James Runcie is the Head of Literature at The Southbank Centre, an award-winning film-maker and the author of five novels. Sidney Chambers and The Shadow Of Death is the first of The Grantchester Mysteries series. He lives in London and Edinburgh.

@james_runcie

Grantchester Mysteries 1

Now a major, prime-time six-part series Grantchester for ITV

Sidney Chambers, the Vicar of Grantchester, is a thirty-two year old bachelor. Sidney is an unconventional clergyman and can go where the police cannot.

Together with his roguish friend Inspector Geordie Keating, Sidney inquires into the suspect suicide of a Cambridge solicitor, a scandalous jewellery theft at a New Year's Eve dinner party, the unexplained death of a well-known jazz promoter and a shocking art forgery, the disclosure of which puts a close friend in danger. Sidney discovers that being a detective, like being a clergyman, means that you are never off duty...

No detective since Father Brown has been more engaging than Canon Sidney Chambers. Perfect company in bed

Inspector Morse would appear to have a rival

A charmingly effective tale of detection ... evoking oodles of churchy village atmosphere, circa 1953, provides a satisfyingly old-fashioned read

The clerical milieu is well rendered as an affectionate eye is cast over post-war England - a perfect accompaniment to a sunny afternoon, a hammock and a glass of Pimm's

James Runcie has written the coziest of cozy murder mysteries. 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

An undiluted pleasure

What a bloody fantastic thing ... this could only be improved by finding a winning Euromillions ticket tucked in the pages

Full of witty phrases to delight the reader ... This entertaining first volume about Canon Chambers will have Runcie's readers longing for the next

An evocation of a more genteel era ... Chambers turns out to be a winning clergyman-sleuth, and Runcie's literary authority is repeatedly demonstrated in the construction of his elegant tales. In fact, it is the plotting that really distinguishes this collection, and will make many more readers more than ready to follow the God-fearing hero from the coronation of Elizabeth II in 1953 to the wedding of Charles and Diana in 1981 ... there is no denying the winning charm of these artfully fashioned mysteries

Gentle criminal entertainment with a pleasantly old-fashioned feel to it

The plots are intriguing ... While the diminutive priest detective created by G. K. Chesterton led the way, Sidney Chambers is set fair to be a worthy successor. In a sceptical age this is quite an achievement. Then again, the author is a son of an archbishop. And who better to portray the sleuth in ecclesiastical clothing?

At last, an Anglican Father Brown ... Each tale is beautifully crafted and surprising. I hope for many more volumes