A Vicar, Crucified [suggested by Mike Walsh]
Abbot Peter has recently swapped leadership of a remote monastery in the Sinai desert for retirement in the bleak and stormy seaside town of Stormhaven. When the local vicar is discovered crucified naked, in the vestry, the Abbot is invited to act as a Special Investigator.
Discovering a surprising connection along the way, he partners the attractive and ambitious Detective Inspector Tamsin Shah in pursuit of the killer. He believes a mysterious ancient symbol can help them in their quest; she is far from convinced.
With the church invaded by forensics, the community is in shock, adjusting to the frightening knowledge that the murderer is one of them. But who? The curate? The bishop? The treasurer? The youth worker?
As cold waves crash against the winter shoreline, suspicion replaces friendship at St Michaels, where no one is safe and no one trusted. But as the ravenous press descends on the town, and secrets unravel, there will be more victims, and a desperate climax, before the hidden truth becomes clear.
This is the first of the Abbot Peter murder mystery series.
About the Author
Shortlisted for this month
Using our “standard selection method” the person choosing the books brings along a total of three books. This month Mike’s other suggestions were:
A Saintly Killing
It is late July, the run up to St James’s Day. It is also the 1000th anniversary of the church at Little Worthy, and Faith Morgan has planned a whole range of celebratory activities – a music festival; a photographic booklet of recent history; a planting of new trees in the graveyard and vicarage garden; bell ringing; a visit from the bishop. A new painting of the church is commissioned from distinguished local artist Sal Hankley. Sal, who has recently returned from Australia, is not a universally popular choice: outspoken and opinionated, she has made her share of enemies.
Before the painting can be completed, Sal is found dead at her easel on a hillock overlooking the church. Suddenly a very respectable member of the community – a Pcc member, no less – is under suspicion. Faith – trying to hold church and village together – finds herself teamed with former lover Detective Inspector Ben Shorter (who has no more time for art than God).
About the Author
No website or Wikipedia page apparently, but there’s some biographical notes and a bibliography for Martha Ockley at that link
An Unholy Communion
Felicity’s ecstatic enjoyment of her fellow ordinands’ singing in Ascension Morn from the top of Pusey Tower at the College of the Transfiguration is shattered when a black-robed body hurtles over the precipice and rolls to a stop at her feet.
Father Antony recognizes the corpse as Hwyl Pendry, a former student of his, who has been serving as Deliverance Minister in the diocese of St. David’s. The police ignore the strange emblem of a double-headed snake curling across a triangle Hwyl clutched in his hand and label the death a suicide. But Hwyl’s widow is convinced otherwise, and pleads for Felicity and Antony to help her uncover the truth.
Matters grow murkier as Felicity and Antony, leading a youth pilgrimage through rural Wales, encounter the same sinister symbol of a double-headed snake on their travels. Lurking figures follow the group. Then one of the young people is found face-down in a well …
About the Author