THE DEVIL IN BELLMINSTER: An Unlikely Mystery

In this flawed debut mystery, it's 1833 and industrialization is bringing mixed blessings to the sleepy cathedral town of Bellminster, England. With rapid change has come that evil of modern society, the serial murderer. The fiend's modus operandi changes with each fresh killing, while the victims—a church sexton, a local lout, a whore—appear to have nothing in common. Tuckworth, the vicar of Bellminster Cathedral, and Inspector Myles, of London's Bow Street Runners, are at a loss either to prevent or explain the crimes, although it's not for want of introspection on Tuckworth's part. Indeed, the good vicar's extended musings rather slow the narrative. Holland can't be faulted for employing faux-Dickensian prose for atmosphere: "And what are we to make of the dressmakers and the tailors!... Miles of stuff to wrap the town withal and keep it warm against the frost!" What jars is that he uses such old-fashioned language inconsistently, breaking the period spell. At book's end we are treated to a blockbuster finale that would be more at home in Hollywood than in 1830s England. Both setting and characters have such promise—a descriptive gem like "this realm of grays and deeper grays" hints at what the author is capable of—that one can only hope that Tuckworth, as he grows into his role of amateur detective, will in subsequent outings rise to that promise. (Mar. 18)

FYI:Holland is also the author of a horror novel, Murcheston: A Wolf's Tale (2000).