Canon Daniel Clement is Rector of Champton, where he lives alongside his widowed mother – opinionated, fearless, ever-so-slightly annoying Audrey – and his two dachshunds, Cosmo and Hilda. There is a motive, however, and, when I thought my eyes couldn’t roll anymore, after the reverend’s sudden realisation of who the murderer is, they still rolled some more as I read about the motive for the murders. There is no indication (that I can see) as to when it is set, which is hugely discombobulating to the reader who imagines it must be present day. He read Theology at King's College London and after ordination worked as a curate in Lincolnshire, London and Northamptonshire.

The debut novel from broadcaster and cleric Reverend Richard Coles, Murder Before Evensong features Daniel Clement, amateur sleuth and rector of St Mary’s church in Champton, an English village surrounded by verdant hills and country lanes lined with primroses. O Cónego é engraçado e as personagens da pequena aldeia de Champton são das que ficam na mente tal como a mãe dele.Author Richard Coles is well known in the UK for being a previous member of The Communards and also for appearing on many television shows as a witty and companionable guest, so I was keen to read his first mystery and I was delighted that I found it a really enjoyable read. Ultimately we found out who did it because the rector had an amazing moment of insight during his sermon at the funeral for one of the victims. A super-mix of characters, and a beautifully written plot that kept me guessing right to the very end. Not the worst cosy mystery I've read by any means (The Mitford Murders by Jessica Fellowes probably takes that crown), but a bit of a damp squib.

I struggled to relate to the bland protagonist, Daniel, and found the plethora of weakly-drawn, supporting characters to be caricatures of elderly villagers and eccentric, landed gentry. Canon Daniel Clement was a likeable main character but I couldn’t quite see him as a solver of murders.

In addition, frankly there are absolutely no clues whatsoever to help the reader guess the murderer and the identification of the murderer comes out of left-field. 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.

Coles' rendering of his fictional church, St Mary's, in the village of Champton, twinkles with quirky detail and sharp humour.And then Anthony Bowness – cousin to Bernard de Floures, patron of Champton – is found dead at the back of the church, stabbed in the neck with a pair of secateurs. Daniel is told to be uneasy about the situation, but this isn’t shown in this story, his character doesn’t change.

I think the author has been quite clever in allowing lots of scope to extend the series and I am sure that I will follow this one as it was good fun and well written. And then Anthony Bowness - cousin to Bernard de Floures, patron of Champton - is found dead at the back of the church, stabbed in the neck with a pair of secateurs. And so many villagers are thrown at you at the beginning that the book only becomes a page turner when you start flicking backwards to find out who they all are. There is commotion in the small village of Champton: Pastor Daniel Clement proposes to install toilets in the church.

I am a big fan of 'cosy' crime and Richard Coles and so I was really excited to hear about this novel, especially as I adore Richard Osman's books. Some controversy arises when he proposes installing a toilet in the church, which will mean getting rid of the back pews. This was a decent read and a solid start to the Canon Clement series that left me thinking that it has a lot more to offer.