Evil Angels Among Them

Should you happen to be an Anglican and are contemplating a move to a quiet country parish, for heavens sake don't move here.The inhabitants of this particular parish would have any new incumbant of a right thinking disposition, taking to the hills after the first week among them.I found myself despairing but fascinated at the same time.First off, there are the obscene phone calls the poor clergy wife has to endure (why?) A good dose of short shrift would have cured that problem early on. Why on earth didn't the poor girl tell her husband, not to mention BT who, have strategies for coping with this kind of nuisance.Add to this, the ladies of the church flower group. Intolerent evil minded and downright bitchy, it's a wonder any floral displays they were responsible for didn't wilt at first touch.Then we have an oversexed policeman. Anything on two legs and vaguely female is fair game to him. Having worked for the constabulary, I realise that testosterone does flow quite freely at times if not sharply checked but, this guy needs therapy. Obviously the women on his watch aren't handy enough with the upward knee thrust.There's lots more but, I'll sum up. The book is overdesigned, plotted and the characters are not believable.

This book makes for a good holiday read though the storyline is both weak and complicated. It has not adapted well to the Kindle format with most pages having very odd line breakdown more than half the pages, sometimes only one word to a line, preventing a fluid reading of the story.

The story takes place in a small village where the vicar and his wife are friends of Lucy and David so they rush down to see them when the new wife is terrified by anonymous obscene phone calls. It is a fascinating insight to the problems of women taking posts of responsibility in Church affairs and of the Church's acceptance of lesbians. The solving of the case nearly divides David and Lucy but they do reveal the perpetrator to everyone's relief.

A good read with few of the usual problems when people write about church matters in novels.

Not the best of the series but certainly worth a read.

I very much enjoyed this book. Kate Charles' plot lines and characterisation never disappoints, nor do her insights into human nature. A good read and a real page turner.

Excellent feat it in one sitting a real page turner

I wonder where Kate Charles found her Norfolk parish for inspiration. I know Norfolk is mostly off the beaten track but in 1995 could it really be so xenophobic and homophobic as this?I agree with the reviewer who finds Lucy and David sugar sweet - I think we've had more than enough of them. I have liked her books before but they are very sameish and the characters become less and less believable as does the very irritating dialogue.I stuck with this because of the good plot but this may be the last one I bother with.