Bones in the Belfry

In Hill's delightful second mystery to feature the Rev. Francis Oughterard, the Surrey vicar is still reeling from having gotten away with the murder of one of his parishioners in 2007's A Load of Old Bones . Oughterard feels he has no choice but to agree to storing stolen artwork at the vicarage at the insistence of an old theology college classmate, Nicholas Ingaza, because Ingaza provided him with an alibi for the parishioner's murder. The plot thickens when a visiting author with plans to write a mystery about the murder insists on a thorough search of the church and belfry where the clergyman has hidden the paintings. With his usual propensity for getting involved in crime, Oughterard soon finds himself in the midst of another tangled web of deception that even his cat, Maurice, and his dog, Bouncer, can't untangle, as revealed in chapters from their points-of-view. This dry, funny British gem, with its eccentric cast of characters, will leave readers laughing and eagerly awaiting the next episode. (Aug.)