Secret Sins
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Product Description
Product Description
Callie Anson is curate at All Saints Church in Paddington, and does her best to help those in her congregation. Some problems, though, are beyond consolation, such as the murder of local man Trevor Norton. DI Neville Stuart is also caught up in the case and its senseless motive; a man killed for his iPod during a morning jog. Trevor leaves behind a beautiful, inconsolable and heavily pregnant wife. But while Rachel Norton is receiving support, it seems that the widow may not be as grief-stricken or vulnerable as she appears to be.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Kate Charles is an excellent storyteller. I enjoyed 'Evil Intent' the first book in the series and 'Secret Sins' is equally good. The plot is intelligent and compelling and the conclusion satisfying. The characters well drawn and likeable. The relationship between Callie - the church aspect, and Marco - in the Police Force works well and makes you want to know more about them. She is an author I will return to again. Highly recommended.
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Callie Anson is a thirty year old curate in London's Bayswater: when a new parishioner joins their church from Scotland, she little knows that Callie herself will become involved in a police case with her `boyfriend' Marco Lombardi. In nearby Paddington a pregnant woman is devastated when her husband is fished out of the canal after apparently being mugged for his ipod. And all is not well in the lives of Callie's vicar's family, and Marco's own...
This is the first Kate Charles I have read and it reminded me of a less accomplished version of Susan Hill's Serrailler series. It has the same focus on a group of characters and their inner lives which are touched by crime, but is not, strictly speaking, a crime mystery since the focus isn't on the unravelling of clues and a triumphant revelation at the end. Instead this is a `slice of life' book that cuts a view into the families of the characters with which we are concerned.
So why only three stars? I did enjoy reading this but there are quite a few flaws too. Firstly, the structure feels very choppy as the narrative keeps switching to the various storylines which are being juggled: this isn't a problem in itself, but often each episode is only a page or so long and so there isn't really time to settle into the scene before we've moved on.
More critical, for me, was the strange lack of atmosphere: this felt like a novel set in some country market town where everyone is connected, not in an inner London suburb. Mentioning people going Christmas shopping in Oxford Street just isn't enough to convey the texture of London life.
The author's moral sense, too, felt quite obtrusive to me. So, ok, Callie is a curate but even so, the idea of a thirty year old woman (who had been engaged before and had a full sexual relationship with her fiancé) and her policeman `boyfriend' getting as far as him declaring his love for her... and yet they've never done more than share a few kisses felt unconvincing and awkward. Certainly one of the strands of the story is concerned with a laxity of sexual morals but this alternative position seems equally didactic.
I'm making this sound like a bad book which it isn't, and I did enjoy reading it. But the flaws mount up by the end and made this drop a couple of stars. So I won't be rushing out to buy the others in this series but if I came across one in the library I might pick it up.
This is the first Kate Charles I have read and it reminded me of a less accomplished version of Susan Hill's Serrailler series. It has the same focus on a group of characters and their inner lives which are touched by crime, but is not, strictly speaking, a crime mystery since the focus isn't on the unravelling of clues and a triumphant revelation at the end. Instead this is a `slice of life' book that cuts a view into the families of the characters with which we are concerned.
So why only three stars? I did enjoy reading this but there are quite a few flaws too. Firstly, the structure feels very choppy as the narrative keeps switching to the various storylines which are being juggled: this isn't a problem in itself, but often each episode is only a page or so long and so there isn't really time to settle into the scene before we've moved on.
More critical, for me, was the strange lack of atmosphere: this felt like a novel set in some country market town where everyone is connected, not in an inner London suburb. Mentioning people going Christmas shopping in Oxford Street just isn't enough to convey the texture of London life.
The author's moral sense, too, felt quite obtrusive to me. So, ok, Callie is a curate but even so, the idea of a thirty year old woman (who had been engaged before and had a full sexual relationship with her fiancé) and her policeman `boyfriend' getting as far as him declaring his love for her... and yet they've never done more than share a few kisses felt unconvincing and awkward. Certainly one of the strands of the story is concerned with a laxity of sexual morals but this alternative position seems equally didactic.
