Customer Reviews

The Mills of God (Nick Lawrence Mysteries)

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After a long run of historical fiction with the John Rawlings series (beginning with DEATH IN THE DARK WALK in 1994), Deryn Lake dramatically shifts gears to deliver this contemporary mystery set in the village of Lakehurst in Sussex, where a serial killer is making life complicated for the young new vicar, Nick Lawrence, and a police detective named Tennant. A lively cast of characters, including a faded movie star and the son of a Nazi war criminal, provide plenty of victims and suspects. The style is breezy and the story engaging; I was reminded of the Midsomer Murder mysteries on TV (and that's a compliment). Here's hoping this is the start of a long new series from Deryn Lake.

When Nick Lawrence arrives in the sleepy little Sussex village of Lakehurst, he thinks he has found a slice of paradise. But, this paradise has a serpent in it, a murderer who is leaving behind no clues whatsoever. Detective Inspector Dominic Tennant is working with Nick in the hopes that he can find something out that he is missing. But, what are they missing? Does someone in the village have a very nasty secret indeed?

I must admit that I am not familiar with the works of Deryn Lake, so I came into this one cold. Overall, I found the book to be quite great. I liked the characters, and the setting. I think that the author did a great job of creating a village that was simultaneously normal and yet filled with interesting characters. The mystery was quite good, and the story kept me happily reading along for page after page.

My one and only complaint is that near the end the author pulls the old trick of having the characters solve the mystery, and yet leave the reader in the dark.
"`Does it remind you of anyone?' he said."
"`Yes, it does. Now who on earth is it?'"
"They both stared at it and then they turned to one another. `It's...' started Nick."
"But they got no further because at that moment..."
Sorry, but I found that extremely irritating.

But, did it ruin the book for me? No, not really. I did enjoy the book, and I enjoyed the hours I spent reading it. It's not perfect, but it is nonetheless a very good book, and I highly recommend it.

First Sentence: It was, thought Nick, peering through the windscreen of his somewhat battered red Peugeot, a very oddly shaped village.

The Reverend Nick Lawrence arrives at his new parish in the village of Lakehurst. Awaiting him is an assortment of village characters, a 16th century vicarage, complete with ghost, and a serial murderer. DI Dominic Tennant, and his sergeant, Potter, come to catch a killer before the town's small population is even further reduced.

Ms. Lake is taking a new direction, moving away from her historical mysteries, which I love, into the contemporary. There are a few stumbles along the way but I've also learned that Ms. Lake had a serious issue which necessitated her writing the book much more quickly than normal. That, to me as a long-time reader of her work, does explain the weaknesses of this book which I know would have been corrected otherwise.

The story is set in a very small village. There are a lot of characters. This could be confusing except that each is very well defined through nice, brief, comprehensive introduction. Most of the characters come through as stereotypes rather than eccentrics, and I did have an issue with a comment that a married man with a disagreeable wife could decide to go gay.

However, there were some wonderful secondary characters as well and I look forward to seeing them again. I particularly appreciated that there were some relationships that, while confusing to some, worked well for those involved.

The exceptions are our protagonists. Father Nick, the new vicar, is young at 28 and understandably focused, but a bit too much so, on the attractive women of his parish. He is modern and accepting of others. I also appreciated that he doesn't go blinding off without protection and didn't try to solve the murders, but rather provided assistance to the police. The police were well represented by DI Dominic Tennant, who gets tired and misses having a woman in his life, and his sergeant Potter. I very much like the relationship between the two men. These are characters I want to follow and about whom I want to know more.

The sense of place and dialogue need a bit of work. While some of the descriptions were wonderful, others left me wanted. In the first sentence, we told the village is very oddly shaped, but never in what way or why. The cover art on the hard cover shows deep snow, but snow is never mentioned in the text (I blame the cover artist), and other than a slight reference to cold, the weather and season are never really defined until almost the end. The dialogue at times flowed very well, but at other times, seemed awkward.

What really saved the book was the very well structured plot and Ms. Lakes ability to portray differing attitudes really well. You sense of frustration of the police and there is just the right level of menace. There is a small red herring, which I appreciated, and I was never able to anticipate the next move in the plot and certainly not the killer. I also very much liked the realism that while the "who" of the killer is identified; the "why" is left something of a question both to the characters and the readers.

For its flaws, I enjoyed this book very much. I recommend one forgive the weaknesses--Ms. Lake is a good-enough author to correct them next time out--revel in the strengths; for there are many, and enjoy. There was definitely more good than bad about the book, as reflected by my immediate reaction of wondering when the next in this series will be available.

THE MILLS OF GOD (Trad Mys-Rev. Nicholas Lawrence/DI Dominic Tennant-England-Cont) - G+
Lake, Deryn - 1st of series
Severn House, ©2010, UK Hardcover - ISBN: 9780727868343