Sidney Chambers and the Persistence of Love

LoveReading Says

Charming, atmospheric, and compellingly crafted, The Grantchester Mysteries are the very epitome of cosy crime, with a quintessential English detective for a hero. No wonder, then, that this is the sleuthing Archdeacon’s sixth literary outing, and that the TV adaptation is such an enormous hit. It’s 1971 and Sidney Chambers is enjoying a walk in a chocolate-box beautiful bluebell wood when he and his young daughter happen upon the body of Lenny Goddard, a local “folk-singer and a bit of hippy”, and a basket of poisonous wild flowers. While Lenny’s widow explains that they used such plants as recreational stimulants, the post-mortem reveals that he was killed by a strong dose of a neurotoxin found in monkshood. So, was it an accidental overdose, suicide, or murder? But this isn’t the only mystery that needs solving in Sidney’s apparently idyllic diocese. There’s also the matter of an invaluable text going missing from a Cambridge college, the disappearance of his nephew, and much more besides.

As always, this is highly readable stuff and makes an entertaining accompaniment to an afternoon in the garden. Alongside the finely plotted drama and sense of social change, the descriptions of landscape are a joy to read, as are Sidney’s musings. ~ Joanne Owen

Joanne Owen

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