a review of "A Very Private Grave" [75]

A Very Private Grave by Donna Fletcher Crow
Monarch Books, ISBN 978-1854249685
August 1, 2010, 384 pages

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Felicity Howard is an American student, studying for the Anglican priesthood at an English seminary. She feels a bit like a fish out of water, but her one touchstone is her friendship with the elderly Father Dominic,who as the book opens, is just returning from a pilgrimage following the path of seventh century Saint Cuthbert of Lindisfarne. But before the evening is over, Fr.Dominic is beaten to death and Felicity finds her history teacher, Fr.Antony, standing over the body with blood on his hands.
When Antony becomes the number one suspect of the police, the abbot spirits Antony and Felicity away, to retrace Fr. Dominic's last weeks and try to discover why someone would want him death. But it is not long before it seems that someone may want Felicity and Antony dead as well...

We will keep this one brief.
I wanted to like this book and I thought, reading what it was about, that I would. Medieval England, early Christian saints, a nice cozy mystery...all right up my alley.
But sadly, it did not turn out that way. Why?
Well, I am all for history used as a background, but honestly there was way, way too much of it and it was not really that interesting. Tell us what we need to know to understand the mystery..and cut the rest. Sometimes, less is more. It got to the point that when Antony started one of his little speeches, my eyes glazed over.

Second, the basic premise of the book, that the abbot would send these two off, with his approval, to investigate the murder, just pushed the limits of what my mind found believable. They have no experience at all, they set off with just the clothes on their back, one of them may well be the murderer, which would put the other in a dangerous situation, the abbot may be breaking the law...really?

But the biggest problem is our heroine Felicity. Try as I might, I found her quite unlikable. I started to hope someone would kill her. She is flip and often nasty and her dismissive attitude toward the religious beliefs she is supposedly dedicating her life too, is annoying. Explain to me again why she is becoming a priest, because I could not figure it out. If you can't identify to some degree with the hero/heroine and actually don't find them very likable...well, that is a problem.

One I would have to recommend you pass up.

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My thanks to Library Thing Early Reviewers for a copy of this book.

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