Published by Ostara Publishing, 2013. ISBN: 978-1-906288-84-6
‘Clerical’ mysteries have been around for a long time, and there are
plenty to choose from. When you think
about it, men (or women) of the cloth, veil and cowl and their equivalents in
other religions are ideally placed to solve mysteries; their main focus is, or
should be, how people tick, and their profession, calling, however you want to
describe it, gives them pretty well free entry to most places.
One
thing I like about the ones I’ve read is the authors’ propensity, through
their protagonists, for casting a shrewd
eye over the church itself and commenting wryly and clearsightedly on its many flaws and
shortcomings. Theodora Braithwaite, deacon, curate and solver of mysteries in D
M Greenwood’s 1990s series, is no exception.
The
series has now been rediscovered by a small press which specializes in the
resurrection of crime and thriller novels which, according to its website,
‘have unjustifiably become unavailable through the ravages of time or the
forces of publishing economics’. And in the case of Theodora Braithwaite, I’m
rather glad they went to the trouble.
Mortal
Spoils is one of the later titles in
the nine-book series, and Theodora has already
built a reputation as a somewhat reluctant amateur detective. Her
specialist help is requested by the young assistant administrator of Ecclesia Place, the
Anglican Church’s (fictional) political headquarters, when he discovers, then
loses, the body of a high-ranking bishop during a high-profile ecumenical
gathering.
Church
politics, it appears, are at least as complicated and riddled with guile and
self-interest as the other kind; Theodora and Tom Logg, her temporary partner
in detection, have to tread carefully around the sensitive toes of senior
clergy, each with his own axe to grind. This gives the author plenty of
opportunity to develop a cast of larger-than-life characters alongside the more
normal ones. Theodora herself is refreshingly down-to-earth and sensible, aware
of her own imperfections as well as other people’s.
Greenwood also has a keen eye for background and location; the
rabbit-warren geography of Ecclesia
Place comes across as clearly and effortlessly as
the rather less salubrious neighbourhood near the River Thames in which both it
and Theodora’s new home are situated.
A
neatly constructed plot; an interesting character set; an adept sense of place.
Add in a fluent style well laced with dry humour, and you’re left wondering why
the series ever went out of print. I certainly was. Thank goodness for the
courage and perception of small publishers.
------
Reviewer: Lynne
Patrick
Dr Diane M Greenwood came originally from Norfolk
in England.
She took a first degree in classics at Oxford
University, then as a mature student,
a second degree in theology at London
University. She taught at
various schools before working for the diocese of Rochester. She retired as diocesan director
of education for the diocese of Rochester
in 2004.
She
has been described as "a classics
teacher of terrifying erudition and eccentricity". Between 1991 and 1999 she published nine
books featuring Deaconess Theodora Braithwaite (in her thirties). D M Greenwood was last heard of living in Greenwich with her
lurcher.
Lynne Patrick has been a writer ever since she could pick up a pen,
and has enjoyed success with short stories, reviews and feature journalism, but
never, alas, with a novel. She crossed to the dark side to become a publisher
for a few years, and is proud to have launched several careers which are now
burgeoning. She lives on the edge of rural Derbyshire in a house groaning with
books, about half of them crime fiction.
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