Oh, I'm so sorry, I really did want to like this book as I really like the author, but I have to admit that I did struggle with it. I figured there would be a lot of Church references - the title, series and author sort of give that away! It was, for me, incredibly "Churchy" right from the beginning with the parishioners, the vicar, the church itself and even down to a toilet being installed in the Church! The first part of the book introduced us to an awful lot of characters, and they seemed to spend a long time arguing over whether said toilet should be installed at all. It felt like it was going nowhere fast initially, but in its defence the storyline did pick up as the book moved on. The author is very articulate in person, and this comes across in his writing also, which I also struggled with - it didn't feel like an easy to read book when I had to keep checking to see what everything meant! Whilst it wasn't really the book for me, I'm sure it will be loved by others for the cosy crime story that it is.

A great cosy crime read. Perfect for fans of Richard Osman and something to look forward to as Coles continues to write more in the series.

I started reading this on holiday in June, and released that I needed a break from all things Church, even the imaginary world of Canon Clement in the 80s as imagined by the Fabulous Rev Richard Coles.
On returning to it a month or so I later I gave it the time and space it needed to grow on me, allowing the twists and turns of the plot to interweave with the historical facts of the Free French. The outcome was clever and unexpected, the obvious suspects were just that - too obvious.
It was a frivolous foray into the world of the Country Estate house and its church. Fun enough to keep me reading but maybe not thrilling enough to warrant a return visit to Champton any time soon.

*Many thanks to Rev Richard Coles, Orion Pubishing Group, and NetGalley for arc in exchange for my honest review.*
A most promising debut! A seemingly tranquil village of Champton is awoken by a revolutionary idea by Canon Daniel Clement of a lavatory in the church for his congregation. The wheels start turning and there is crime committed on the premises of what seems like most idyllic premise, with landscape designed by Capability Brown around a manor house going back hundreds of years.
The mystery is good but apart from it, I enjoyed reading about the ways in which English village with a proper manor and parish church coexist. The cosy mystery that was most enjoyable to read and I hope for the second book soon.

I was really looking forward to this book. I love Richard Coles and I had great hopes for it. For me though, the book wasn’t what I anticipated it would be. It was at times exceptionally verbose with the first section of the book seeming to go nowhere apart from arguments over installing a toilet in a church. It did improve towards the end, but I felt it took too long to get to the murder and subsequent investigation. Sorry Reverend, not my cup of tea...,

The village of Champton is the traditional bucolic English pastoral home of a cliched cast of characters. The Lord of the manor reigns benignly and the life of the village revolves around the church. When Canon Clement announces the need to install a lavatory in the church the ladies of the parish are in uproar but even they are silenced when one of the parishioners is found murdered. As the body count rises Canon Clement races to solve the mystery and its links to the wartime goings on at the manor.
More cosy crime written by a 'national treasure', a sure-fire recipe for disaster? Actually no. OK so it is fluffy in the extreme but as a holiday read I loved it. Completely escapist and utterly undemanding it is entertains perfectly.

3.5 rounded up to 4.

I really wanted to both like, and enjoy this story much more than I did. My biggest problem with the story was that there's no 'tell' as to when the story takes place. There's a great deal of discussion about the Second World War, and Wogan and To The Manor Born, but it wasn't until 60% through the book that I finally realised it was either the last 1980s or 1990s and only then, because of a discussion about the 50th anniversary of the war - I still don't know if this was the beginning or end of it. I think the publisher could have been much kinder to the reader and put a date alongside 'Chapter 1.' I spent much of the book thinking it was perhaps set in the 1970s.

This is a shame because the story is quite fun, but I didn't get many of the social references. At all. It is wordy and slightly too clever for itself, and in the end, I had more than half worked out the mystery anyway. Indeed, it's not really the story of someone trying to solve the murder but rather of someone trying to console their parishioners after the death of a community member.

There are elements of humour to the story, but equally, there are many references to the church, obviously, much discussion about religious matters I know nothing about, and this distracted from the story, which should have been a light-hearted look at a village filled with nosy neighbours, and with its attendant vicar and local lord of the manor, all just trying to rub along.

