The Mortal Sickness

In an English village that might otherwise seem timeless, Taylor (An Air That Kills, 1984) evokes life a few years after WWII by recalling that people complained about declining standards and women were dismissed from serious matters. Jill Francis, a young journalist, and Alec Sutton, the vicar, both new to Lydmouth, find Catherine Kymin, a woman with few friends and a crush on the vicar, dead in the church vestry. What's more, a medieval chalice and the Sunday collection are missing from the safe. Someone is also sending poison-pen letters around town about the vicar, the most virulent of which accuse Alec of theft and philandering. Detective Inspector Richard Thornhill, also new to Lydmouth, does the best he can with a detective constable who owes his promotion to his father's connections, a sergeant on leave who refuses to return phone calls in favor of following his lust, a superintendent under pressure to call in the Yard and his own increasingly ambivalent feelings about Jill. Though the case is solved within 48 hours, the story has a diffuse quality, perhaps as a result of the lack of a central character, a role held alternately by Jill, Alec and Richard, all of whom are worthy figures but none of whom grabs center stage. (July)