Wednesday 26th August 2026, 20:01
I should be writing up my account of this morning's exertions on my naughty blog. But first I want to make a note or two about Richard Coles' Murder at the Monastery which I have just finished while listening to an hour of Thomas Tallis.
The book is one of a series following Daniel Clement, crime solving rector. I've read two other books in the series and was considering not bothering with the rest (I don't know how many there are) because they seemed a little formulaic and just not quite my thing. But this one puts the Miss Marple stuff into the background and concentrates on Daniel's unexpected, unrequited, and unreturned love for his friend police sergeant Neil Vanloo and the crisis that the realization of its one sided-ness causes.
Al the blurbs on the cover of the book concentrate entirely on what seems to me the least important feature of the story: the crime and its solution. Much more interesting is the disaster that overtakes Daniel Clement as he realizes that his feelings for his friend are not reciprocated and prompt him to return to the monastery that he left more than a quarter of a century earlier. The descriptions of Anglican monastic life are fascinating and integral to the story.
Perhaps the other books are necessary to establish the foundations and so on. I wonder if Richard Coles planned the series or just one book at a time.
The book ends, as it started (though the first was offstage), with a kiss; perhaps there is a further crisis caused by a return of love to come. I think I should re-read the other books.
This crime solving cleric is definitely not Father Brown.
Radio 4 listeners might be familiar with the Reverend Richard Coles as the host of Saturday Live.
