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Death at the Deanery - sudden and unnatural death. Someone should have seen it coming. For even before Stuart Latimer arrives as the new Dean of Malbury, shock waves are reverberating through the tightly-knit and insular Cathedral Close, with sweeping changes afoot. And the reality is even worse than the expectation. The Dean's naked ambition and ruthless behaviour alienate everyone in the Chapter: the gentle John Kingsley, vague Rupert Greenwood, pompous Philip Thetford and, especially, the show more strongly traditionalist Arthur Brydges-ffrench. Financial jiggery-pokery, clandestine meetings, malicious gossip, and several people who witness more than they ought to, make for a potent mix. But who could foresee that the mistrust within the Cathedral Close would spill over into violence and death? Canon Kingsley's daughter Lucy draws in her lover David Middleton-Brown, against his better judgement, and together they probe the surprising secrets of a self-contained world where nothing is as it seems show lessTags
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The new Dean of Malbury Cathedral makes himself very obnoxious in his attempts to modernise the way the cathedral is run. When the Subdean dies from poisoning at the Deanery everybody is very willing to believe the Dean murdered him but when David is asked to represent the Dean he feels the Dean is innoccent. But in that case who did murder the Subdean and why?
Kate Charles excels herself here with a portrait of a thoroughly nasty but very believable individual.
Kate Charles excels herself here with a portrait of a thoroughly nasty but very believable individual.
This is the third in this Book of Palms series by Kate Charles. The story is about an ancient cathedral that has been appointed a new Dean. This new man is like other deans, a political appointment. The man is has very few good qualities and the worst of these is that he has no people skills and worse he had no Christian charity in his makeup.
Dean Latimer cares for no one except himself although he does follow his wife's instructions to the T. There is certainly no separation of Church and state and this makes for an interesting mystery because while one would have expected the Dean to be killed, what actually happens is that he is charged with murder.
The problem with the story is that 3/4 of the book sets the stage and the murder takes show more place very late in the plot.A unique feature that is discussed is the fact that men enter the church for political and ambitious advancement rather than because they have a calling. show less
Dean Latimer cares for no one except himself although he does follow his wife's instructions to the T. There is certainly no separation of Church and state and this makes for an interesting mystery because while one would have expected the Dean to be killed, what actually happens is that he is charged with murder.
The problem with the story is that 3/4 of the book sets the stage and the murder takes show more place very late in the plot.A unique feature that is discussed is the fact that men enter the church for political and ambitious advancement rather than because they have a calling. show less
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Author Information
18+ Works 1,035 Members
Series
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- Appointed to Die
- Original publication date
- 1993
- People/Characters
- David Middleton-Brown; Lucy Kingsley; Stuart Latimer
- Important places
- Malbury Cathedral, England, UK (fictional)
Classifications
Statistics
- Members
- 107
- Popularity
- 301,594
- Reviews
- 2
- Rating
- (3.58)
- Languages
- English, German
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 10
- ASINs
- 3
