Appointed to Die

by Kate Charles

Overview

Death at the Deanery - sudden and unnatural death. Someone should have seen it coming.

For even before Stuart Latimer arrives as the new Dean of Malbury, shock waves are reverberating through the tightly-knit and insular Cathedral Close, with sweeping changes afoot. And the reality is even worse than the expectation. The Dean’s naked ambition and ruthless behaviour alienate everyone in the Chapter: the gentle John Kingsley, vague Rupert Greenwood, pompous Philip Thetford and, especially, the strongly traditionalist Arthur Brydges-ffrench.

Financial jiggery-pokery, clandestine meetings, malicious gossip, and several people who witness more than they ought to, make for a potent mix. But who could foresee that the mistrust within the Cathedral Close would spill over into violence and death? Canon Kingsley’s daughter Lucy draws in her lover David Middleton-Brown, against his better judgement, and together they probe the surprising secrets of a self-contained world where nothing is as it seems.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781910674123
Publisher:	Marylebone House
Publication date:	07/16/2015
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	288
File size:	876 KB
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Kate Charles, who was described by the Oxford Times as ‘a most English writer’, is in fact an expatriate American, though an unashamedly Anglophilic one. She has a special interest and expertise in clerical mysteries, and lectures frequently on crime novels with church backgrounds. Kate lives in Bedford with her husband and their dog, and is a former Chairman of the Crime Writers’ Association and the Barbara Pym Society.

Editorial Reviews

Charles offers workmanlike writing, a unique plot premise, and an intimate glimpse into the inner workings of the Anglican Church in her latest Book of Psalms mystery. The staff of Malbury Cathedral has established a tightly knit, closed community where everyone knows everyone else's business and it's difficult to keep secrets. Petty jealousies, petty politics, and petty triumphs are grist for the gossip mill within the cathedral close, so when the community learns that their own canon, Arthur Brydges-ffrench, the obvious candidate to become the new dean of the cathedral, has been passed over in favor of Stuart Latimer, an "outsider" from London, the gossips have a field day. To their horror, the cathedral staff learns that the new dean plans to oust many loyal old-timers, destroy the historic cathedral green, and turn the church grounds into a huge office complex. But when Canon Brydges-ffrench turns up dead after a meeting with Latimer, the staff begins to wonder how far the new dean will go in pursuit of his vision. A nicely written, entertaining British novel in the tradition of Charles' compatriot Barbara Pym.

Emily Melton

A disarming comedy of clerical manners . . . What you'd expect if Trollope decided that what the Barsetshire novels needed to juice them up was a tincture of illicit (albeit well-bred) passion and homicide.

From the Publisher

Fascinating behind the scenes cathedral politics

Margaret Daniels