The Atwelle Confession

September 18, 2017
St. Clement’s, a church in the small English town of Atwelle, is the setting for this inventive, centuries-spanning mystery from Gordonson (That Boy from Nazareth). In 2017, Margeaux Wood, an academic fellow at Cambridge University, comes to St. Clement’s, which is undergoing restoration, to do research. She and architect Don Whitby join forces after discovering that some unusual gargoyles within the church may have something to do with a series of murders in the town. Meanwhile, back in 1532, the year Henry VIII began his attack on the Catholic Church, conflicts arise between the local priest and the villagers as St. Clement’s is being built. As in the present, there’s infighting among the powerful, problems with fund-raising, and murder. Gordonson is at his best when depicting the tensions within the past and present communities. Less convincing are the occult doings in 2017, though the suspense raised by the gargoyle carvings and how they might tie into the murders makes the pages fly in the last third of the book. Agent: William Gladstone, Waterside Productions.