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The Grantchester Mysteries
by James Runcie
The loveable full time priest and part time detective Canon Sidney Chambers continues his sleuthing adventures in late 1950's Cambridge. Accompanied by his faithful Labrador Dickens, and working in tandem with the increasingly exasperated Inspector Geordie Keating, Sidney is called on to investigate the unexpected fall of a Cambridge don from the roof of King's College Chapel; a case of arson at a glamor photographer's studio; and the poisoning of Zafar Ali, Grantchester's finest spin bowler, in the middle of a crucial game of cricket.
As he pursues his quietly probing inquiries, Sidney also has to decide on the vexed question of marriage. Can he choose between the rich, glamorous socialite Amanda Kendall and Hildegard Staunton, a beguiling German widow three years his junior? To help him make up his mind Sidney takes a trip abroad, only to find himself trapped in a complex web of international espionage just as the Berlin Wall is going up.
Here are six interlocking adventures that combine mystery with morality, and criminality with charm.
"Starred Review. Runcie's intimate view of post-WWII English society will appeal to admirers of Barbara Pym. His clerical sleuth would be welcome in a novel-length puzzle one day." - Publishers Weekly
"Less engaging than Sidney Chambers and the Shadow of Death (2012), but still a sharp portrait of scholarly rivalries that makes room for a riff on jazz in a Mozart score and a grim reminder of East and West Germany as the wall was going up." - Kirkus
"Runcie's screenwriting background shows in his second series entry (after Sidney Chambers and the Shadow of Death), which reads like a BBC series. While the stretch from 1955 to 1961 makes the final two stories seem tacked on, it successfully captures Cold War sensibilities. This old-fashioned historical moves at a methodical pace, dense with long theological dialogs." - Library Journal
This information about Sidney Chambers and the Perils of the Night was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
James Runcie is an award-winning film-maker, playwright and literary curator. He is the author of twelve novels that have been translated into twelve languages, including the seven books in the Grantchester Mysteries series. He has been Artistic Director of the Bath Literature Festival, Head of Literature and Spoken Word at the Southbank Centre, London, and Commissioning Editor for Arts on BBC Radio 4. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. He lives in Scotland.
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