Customer Reviews

The Alto Wore Tweed: A Liturgical Mystery

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

A friend -- an Episcopalian organist -- gave me this slim volume, remarking, "It's silly, but I think you'll like it." Like it! It's one of the funniest books I have ever read; it's as funny as Donald Westlake's Dancing Aztecs or Donna Andrews' Crouching Buzzard, Leaping Loon. It's about an Episcopalian organist who is also a small-town detective and thinks he's channeling Raymond Chandler. It didn't matter to me at all that I "got" the mystery early on -- I was too busy laughing. Well, I've heard of a fish named Wanda, but a god named Wanda?

My, oh, my...they don't write 'em like this anymore! Well, maybe they do and "The Alto Wore Tweed" should be on every musician's reading list this summer. In fact, anyone who is into whodunits will love this book about a guy who writes a book with no plot, except it has one, as does the main book. Or something like that. (There's even a cemetery plot, too!) All I can say is the butler didn't do it. Heck, "The Alto Wore Tweed" takes more turns than an O.J. Simpson car chase. The surprise is that it is June and I suddenly have a hankering for Hugo Distler's "The Christmas Story". Mark Schweizer, that's the mark of a good book....a bookmark, you might say.

I just finished reading this book and I loved it. I attended Appalachian State University and I know Watauga County well. I find his depictions of that wonderful part of the country much more realistic than the Mitford series. I also work in a large Methodist church and am a seminary student and I found his depictions of church life right on the money. I haven't laughed this much at a book in years!!! I have recommended it to all my co-workers and fellow students. A truly wonderful read!

If you are (a) Episcopalian or (b)a member or director of a volunteer church choir, this is a must read. It is a very funny, laugh out loud, tongue in cheek, soft-boiled detective novel. Mark Schweizer has the strange internal culture of this group down to a T. We are passing it around our choir (sorry Amazon and Mark) and now finding sections to quote at each other. The two other books in the series deliver the same great escape.

Very funny stuff, particularly if you are a choir director or a church musician. Schweizer obviously knows this world from the inside. When I read the children's Christmas program portion to a friend, I laughed so hard I cried. I'm going to read the other 3 in the series.

I haven't laughed this hard since required chapel at prep school 50 years ago. I'd forgotten how painful church laughter is. I wept. Highly recommended, especially to Episcopalians and choir members. The sequels are not quite as funny, but definitely worth the read. If you enjoyed these books and haven't read "Augustus Carp," do.

If you are involved in traditional church music, if you like mysteries, and if you enjoy sort of quirky humor, you must read this! (If you ever were an English major and teacher, that will add to its enjoyment.)

At least twice I laughed out loud until I cried, and that is something that I never do, at least, not when reading a book! This is one in a series, and I plan to read them all as soon as I can.

Be sure to read the "advance praise" on the first page too!

I've been reading comedic mysteries for years, and must recommend "The Alto Wore Tweed" without reservation. Mark Schweizer has provided us with a truly laugh-out-loud gift in this, his first book in what I hope will be a very long series. I was literally crying by the time I finished the first chapter, and the hilarity level continues, page after page. I quickly read the second book in the series and am now reading the third -- with no letup in the stitch in my side. Some other reviewers have indicated that the book would be enjoyed by musicians and Episcopalians, but EVERYONE will get a huge kick out of this mystery. I'm placing it first on my list, along with Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series. It's even funnier in parts. A must-read!

I love reading these at night to help fall asleep. They are hilarious.

Mark Schweizer's books should come with a warning label to not read them in public unless you are prepared to be embarrassed. I got laughing so hard in the Atlanta Airport I think they were going to offer me medical assistance. When our Parish Secretary loaned me a copy, I was dreading the read. I mean, how interesting can a liturgical mystery possibly be?? This man manages to be reverant and irreverant in equal measure and the written word is all the better because of it. I am envious of his ability to say so much with so few words and to paint pictures in my head that are nearly 3-D in their clarity. I am ordering tons of his books for Christmas gifts, as it will warm my heart to think of my loved ones laughing themselves silly into the New Year.