characters, especially Canon Clement and his mother so believable especially when Theo, the famous brother turned up. We all have families like that. I did not work out who the murderer was but once the reveal and the reason it did make sense. I really enjoyed the biblical quotes throughout the book and the references to the Bible that related to the situation the main character was finding himself reluctantly in. I thought the author did well to slot them in without it feeling like you were being preached too.
I am looking forward to the next in the series and seeing how the characters evolve in the subsequent books.

This was very nearly a DNF. It was so slow to begin with that I began to wonder why I was bothering to continue.

Although I wouldn't really say that I enjoyed this book, I can't say that I didn't. I just got the impression that the author is too good for what would consider a "cozy" murder mystery.

I was looking forward to reading this book, but was disappointed. There are far too many, thinly described, characters, so it is hard to remember them all. I really didn’t care about the murder victims as I felt I knew nothing about them. This feels like a book about village life, but with a murder or two tagged on. Far too much religion related text too, which slows the narrative. Other than that, I loved the main character, his mother, brother and dogs, relishing the interplay and petty squabbles. Village life revolving around gossiping in the local village rings very true. If this had been heavily edited, it would have read much better as there was no excitement to it.

I love thrillers and this did not meet that requirement. I then hoped that at least it would be a light summer read of village but it failed there as well.
Now I have to start by saying how much I love seeing and hearing the Rev Richard Cols as he is such an impressionable person, however this book did nothing for me. There was a very slow start and it was not always an easy read as there were so many characters in the village that I found it difficult tor relate to any of them as I hoped. Audrey and Theo were easy to follow with the build up and I could relate to them easily.
The murders were almost incidental and formed very little of the story, as the build up was lost on the intense descriptions of all the village characters.