I'm making this sound like a bad book which it isn't, and I did enjoy reading it. But the flaws mount up by the end and made this drop a couple of stars. So I won't be rushing out to buy the others in this series but if I came across one in the library I might pick it up.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
8 reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
One of the best I've read in a long, long time
24 Mar 2007
Format:Hardcover
It's been so long since I read a truly great mystery: absorbing, suspenseful, well-written, cleverly plotted, three-dimensional characters worth following. I hear publishers are pushing the more contemporary suspense novels, but give me a good detective read anytime.
Author Kate Charles masterfully controls a handful of parallel plots. Some characters are common to all, but thankfully we don't have a contrived ending where everything nicely dovetails. In fact, at least one plot ends with a revelation of a cruel tragedy.
This series inevitably gets compared to other clerical mysteries (such as Spencer-Fleming) and English mysteries (such as Veronica Stallwood). But I think anyone who appreciates great detective fiction will be delighted to stumble across Kate Charles. I'd compare her to Nevada Barr, Sarah Stewart Taylor, and even some of Sharyn McCrumb.
An author, in my mind, can be called great when we readers commit the secret sins of reading their work when we should be working. A rare and highly pleasurable experience. Secret Sins qualifies.
Author Kate Charles masterfully controls a handful of parallel plots. Some characters are common to all, but thankfully we don't have a contrived ending where everything nicely dovetails. In fact, at least one plot ends with a revelation of a cruel tragedy.
This series inevitably gets compared to other clerical mysteries (such as Spencer-Fleming) and English mysteries (such as Veronica Stallwood). But I think anyone who appreciates great detective fiction will be delighted to stumble across Kate Charles. I'd compare her to Nevada Barr, Sarah Stewart Taylor, and even some of Sharyn McCrumb.
An author, in my mind, can be called great when we readers commit the secret sins of reading their work when we should be working. A rare and highly pleasurable experience. Secret Sins qualifies.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
a quality of story that is too few and far between
1 Oct 2007
Format:Paperback
I agree with Dr Cathy Goodwin's assessment of the book, except I would say the quality is right up there with Deborah Crombie and Jill Mcgown (and that IS high praise). Lots of characters, but depicted so well and concisley that they are easy to keep track of. This is the type of writing I long for, and the paperback looks so blah on the cover--just goes to show once again about not judging by a cover! I started the book this morning and couldn't stop till I was through, not so much because the mystery is so suspenseful as that the characters and their lives really draw you in. Will definitely check out her other books.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
exciting London investigative tale
10 Mar 2007
Format:Hardcover
In London recently ordained Anglican cleric Callie Anson is happy with her relationship with police officer Marco "Mark" Lombardi though he seems to avoid having her meet his Italian family. Callie tries to provide solace to new parishioner Morag Hamilton, who is worried about her beloved preadolescent granddaughter Alex who never goes outside unless she has to; her father Alex is to busy with work and her stepmother Jilly is too busy with her own needs to care that Alex lives on the Internet.
While Callie worries about Morag and Alex, Detective Inspector Neville Stewart investigates a missing jogger, computer guru Trevor Norton whose wife is about to give birth. Though he hopes the runner is found okay, Neville fears the worst while welcoming the respite from his personal problems of a maybe romance with the woman he has always loved who dumped him a decade ago. Now Neville has a second vanishing to investigate; that twelve years old Alex whose grandmother reported her missing.
The key to this exciting London investigative tale is the extended cast are fully developed three dimensional people who make the several plots merge into a terrific one sitting thriller. Alex is the link that ties the multitude of plots into one superior story line. Readers will want to obtain Kate Charles' fine character driven tale SECRET SINS and the previous novel with much of the same lead players EVIL INTENT.
Harriet Klausner
While Callie worries about Morag and Alex, Detective Inspector Neville Stewart investigates a missing jogger, computer guru Trevor Norton whose wife is about to give birth. Though he hopes the runner is found okay, Neville fears the worst while welcoming the respite from his personal problems of a maybe romance with the woman he has always loved who dumped him a decade ago. Now Neville has a second vanishing to investigate; that twelve years old Alex whose grandmother reported her missing.
The key to this exciting London investigative tale is the extended cast are fully developed three dimensional people who make the several plots merge into a terrific one sitting thriller. Alex is the link that ties the multitude of plots into one superior story line. Readers will want to obtain Kate Charles' fine character driven tale SECRET SINS and the previous novel with much of the same lead players EVIL INTENT.
Harriet Klausner
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