This is one of the Church Choir Mysteries books. The title and the name of the series made me pick up this book from the shelf. The abstract gave the impression of the story being set in a small town where nothing ever happens. The people are living simple lives and religion seems to be the centre of the community activities for the group of people around whom the story is set.
I think the extent to which religion and the people’s constant reliance on it did come as a little surprise. The local vicar has his parents come to stay with an adopted daughter. They are taking a break from their missionary work in Honduras where they were after a hurricane. The story revolves around the family when the house gets broken into and later the vicar is found unconscious with a head injury. The main character Gracie is a widow who had an elderly uncle living with her. She does catering work sometimes, a thoughtful lady who loves her God and her friends and belongs to the church choir. She is concerned about the attack on the vicar and sets out to find the reason and the person who did it. It is fairly obvious how the story is going to unfold most of the time. The thinking and details of everyday lives show the way people are going about their daily lives and the values they live by.
The supposed intrigue is actually not a gripping situation. The emotions raised by the situation are mostly rooted in the perceptions and imaginations of the individuals. There is a constant religious message on every page which I am not accustomed to in reading a mystery. The story is essentially gentle and even when the mystery is solved it is not really gruesome at all. The belief that everyone has some good in them and so deserving another chance and leave the judging to God. At times I was hard pressed to believe that people were actually being serious and that such a place and people can exist. Everyone forgave everybody and lived happily ever after!
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