Mystery Book of the Month – March 2023

The Reverend (and ex-Communard) gives us a serpent in England’s pastoral Eden…  It is the mid 1980’s, and Daniel Clement, the Rector of Champton, lives alongside his widowed mother – opinionated, fearless, ever-so-slightly annoying Audrey – and his two dachshunds, Cosmo and Hilda. When Daniel announces a plan to install a lavatory in the church, the parish is suddenly (and unexpectedly) divided: as lines are drawn, long-buried secrets come dangerously close to destroying the apparent calm of the village. And then Anthony Bowness – cousin to Bernard de Floures, patron of Champton – is found dead at the back of the church.