Sidney Chambers and the Dangers of Temptation

April 18, 2016
Runcie continues to deepen his characterization of Sidney Chambers in the six short stories set in the 1960s and 1970s that comprise the engrossing fifth volume of the Grantchester Mysteries (after 2015’s Sidney Chambers and the Forgiveness of Sin). The rounded depiction is most in evidence in the title story, as the clergyman, now elevated to the position of Archdeacon of Ely, is asked by a woman he finds disturbingly attractive to help get her teenage son away from a commune, a request that becomes much more delicate when a murder occurs. Runcie is also adept at crafting mysteries without a corpse, as in the theft of a valuable necklace that coincides with a cattle stampede. In one lapse into Jessica Fletcher syndrome, Sidney’s visit to Germany, his wife’s homeland, lands him in the midst of a homicide investigation. The series’ strength lies less in the author’s devising and resolving baffling whodunits than in his portrayal of his all-too-human lead. Agent: David Godwin, David Godwin Associates (U.K.).

May 1, 2016

Runcie's latest story collection is the fifth in his clerical series (Sidney Chambers and the Forgiveness of Sins) that forms the basis of the popular PBS program Grantchester. In the title story, our Anglican vicar falls under the influence of an attractive divorcee Barbara Wilkinson, who needs Sidney's help in getting her son out of a cult run by awareness guru Fraser Pascoe. Pascoe turns up dead with no lack of suspects. "Grantchester Meadows" is the setting where unruly Cambridge students set off a stampede by normally placid cows during May Week and an heirloom necklace goes missing in the melee. "Love and Duty" places Sidney at a Pink Floyd concert at Royal Albert Hall with friend Amanda, who reveals her affair with Leonard Finch, Sidney's curate. Sidney then connects this information to an arson case. Chambers tends his flock and his jazz collection, all while coaxing clues from individuals under questioning. VERDICT Runcie's gently paced stories, now set in the nostalgic 1960s, will appeal to cozy fans who want less blood and more village shenanigans.--Donna Bettencourt, Mesa Cty. P.L., Grand Junction, CO

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2016
As Archdeacon Sidney Chambers' former housekeeper, Sylvia Maguire, tells him, You never stay out of trouble for long. Here, in the fifth entry in this series, some of the troubles on view beset persons closest to Chambers: his dear friend Amanda faces a marital crisis; his former curate becomes a victim of bribery; his wife Hildegarde's childhood friend dies in a presumed accident on a family visit to Hildegarde's hometown in East Germany; Mrs. Maguire's husband returns to her after decades. As usual, Chambers confronts the miscreants and usually elicits confessions, from thieves to arsonists to murderers, the most violent of whom beheads his victim. Setting these adventures in the late 1960s to 1970, Runcie grounds the stories with actual eventsthe first moon landing, a Pink Floyd concert in Londonand adds an international/political note with the chapter in East Germany. As for the temptations of the title, they revolve around the two verities of money and love, the latter of which also is the focus of Chambers' Easter sermon at the book's close. Fans of the books and the British-made PBS program the series has spawned won't want to miss this one.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)