cover image Idol Bones

Idol Bones

Diane M. Greenwood, D. M. Greenwood. St. Martin's Press, $18.95 (216pp) ISBN 978-0-312-09829-2

With sharp eye and barbed wit, Greenwood demonstrates that her cup does not overflow with charity, at least not for the more worldly and unworthy members of the Anglican clergy. Her amateur sleuth, Reverend Theodora Braithwaite, who was last seen in Unholy Ghosts , is sent on a lay training ministry to Bow St. Aelfric, a small cathedral with large problems, including an ambitious unpopular new dean, Vincent Stream. Its problems multiply when an exploding water main unearths a Roman statue of Janus in the cathedral close. Seen as everything from a ``pagan horror'' to a possible source of revenue, the statue is a hot topic of conversation at a party given by Stream where Theodora senses ``an undertow of disquiet.'' The next morning, a verger finds Stream's body neatly laid out in front of the statue, his throat cut. Theodora's ability to move among and talk to church folk makes her helpful to Inspector Spruce, on loan to the Bow Constabulary from the Norfolk CID; they are an effective pair, though much of the sleuthing is limited to mundane who-was-where-when conversations. The real spice here--and the best reason to read the book--is found in Greenwood's pointed observations of England's established church. (Oct.)