Midnight Come [Hardcover]

Michael David Anthony (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 15, 1999

The sequestered peace of the Canterbury Cathedral community is shattered by the arrival of a poison pen letter. Reluctantly dragged from his administrative duties to investigate the allegations of gross sexual misconduct between a recently widowed parson and his female assistant, senior Church official Richard Harrison accidentally stumbles upon the horrific scene of a double killing. In doing so, he is set on a lonely, tortuous path to discover the identity of the anonymous letter-writer, whose malicious libels apparently precipitated the tragic deaths.

Faced with a seemingly motiveless crime, Harrison follows a maze of leads in which the proposed sale of a 200-year-old charity cottage and the short, violent life of Christopher Marlowe, the sixteenth-century poet and playwright, appear to twine about the bizarre happenings in a country parish. He arrives finally at that midnight hour when past misdeeds have to be accounted for, and when, in the words of Doctor Faustus, "the clock will strike and the devil will come...."

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

A crudely written letter accuses recently widowed British parson Rev. Maurice Lambkin of driving his wife to the grave by having an affair with his married female assistant. When Canterbury lay church official Richard Harrison is dragged in to investigate the truthfulness of the letter, he stumbles upon the corpses of Lambkin and his 20-something son, Jonathan. Though an inquest rules that the notoriously decadent Jonathan killed his father in a rage before committing suicide, Harrison isn't convinced and, assisted by his wife, probes for the real motive behind the deaths. A complicated exploration of the diocese's administration and its frustrated parishioners ensues. Anthony's detailed, almost baroque descriptions of the damp British countryside purposely evoke images of gothic England, while a local school's production of Marlowe's 16th-century play Dr. Faustus gives the author ample opportunity to draw parallels between contemporary events and that famous drama of the conflict between mortal prestige and eternal salvation. Although Anthony's writing can get bogged down with elaborate allusions, he manages to present an eerie, satisfying mystery, embroidered with much fascinating clerical detail, in this thickly plotted addition to his Church-of-England mystery series (Dark Provenance, etc.).
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Richard Harrison, who works for the Board of the Anglican Church in Canterbury, England, chances upon an apparent murder-suicide in a locked-from-the-inside building. Since the deaths probably tie in with an anonymous note alleging sexual misconduct by a priest and a female deacon, Harrison's higher-up has asked him to investigate. Harrison suspects double murder from the onset, so his inquiring mind sets to work?with some insistent prodding from his wheelchair-bound wife. A solid plot and excellent characterization by the author of Dark Provenance (St. Martin's, 1995) override the occasional over-extended similes; recommended.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 302 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press; 1st edition (March 15, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312200587
• ISBN-13: 978-0312200589
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.8 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,968,458 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars WARNING! CANDIDATE FOR WORST BOOK EVER!, November 3, 2000

By 

"judithb" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Midnight Come (Hardcover)

`Utterly engaging' screams the quote on the cover, then you notice it refers to a different book. Take that as a warning. Even the publishers couldn't find anything good to say about this effort.

Midnight Come is supposed to be a clerical whodunit, a murder mystery set within the religious community surrounding Canterbury Cathedral in England. For the first 20 pages or so, I thought the author might bravely be attempting to create the olde-worlde "gas and gaiters" style of this sort of fiction from the 50's. After 50 pages, I realised this book is purely a self-absorbed exercise in convoluted and precocious sentence construction and grammar, something that only my high school English master could have enjoyed. There are hardly any nouns without adjectives or verbs without adverbs, and more clauses and subclauses to most sentences than I thought possible. The result is pages covered with the most excruciatingly pompous language I've ever read. Needless to say, I couldn't read much of it.

The characters! The ex-military intelligence man, now a senior church official, with the "jolly hockey sticks" wife, curiously confined to a wheelchair after polio contracted soon after their marriage. The cardboard cutout Deans, vicars, etc., could have leaped out of a Trollope novel. The token Australian, a young, arachnophobic, woman archictect, was so stereotyped, she only just stopped short of "throwing a shrimp on the barbie" (maybe she did, I gave up after 80 pages).

The dialogue! There is not one single person in this world who would ever utter the words put in these character's mouths. "`I'm afraid', she said, dropping her gaze, `that I suffer a little from arachnophobia.'" As an Australian, I *know* she would have said `I bloody HATE spiders!', and her gaze wouldn't have dropped an inch.

Do yourself a favour and read something (anything) else. This has only got one star because I couldn't save it with none.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Original and enthralling novel - By a reader who read it..., May 26, 2005

By 

Nicknxt2 (England) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Midnight Come (Hardcover)

Midnight Come comes as a breath of fresh air and a welcome change to stodgy, rubbishy, new novels. Featuring a complex and engaging plot, the reader is left guessing right to the last minute. I loved it - the author fooled me and enthralled me throughout.

I feel it is only right to comment on the other "review" of this book - I cannot help but assume that judithb is not familiar with grown-up books, as this one has an easy to read, flowing tone. Likewise, without description, one ends up with something that resembles and instruction booklet for flat pack furniture. The novel does not overly describe - instead successfully creating interesting and clever imagery.

Also, judithb comments on a "token Australian" who was "so stereotyped".

But yet she then goes on to say that she knows she would have said - "I bloody HATE spiders!". I am not in the slightest sorry to say that if that is not stereotyping, I have not got a clue what is. Not everyone Australian is straight out of Neighbours you know, and Australians are able to compose and express themselves a little better than you have managed, judithb.

Finally I wish to appeal to prospective buyers of Midnight Come not to be swayed by the viewpoint of a bitter woman, clearly very annoyed to be beaten by a book - unable to complete it - giving up only 80 pages. Do not be influenced by this kind of defeatism.

Midnight Come truly is a fantastic book, with its mystical setting of Canterbury and well thought out and identifiable characters.

Having actually completed the book, I cannot rate it highly enough, unlike someone who did not even finish it...

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Engaging Mystery with Informed Church of England Focus, March 14, 2008

By 

M. Salkin ""I prefer reading"" (Fort Collins, CO USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Midnight Come (Hardcover)

As a member of the clergy, American, who has traveled extensively in England among its parish churches, grim industrial towns,and wonderful landscapes,and as one who appreciates a well-constructed mystery with strong characters and a "puzzle" still embedded in realism, I found "Midnight Come" completely satisfying as a mystery and intriguing in its study of character. I would urge readers to give this book the chance it deserves. Yes, some characters are eccentric--who could ask for less?--some are sad, some stuffy. The author grew up as a Vicar's son, so knows his way around church politics and people, which adds another pleasing dimension to the book.