Customer Reviews

Bones in the Belfry

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I got a kick out of this book. Ms. Hill's snappy and unmistakable British style was a treat to read - fantastic vocabulary and descriptions. Reading bits from the POV of Maurice and Bouncer, the vicar's cat and dog, respectively, only reinforced my suspicions about these seemingly ordinary pets.

There is plenty to laugh about, and a few ironic plot twists. I didn't read the first one but now I'll have to find it too.

This is the second in what apparently is going to be at least a three book (I hope more) series. They're terrific. Great and original reads, the characters, including the animals, are enjoyable, the period, the settings, even the village. The Anglican clergyman is wonderfully flawed.
Actually, the second book flows a little better than the first which was still well done. Enjoy this book!

In Molehill, Surrey, Vicar Reverend Francis Oughterard feels remorse and guilt for choking to death a parishioner (see A LOAD OF OLD BONES). He beat the rap thanks to his brilliant pets Maurice the cat and Bouncer the dog who removed revealing evidence from the crime scene.

When his former theology classmate, Nicholas Ingaza Oughterard asks him to hide stolen art in the vicarage, Francis reluctantly agrees; not out of some college loyalty but because Nicholas gave him his phony alibi. However, a true crime writer obtains permission to look around the church and belfry forcing the beleaguered clergy to relocate the paintings in his sister's home. Things turn worse when one of the masterpieces is put up for fund-raising.

BONES IN THE BELFRY is an amusing British crime caper that older readers will think of Terry Thomas starring as the helpless beleaguered Vicar who seems to somehow find himself trapped in criminal activities. This time his saviors Maurice and Bouncer realize there is very little they can do to keep the hands that feed them out of jail. The two pets makes the tale fun to read with their resigned feline and canine sense of inevitability in which their human pet will be locked up; if not this time, perhaps the next time. Purist mystery fans need to pass as there is no detecting, but those readers who appreciate the antics of a humorous bungler supported by an eccentric cast of human fumblers and two loyal brilliant animals will want to read the lighthearted BONES IN THE BELFRY.

Harriet Klausner

Disclaimer...I don't usually read pet mysteries. In fact, after being impressed by the first (Vicar's Version) chapter and having delved into the ensuing pet chapters, I almost didn't persist. Glad I did! The characters are funny, the writing top-notch (bar too many exclamation points and a bit of rambling toward the end). The 3rd in the series is even better and the 4th (where the vicar takes a "vacation" with stowaway cat and dog) doesn't disappoint either. The vicar, or F.O. as the pets refer to him, is very believable in spite of having--unbelievably--eliminated "by process of strangulation" one of his annoying parishioners. His shady handler Ingaza, who was expelled from their theological college, and sister Primrose are equally well-drawn characters. This is a superior cozy mystery and, for those suspicious of pet mysteries, not at all twee/cutesy.
More please, Ms. Suzette A. Hill...

For more quirky British humor, I suggest:

Christmas is Murder (A Rex Graves Mystery)

I prefer stories that are complete in and of themselves and while I enjoyed reading this one, I did not like the way it left the story hanging at the end. It appeared to be incomplete, as if the author got up from her desk and never bothered to finish it.
So-called cliffhangers always annoy me and I usually avoid reading them. If the story is to be continued it would be nice to at least have an idea of when it will be published.