The Tenor Wore Tapshoes

Independently wealthy Hayden Konig is both the unsalaried police chief of St. Germaine, NC, and the volunteer organist/choir director of St. Barnabas. His jobs collide when a decades-old corpse is discovered inside the church altar in a perfect state of preservation. The historical murder may have present day consequences even though it’s unlikely that the murderer is still living. Hayden is also a would-be hard-boiled mystery author, and he types his manuscripts on a typewriter once owned by Raymond Chandler. Is Hayden’s imagination working overtime, or is the ghost of Raymond Chandler really giving him advice that will help solve this case?

Hayden doesn’t take himself or others too seriously, and he seems to enjoy pushing buttons show more when he interacts with annoying acquaintances. His humor isn’t always politically correct. Church politics is the most appealing part of the series for me since I’ve been involved in church music since my teens. show less

A body is found hidden in the altar at St. Barnabas, various pranks are played for which Hayden Konig is blamed, and a new member of the congregation seems to be trying to edge Hayden out.

A good mystery but not as funny as the earlier two in the series.

A very funny series about an independently wealthy Episcopal church organist who is also the local police chief. He solves murders while writing cheesy crime novels (hilarious excerpts provided) ... and keeping up with the goings on at church, too.

Another wickedly funny novel about Hayden, the local police chief/organist/choir director at St. Barnabas. Another plot within a plot, the interior story (hardly a story really) filled with outrageous similes.

The mystery in this one concerns a man, dead for 70 years who is discovered hidden in the altar but who is perfectly preserved, an “incorruptible” as it were. “"And is there such a thing as a true Incorruptible?" I asked. "It seems like a probable stage for a religious scam. Let's just say that it's 1580 and you're a Bishop of a cathedral that's having some franchise problems. The Protestants are pretty much undefeated going into the series. Your counter-reformation isn't going too well. Then one of your young nuns dies so show more you secretly embalm her, put her in a locked glass case, make up a story about how she's in-corrupt and died in ecstasy during her...” Fortunately, there is a rational explanation (spoiler: thorite)

Some new characters make their appearance: Brother Hog who uses a chicken to find the day’s Biblical reading and encourages “re-virgination”, a disappearing “Immaculate Confection” (a sweet roll with the likeness of the Virgin Mary that was bringing in lots of trade for Pete’s restaurant) and D’Artagnan (make of that what you will,) and Raymond Chandler.

Some quotes: “In the Episcopal church, pledge cards were as rare as hen's teeth—at least before Thanksgiving when the screws were tightened.”

Full disclosure: I was a boy soprano in a large Episcopal Church in New Haven in 6th and 7th grade at Sleeping Giant Junior High School (yes, that was its real name, but not the one in Montana). I’ll never forget that Palm Sunday when we forgot to lay down the palms at the front of the church and then decided we needed to get them up there, so all of a sudden these palms come flying up toward the front from the choir. show less

Well, there is a very old but undecayed corpse found inside St. Barnabas' altar, there is a religious chicken picking scriptures, and an ambitious newcomer to the vestry board. All involve Hayden, who is still on a quest for the perfect story. Raymond Chndler helps out.