A brilliantly religious, country village whodunnit. Whilst I sometimes got lost with the odd Latin phrase, and religious text, the storyline captured my attention and I never worked out who the killer was.
It will be interesting to see if this spawns a set of stories with this rector, or is just a one off story set in this village

I was really looking forward to this but was a bit disappointed overall. Setting aside the necessary building of worlds and characters that needs to take place in the first book of any series, this was especially gentle, with everything happening at quite a leisurely pace. This book is the poster child for 'cosy mystery'.

A murder rocks the quiet village of Champton, the patron's cousin Anthony, killed with a pair of secateurs in the church and discovered by Daniel, and then a second one, seemingly unrelated. Daniel investigates quietly, alongside the police detective assigned to the case.

I was a bit startled to read, at about 1/3 of the way through, that Celine Dion had been in Eurovision. This seemed a bit random, so did a bit of searching on Goodreads to find out what was going on. It turns out the book was set in the 80'S! I had no idea, and from that point struggled a bit with British 80's references I didn't really understand (I'm Canadian), and trying to stay in the 80's (my formative years) and not 'now'. It jolted me out of the story a bit with each reference, although I hope that now all this groundwork has been laid, it will be easier to pick up the next one and immerse myself a bit more into it.

There weren't really many clues in order to be able to solve the mystery, either, and although I'm not great at figuring out 'whodunnit', it is nice to have a chance.

Despite all this, I will keep an eye out for the second in the series because I like Richard Cole and I think this series could easily end up on my TBR list. The dachshunds were delightful (dogs really do make everything better), and Daniel's mum Audrey was great. I liked her very much.

I've followed Richard Coles for many years now and always found him incredibly entertaining and extremely multifaceted. From his pop musician days as a member of the Communards to his ecclesiastical career as curate, chaplain and vicar his memoirs have always been a fascinating and interesting read which I have often found myself drawn back to picking up and revisiting..

Following his retirement he has now turned to focussing his many talents on expressing himself via the written word. In Murder Before Evensong we are introduced to Canon Daniel Clement, rector of Champton and involuntary amateur sleuth. I can't say too much because I don't want to spoil the experience of reading but suffice to say if you are a fan of cosy mysteries in the vein of Agatha Christie I highly recommend . It;s worth giving this one a try. Richard includes many references to 1980's culture which I absolutely loved and his sense of humour often had me giggling,

Some readers may find the ecclesiastical and biblical elements and references to religious ceremonies and church practices a little out of their understanding but i personally didn't find it hampered the plot and in fact found it rather educational.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and found it very difficult to put down. I hope to continue picking up more titles in this series and getting to know Daniel and his parish over the years to come.

A charming start to a new series (at least I think and hope it'll be a series). I was instantly taken with Cannon Daniel Clement, and will happily follow him in many more adventures to come.

This is perfect for fans of cosy crime who want grisly deaths and a charming small village setting and a jolly good time. This has beautifully British humour throughout, and for this reader, this is The Thursday Murder Club but with more compelling characters and mystery.

I will happily pick up the next in the series!

No murder is gentle and certainly when the death of the first victim in the church at Champton is spattered all over the pews it causes a quiet sleepy village to question whether everyone is as they seem.

Cannon Daniel Clement, Rector of said Church. Living with his widowed mother, two dogs and occasionally visits from his acting brother Theo sets the pace for this what is to be a series of books, featuring the Cannon.

As Daniel goes about his parish, performing all the duties that are expected of him and some that are not. He can see into everyone’s lives and comes close to seeing what is clearly under his nose. But can he work out why this terrible thing has happened to his parish and how exactly does the requirement for a lavatory in the church fit in?

With no actual dated sense of when this books is set, though I think I would go Mid Eighties. (Plenty of scope for a number of books as I mention previous). It is a very ‘English’ book and has all the makings of a good cosy crime series. Cannon Clement I could picture quite easily as with a number of the more vocal parishioners, with that sense of humour that perhaps only us British understand. Whilst some might find the references to the bible irrelevant to the plot or too much ‘religious pontificating’, for me they helped me understand the plot, the place and of course the people.

