Sidney Chambers and the Problem of Evil (The
Grantchester Mysteries)
James Runcie
Bloomsbury £14.99
(978-1-4088-5099-2)
CT Bookshop Special Offer £12.99 (Use code
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JAMES RUNCIE's four new stories about Canon Sidney Chambers,
amiable if eccentric part-time sleuth, is the third book of six in
the Grantchester Mysteries series spanning the 1950s, '60s, and
'70s. Chambers is ideal for this period: he fought in the Second
World War; he worked his way up the clerical ladder in the '50s; it
is now 1963, and he is newly married to his beloved German wife,
Hildegard.
"The Problem of Evil" is the most sinister of the stories,
dealing with a series of murders of priests. I was jarred by a
slight mismatch of tone between the horrors of the actual killings
and their motive: would a man with a grievance against the clergy
really take it so far? But maybe that's the inevitable balance
needed between horror and banality: Chambers discusses favourite
biscuits, demonic possession, animal sacrifice, and murder, in a
long conversation leading to the discovery of the murderer.
"Female, Nude" has a dramatic beginning in the Fitzwilliam
Museum, Cambridge; Chambers is enjoying the pictures when a
beautiful girl wanders by singing a French song with the haunting
refrain "Oh gai! Vive la rose!". Her coat is over her arm,
revealing that she is completely naked, and, during this unusual
distraction, a picture is stolen. Runcie gives us a delicious
picture of London's art scene in the Swinging Sixties before
Chambers's search for the missing picture takes him to Dieppe, so
changed since his own terrible landing at Juno Beach nearly 20
years before.
The dialogue in "Death by Water" shows more of Runcie's unerring
ear: a film crew have arrived in Grantchester to film a Dorothy
Sayers novel, and Chambers's conversation with the leading
(middle-aged) actress made me laugh out loud. The story itself is
rather contrived, and less successful than Runcie's perfect
evocation of location chaos.
The final and shortest story of the collection, "Christmas,
1963", is fittingly about birth: the theft and return of a newborn
baby. Chambers becomes a father himself.
Peggy Woodford is a novelist.