A review by tough_cookie
Sidney Chambers and the Shadow of Death: The Grantchester Mysteries by James Runcie
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
In the small town of Grantchester, Canon Sydney Chambers is content with living a quiet life tending to his parishioners and putting the horrors he endured from World War II behind him. However, over the course of a year, he learns even small towns can stir up big trouble. In this collection of mini mysteries, Sydney, along with help from his friend, Detective Geordie Keating, wades into various murders ranging from the daughter of a former thief-turned-jazz-club-owner to an art-collecting aristocrat. Along the way, he struggles to balance the evil of humanity with his faith, as well as contends with budding romantic feelings first for a German widow named Hildegarde, then for his sister's friend Amanda, an art curator and socialite.
This book reminded me why I don't like short story anthologies. One of my biggest complaints is the flat characters -- everyone came across as a faceless voice with only slight development to help differentiate them from the other people Sydney uses as soundboards to "solve" the mysteries, despite the pathway to his conclusions either being poorly explained or completely ignored. To me, the secondary characters made Sydney feel like an island; even his positive relationships lacked the depth necessary to make me see the strong bonds between them.
The mysteries themselves were uninteresting, as each time Sydney would hop around either Grantchester or London talking to people, then miraculously figure out who did it and tell his friend, Geordie, who took care of the arrest. The book focused less on the mysteries and more on the human aspect of the crimes -- the emotional distress, the morally gray areas, etc. And that wouldn't be such a problem for me except this book is billed as a mystery, not a drama, so with that expectation set, it failed to fulfill its promise.
Also, as a minor point of contention, I disliked how the book's synopsis made it sound like Hildegarde would play a large role in the novel.
She was hardly in it beyond the first story.
In fact, it's Amanda who takes center stage for most of the book, annoyingly so; her character was too vapid and conceited for my liking, and it wasn't clear to me what Sydney liked about her, which just added to my frustration.
This was a middle-of-the-road novel for me at best, so I won't continue reading the rest of this series.
This book reminded me why I don't like short story anthologies. One of my biggest complaints is the flat characters -- everyone came across as a faceless voice with only slight development to help differentiate them from the other people Sydney uses as soundboards to "solve" the mysteries, despite the pathway to his conclusions either being poorly explained or completely ignored. To me, the secondary characters made Sydney feel like an island; even his positive relationships lacked the depth necessary to make me see the strong bonds between them.
The mysteries themselves were uninteresting, as each time Sydney would hop around either Grantchester or London talking to people, then miraculously figure out who did it and tell his friend, Geordie, who took care of the arrest. The book focused less on the mysteries and more on the human aspect of the crimes -- the emotional distress, the morally gray areas, etc. And that wouldn't be such a problem for me except this book is billed as a mystery, not a drama, so with that expectation set, it failed to fulfill its promise.
Also, as a minor point of contention, I disliked how the book's synopsis made it sound like Hildegarde would play a large role in the novel.
She was hardly in it beyond the first story.
In fact, it's Amanda who takes center stage for most of the book, annoyingly so; her character was too vapid and conceited for my liking, and it wasn't clear to me what Sydney liked about her, which just added to my frustration.
This was a middle-of-the-road novel for me at best, so I won't continue reading the rest of this series.