Set in the small Cambridgeshire town of Grantchester in the 1950s, this book is a throwback to the earlier days of mystery writing, before forensics and police procedure took over the world. Canon Sydney Chambers is a young priest in the Church of England who, in the grand old tradition, gets involved as an amateur detective in helping the police to investigate a series of crimes.
There's enough humour to keep the tone fairly light and in general this is a gentle, almost cosy, collection. Sometimes it's too easy to work out the solution and occasionally Sydney's attitudes are a bit too anachronistically 21st century, but these minor flaws don't detract too much from the overall enjoyability of these old-style mysteries. Recommended

Sidney is a likeable character the reader can really root for, the settings are nicely evoked, some lovely characters and relationships portrayed, and this series has been really enjoyable in written format and in the television adaptations.