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Loading... Sidney Chambers and The Shadow of Death: Grantchester Mysteries: Grantchester Mysteries 1 (original 2012; edition 2014)by James Runcie (Author)
Work InformationSidney Chambers and the Shadow of Death by James Runcie (2012)
   No current Talk conversations about this book. I'm not quite sure why this one took me so long to get through, since the material was somewhat familiar. This is a rare case in which I've seen the filmed version of the story before reading the book, and indeed I hadn't even heard of the book until I watched the show. I enjoy the show, so I thought if pick up the book. Sidney Chambers is a bit of a hapless, accidental detective whose first calling is to the priesthood. His investigations are all coloured by his faith and his role as a clergyman. His two fast friends are a local police detective and a friend of his sister's, with whom he shared a mutual attraction and equally mutual understanding that they are destined never to be together. In the show she ends up married, and I'm curious whether she will be so in the books also. She does find herself mixed up in Sidney's investigations from time to time, at least once with very disturbing consequences. But generally these short mysteries are pretty light fare, quickly resolved and not very nasty in nature. I'm sure I'll pick up the next volume eventually. (  ) karenchase | Jun 14, 2023 |  After watching Grantchester I was interested in the original stories the show was based on. Listening I has assumed that they were old. They are very low key, very little blood or violence. The style is similar to other mysteries written in the 40's or 50's I'm familiar with. But they aren't old, written in the 2000's. It's great to find something written so well that it stands on it's own, not relying on violence, sex, profanity, or fast paced action. ( )1  juliais_bookluvr | Mar 9, 2023 | I would be lying if I said that I enjoyed this book more than I enjoyed watching the first season of Grantchester. Don't take me wrong, I enjoyed this book and its six short stories (some better than the others), but still, I liked the TV-show better. Why? Hmmm let's see Sidney Chambers, Vicar played by James Norton. He looks like a young Robert Redford. He is a great character and I like him in the book, but I truly enjoyed watching him on the telly... Then we have Inspector Geordie Keating played by Robson Green. I loved him since I first saw him on Wire in the Blood. Geordie Keating is a real plus in the book, a police inspector and a vicar that works together...brilliant! So read the book if you like cozy British mystery books, but watch the show if you want to be dazed by the hotness of these two men...and great stories of course! (  )1 MaraBlaise | Jul 23, 2022 | Really 6 short stories rather than 1 novel. I really enjoyed the first 5 but could have done without the 6th. ( ) skayw | Mar 20, 2022 | Interesting premise, the priest is a detective. The writer ventures into cultural aspect of the 1950s in addition to some thoughts on literature and morality. No deep theology here but a rather gentle narration of the thoughts of a man of the church. The book is a series of short cases, with some more interesting than others. ( ) moukayedr | Sep 5, 2021 |
 ... is a collection of stories set in a quaint English village during the 1950s and featuring a young Anglican vicar who finds spiritual inspiration in criminal investigation. Taken individually, each of these clerical whodunits poses a clever puzzle for armchair detectives. Viewed as a collective study of British life as it was lived when Elizabeth II first ascended the throne, these stories present a consistently charming and occasionally cutting commentary on “a postwar landscape full of industry, promise and concrete.” Belongs to SeriesIs contained in
Fiction.
Literature.
Mystery.
Historical Fiction.
HTML:The first of the Grantchester Mysteries, and inspiration for the PBS/Masterpiece television series, finds Vicar Sidney Chambers beginning his career, as both a spiritual leader and a detective. It is 1953, the coronation year of Queen Elizabeth II . Sidney Chambers, vicar of Grantchester and honorary canon of Ely Cathedral, is a thirty-two-year-old bachelor. Tall, with dark brown hair, eyes the color of hazelnuts, and a reassuringly gentle manner, Sidney is an unconventional clerical detective. He can go where the police cannot. Together with his roguish friend, inspector Geordie Keating, Sidney inquires into the suspect suicide of a Cambridge solicitor, a scandalous jewelry theft at a New Year's Eve dinner party, the unexplained death of a jazz promoter's daughter, and a shocking art forgery that puts a close friend in danger. Sidney discovers that being a detective, like being a clergyman, means that you are never off duty, but he nonetheless manages to find time for a keen interest in cricket, warm beer, and hot jazz-as well as a curious fondness for a German widow three years his junior. With a whiff of Agatha Christie and a touch of G. K. Chesterton's Father Brown, The Grantchester Mysteries introduces a wonderful new hero into the world of detective fiction. No library descriptions found. |
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