Sidney Chambers and the Forgiveness of Sins

Starred review from March 30, 2015
Set in the 1960s, British author Runcie’s outstanding fourth collection of clerical mysteries (after 2014’s Sidney Chambers and the Problem of Evil) smoothly mixes clever puzzles with meditations on spiritual issues. The title story presents a truly baffling problem: Josef Madara, the principal violinist in a quartet, comes to Canon Sidney Chambers’s Cambridge church seeking sanctuary; Madara claims that he woke up that morning in his hotel room to find his wife covered in blood. When Sidney’s friend on the force, Geordie Keating, accompanies Sidney to the hotel, the room is empty and spotless. In later entries, Sidney attempts to help a woman escape an abusive husband and to show that a death caused by a falling piano was no accident. Sidney and the entire supporting cast, including a new curate with a fondness for cake, are all vividly portrayed, and comparisons to G.K. Chesterton’s Father Brown books are amply justified. Agent: David Godwin, David Godwin Associates (U.K.).

March 15, 2015
Sidney Chambers is back for a fourth round of crimes to solve when his religious duties allow him time-or is it the other way around? Canon Chambers, the vicar of the church in Grantchester, is curiously ambivalent for a man of faith. He tries to be a conscientious cleric, husband, and father, but in these six loosely connected stories, a good mystery can always send him haring across the countryside, to the exasperation of his wife, Hildegard. In "The Forgiveness of Sins," the principal violinist of a string quartet walks into the church after his wife's death by stabbing and claims sanctuary, an ancient law that no longer applies in 1964. In "Nothing to Worry About," Sidney's concern about an unhappy wife teaches him a painful lesson about the unintended consequences of intervention. Death by falling piano is the subject of "Fugue," and in "A Following," Sidney, newly elevated to Archdeacon of Ely, helps his former flame Amanda Kendall discover who's sending the letters threatening to kill her if she goes ahead with marriage plans. In "Prize Day," Sidney, agreeing to umpire a cricket match at a boys' school, is on hand to witness a deadly explosion, and "Florence" casts him as suspect rather than detective. Throughout his adventures, Sidney is sustained by the help and blunt advice of his friend Inspector Geordie Keating and the love of his much-suffering Hildegard. However far he strays from his avowed intent, he always returns to preach with humility and compassion about what his sideline as a detective has taught him. Runcie (Sidney Chambers and the Problem of Evil, 2014, etc.) gives his genial hero just enough love of a good pint, a pretty woman, and a complex puzzle to save him from blandness or buffoonery in these gently humorous and sometimes-poignant stories.

Starred review from March 1, 2015
Forgivenessof betrayal, deceit, abuse, vengeance, neglectis at the heart of this fourth Grantchester mystery, featuring full-time Anglican priest and part-time detective Sidney Chambers. Starting with a distraught man who seeks sanctuary, believing he's murdered his wife, and ending with an art theft after the disastrous Florence flood of 1966, Chambers is continually called on to solve crimes, in concert with his good friend Inspector Geordie Keating. These include a man killed when a piano falls on his head; threats to Sydney's best friend, Amanda Kendall, as she prepares for her wedding; and the explosion in the science building of a boys' school. Professional and personal responsibilities also impact Chambers, as he is promoted to archdeacon of Ely and his daughter, Anna, grows from an infant to a toddler, making his presence at home with his family more of an issue for his wife, Hildegard, and leading Chambers himself to seek forgiveness. Chambers is a winning protagonist, fervid in his faith yet prone to human frailty, and his exploits provide multiple pleasures for readers of cozies and beyond. The full Grantchester mystery series, projected to include six novels, will have a new entry in each of the next two years, and readers, as well as fans of the PBS show based on this series, should treasure them.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)