Review by Booklist Review
For Anglophiles and fans of the British cozy, Purser's latest entry in her Lois Mead series is just the ticket. The book, which is liberally sprinkled with wry British humor, offers a realistic look at English village life and the travails of a typical English working-class family. Lois has been busy managing her successful housecleaning business since her last encounter with policeman Hunter Cowgill (when she helped solve the kidnapping of two neighbors).Now Cowgill wants Lois' help to uncover a local gang of Satanists. Lois already has plenty to worry about--her mother suffers a life-threatening case of flu, and not one but two of her employees appear to be having an affair with the vicar's godson. But her troubles pale when the parish verger dies in mysterious circumstances and a fire at the local vicarage kills the vicar's godson. Suspicion points to the Satanists. Clever, engaging, and suspenseful, this is Purser's best Lois Mead adventure yet. Recommend it heartily to all village cozy fans. --Emily Melton Copyright 2004 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
A vicar brings a troubled past and an equally dicey future to his new pulpit at Long Farnden. It isn't clear why Brian Rollison asks his godson, Sandy Mackerras, to be choirmaster at his new church. Sandy is endlessly insolent to him in the home they're sharing at the vicarage until Brian can round up digs in the nearby metropolis of Tresham. And Sandy nearly sends the choir into revolt, first by changing all the old tunes, then by slighting Farnden's leading citizen, Mrs. Tollivery-Jones, and then by romancing two of the singers, walleyed wallflower Sharon and perky schoolteacher Rebecca, who's lived for years with Bill Stockbridge. Still, Brian seems not only determined to put up with Sandy but to regard himself as somehow in Sandy's debt. When a fire at the vicarage has deadly results, Brian goes to pieces, leaving Lois Meade (Terror on Tuesday, 2003, etc.) to take over. Lois has several stakes in the investigation. Sharon and Bill both work for her cleaning service, and her son Jamie has been dating Annabelle Tollivery-Jones, who's involved with a hate group led by mysterious Max Wedderburn, a group that held a rally the night of the fire. But Lois's mother, Gran Weedon, fears that another motive--Lois's love/hate relationship with Chief Inspector Hunter Cowgill--may provide a not-so-innocent motive as well. For all its complications, though, Purser's latest village puzzler is all village and no puzzle. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
