The plot was good but the ending was rather disappointing and rushed, giving little time or food for thought to enable the reader to speculate on the identity of the murderer. Entering his church before Evensong one evening, with his two sausage dogs, Hilda and Cosmo, Daniel is horrified to discover the body of the churchwarden and family archivist, Anthony de Floures.

Murder Before Evensong has all the elements that make up a classic detective story: a pitch-perfect setting, a genuine puzzle, a gruesome murder (or more) and engaging characters. This is largely due to me not being a native English speaker, or me not being familiar with Latin phrases, but the way the sentences were structured definitely didn’t help either. His likable protagonist Canon Daniel Clement's struggle to get parishioners to accept the installation of a new church toilet is every bit as gripping as his investigation of the inevitable series of mystifying murders. Daniel is told to be uneasy about the situation, but this isn’t shown in this story, his character doesn’t change. Hard-core cosy fans may enjoy it if they can get through the infodumping at the beginning, but I struggled to care about what was happening.A disclaimer at the start with something along the lines of ‘words that were prevalent at the time’ would have been a good way to do this, because there are a range of slurs used through, including g***y, that really doesn’t feel necessary.

I still found most characters very bland, their pasts barely reflected who they were in the present. There’s plenty of expert advice online for a budding author wanting to know how to get published in crime fiction, such as, “be clear about the time period, and don’t overwhelm your readers with too many characters in the early chapters. We get a good insight into the characters and the novel was well written making it an entertaining read. Initially I re-read these sections, but as I started to realise there wasn’t much important information to be found I started skimming over them instead.I didn't find it humerous (as is usually the case with cosy crime), there was little mystery and investigation, it was slow and bogged down in ecclesiastical language and process and ultimately I struggled to care about the characters. Canon Daniel Clement is Rector of Champton, a small village with its own stately home owned by Bernard de Floures. Canon Daniel Clement must solve mysteries temporal and theological while surviving his parishioners tender ministries. And the style suits the content perfectly: wonderfully feline when it comes to jokes, but moving easily to unselfconscious wisdom when required.