Customer Reviews

Murder at the National Cathedral

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

 

 

If you've read one of Margaret Truman's books before, this book will be very similar to that one. And all of her books. Characters are alike from book to book (and the main characters are most of the time the same) and the plot becomes predictable (though not completely) after reading three or four of her books. What changes is the setting. She demonstrates great knowledge for the setting of the National Cathedral, although she does make a couple of understandable inaccuracies. The reader will learn much about the building and organization by reading this entertaining, but also educational and interesting, book.

I have read a number of Margaret Truman's murder mysteries and was pleased to find this one as a book on tape so that I could enjoy it on my drive to work. However, this one was a true departure from her other works that I have read and approached what I was afraid that all of her books would be like when I first started reading them: the pretentious writings of a Washington insider. The murder mystery in and of itself is very simplistic. Truman brings in a vague ecumenical movement called "Word of Peace" and has everyone in the Episcopal/Anglican Church heirarchy express their doubts and fears about the group without going into detail why they should be afraid of it. Truman seems to think that an ongoing, out-in-the-open sexual relationship by an unmarried Bishop is not a big deal - and she would be wrong in that assertion.

Truman's descriptions of church activities and goings on have no natural feel - which is unfortunate because her other books were so much better and somehow managed to "feel" right.

My audiobook version was read by Emmy award-winning actor Rene Auberjonois (from Benson and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine). he did a remarkable job with the many accents required. His female voices even sound like they were read by females! A+ for the reading.

Overall score for the book: D-

Mac Smith, professor at George Washington University School of Law married Annabel Reed at the National Cathedral. Paul Singletary presided as priest. It was a late in life marriage. They were in the Bethlehem Chapel with 192 people including 30 close friends. Two months later Singletary was in Lambeth to see the Archbishop of Canterbury. The Archbishop was part of the conservative wing of the church, Singletary the liberal. Paul worked with drug addicts, runaway teens, the homeless. The Cathedral was the sixth largest in the world.

A woman discovers the lifeless body of Paul Singletary in the Cathedral. George St. James, the Bishop, calls Smith. Before the police can be called by the Bishop and Smith they arrive on the scene, summoned by an anonymous woman's call. The dead man has a surprisingly expensive security system at his apartment. He had been a Navy chaplain. A charity in which he had been involved, Word of Peace, has been infiltrated by the security service, the CIA, and by M15 on the British side.

Shortly after Singletary died, his friend Priestly, an Englishman, dies too, having been hit over the head with a candlestick. A friend of Singletary, a Miss Morgan, is an undercover agent for M15. Clarissa Morgan is supposed to retire to the British Virgin Islands. It seems that she had fallen in love with her subject, Paul Singletary.

The choir director at the Cathedral is about to take a job with a church in San Francisco and has given very short notice. A friend, with CIA contacts, tells Mac Smith that the Bishop should disassociate the Cathedral with the organization, the Word of Peace, since it has become filled with hustlers and secret agents.

Next there is an FBI sweep of the Word of Peace functionaries. The charges handed down include extortion, fraud, conspiracy, and spying. An exciting scene transpires in the Cathedral involving Miss Morgan, the canons, Mac Smith and his wife, and a young choir boy. This book is very cinematic.

The best word to describe this book is boring. I had to make myself finish reading it. The book has no thrills or chills. I was tempted to throw it away time and time again. It was a big disappointment.

Margaret Truman's mysteries are always a good read. They move quickly, yet have good character development. The reader also has an "insider" look at Washington. For example, many of us will not get to the National Cathedral in person...we were taken on a tour in writing by Ms Truman.

I would listen to René Auberjonois read the phone book

Margeret Truman has now written several DC crime books, but NONE of them have matched what she did in this effort. This book was truly satsifying from start to end. The way she puts Mac in many situations in a pattern really makes the book a fun read. Most importantly, the book leaves us guessing who did it, the main part of any murder mystery. I cant give it 5 stars because the ending is somewhat anti-climactic, and a tad bit forced in feel.

Mac and Annabel are finally wed in this novel. The author, however, does not allow them to just slip into contented married life. Now she has them being dragged into a murder in the most unlikely of places. As one who was born and raised in Washington, D. C., I can attest that all the descriptions of the places in the mystery series are accurate. This book though is set in and around the National Cathedral which is one of the most beautiful places in Washington, D. C. and the author brings it really alive. I could almost spell the rarified air of the place, the grounds and the neighborhood. The author has given the reading public a real treat by offering her insight into some of the most beautiful architecture in the world. The fact that this setting is also a place of crime and intriguing lends fascination to the the whole crime series. Margaret Truman deserves all the credit for the effective way that her books have presented politics and Washington, D. C.

The book was good as most of her books are but from the beginning, I knew it had to be one of the Episcopal priests - there was no other choice. Not her best.

i liked this book because it had a good story to it and it was action packed, interesting book. i loved it it was my favorite book