Sidney Chambers and The Perils of the Night

An English clergyman contemplates murder and marriage in this second entry in the series that inspired the PBS Masterpiece series Grantchester.

“Taken individually, each of these clerical whodunits poses a clever puzzle for armchair detectives. Viewed as a collective study of British life as it was lived when Elizabeth II first ascended the throne, these stories present a consistently charming and occasionally cutting commentary on ‘a postwar landscape full of industry, promise and concrete.’” —The New York Times Book Review

The loveable full time priest and part time detective Canon Sidney Chambers continues his sleuthing adventures in late 1950's Cambridge.

Accompanied by his faithful Labrador Dickens, and working in tandem with the increasingly exasperated Inspector Geordie Keating, Sidney is called on to investigate the unexpected fall of a Cambridge don from the roof of King's College Chapel; a case of arson at a glamor photographer's studio; and the poisoning of Zafar Ali, Grantchester's finest spin bowler, in the middle of a crucial game of cricket. As he pursues his quietly probing inquiries, Sidney also must decide on the vexed question of marriage. Can he choose between the rich, glamorous socialite Amanda Kendall and Hildegard Staunton, a beguiling German widow three years his junior? To help him make up his mind Sidney takes a trip abroad, only to find himself trapped in a complex web of international espionage just as the Berlin Wall is going up.

Here are six interlocking adventures that combine mystery with morality, and criminality with charm.

“Runcie is a master at capturing the mood of the 1950s . . . a master wordsmith, writing in delicate, lyrical prose. . . . Readers definitely are in for a treat when they meet this gentlemanly but worldly man of the cloth.” —MysteryScene