Perfect for fans all things cosy crime, of course comparisons can be made to the phenomenon that is Richard Osman and G.K Chesterton. To me it stands in it’s own place on anyone’s bookshelf. I look forward to seeing how the series and the characters develop.

This was definitely a fun book with some rather grizzly murders. A bit unexpected really from the Rev. Richard! Not sure how much he is drawing on his own experience. I understand this is the first of a series. If it is, then Champton will be running out of residents pretty quickly although Midsomer manages to replace them seamlessly. Looking forward to the Canon's next adventure. Thanks to Netgalley.

I loved this book it is the perfect summer mystery.. It does remind me of Agatha Christie and that is not a bad thing!!!! I cannot wait for the next book in this series.

In an Agatha Christie style a man is murder at the church and the incumbent vicar takes an interest. Canon Daniel Clement has fitted in with his parish after eight years. He’s happy living their with his mother and his Dachies but the murder is unsettling enough to make him determined to find out more.
Interesting that Rev Coles has chosen the murder mystery field and not surprising as cosy mysteries are so hot right now. I would like to have read this as an anonymous text as the celebrity tag is distracting. It’s an enjoyable book but I’m not totally convinced it would get a publisher if it didn’t have a known name.

Richard Coles is fast becoming a national treasure, and I was very much looking forward to Murder Before Evensong. It is written in a Richard Osman chatty relaxed style, with a cast of characters being introduced with their background stories and personal details scattered throughout the book. This is the first in a trio of cosy crime so there's a lot of background to learn, but I enjoyed how it was written and the story as a whole.
I will read others in the series for sure!

I'm slowly becoming a convert to the crime genre and especially the 'cosy' end of the genre. I've also enjoyed Coles' other books and his tweets.

The plot in this book was convoluted but not confusing and while I did guess some of the plot lines it certainly wasn't all of them and I did get the motives wrong.

I'm already keenly anticipating the next book and very pleased to see that not all celebrity writes phone it in (or use ghost writers)

I really struggled with this at first because there were too many characters. I had to start again and make notes in order to keep up ... when I did this the book was much more enjoyable. I understand that a first of a series needs a lot of background building but if you take other ‘series’ such as Richard Osman, MJ Arlidge, Jeffrey Archer they don’t overcrowd the first instalment but build it slowly.
That said, once I got my head in gear I did enjoy the book and look forward to future books.

I wanted to like this. Richard Coles seems a perfectly nice person and it is marketed to appeal to the Richard Osman reader. However it was so slow - the murder does not occur until a third of the way into the book. There is so much parochial detail that it was like reading the parish news. I can see my mother-in-law, a committed church goer, member of the WI and keen coffee morning attendee, loving this as it is her life. It did not work for me, and I gave up as I realised that I did not care about the identity of the murderer, and perhaps thought that they could do a better job and wipe out many more of the characters at a faster pace.

In his debut novel, Murder Before Evensong, national treasure Richard Coles introduces us to Canon Daniel Clement and his flock, in the sleepy parish of Champton St. Mary. In the vein of Agatha Christie’s St. Mary Mead, Champton is the last place you’d expect a cold-blooded murderer to be plying his (or her) trade, but when a body is found in in Daniel’s church, he finds himself caught up in the investigation.

Most of the problems I have with this novel come down to it being the first in the series. The main point of a first novel should introduce and establish the main characters and a bit of their backstory, but Rev. Coles has gone way beyond this and moved on to all the other characters from the parish. It’s just too much, and if I hadn’t been keeping notes, I wouldn’t have had a clue who was who.

Essentially, Murder Before Evensong is way too complicated to be the first in a series. There are too many characters, too much back-story, too much history. There’s nothing wrong with the story itself, but I just think it would have worked much better further along in the series, when characters had been introduced a bit at a time

I received a free reading copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.