Canon Daniel Clement has suffered a secret humiliation and to recover takes respite at the monastery where he was a novice. But the monastery doesn't allow the break he needs, for tensions are building there too. There is a death at the monastery, and Daniel thinks it might be murder. Meanwhile back at Champton, Daniel is the subject of village gossip, his mother Audrey is up to something again, there's trouble at the dress shop, trouble up at the big house, and the puppies are running riot. As dark secrets unfold, can Daniel solve the mystery at the monastery without the help of Detective Sergeant Neil Vanloo?
Richard Reverend Coles Book order






- 2024
- 2023
After his debut with Murder Before Evensong, Canon Clement returns in this new novel from no. 1 Sunday Times bestselling author and all-around national treasure the Reverend Richard Coles.
- 2022
THE INSTANTLY ICONIC NO. 1 BESTSELLER 'Devotees of Midsomer Murders and Agatha Christie's Miss Marple stories will feel most at home here' Guardian 'I've been waiting for a novel with vicars, rude old ladies, murder and sausage dogs... et voila!' Dawn French 'Cosy crime with a cutting edge' Telegraph 'Whodunnit fans can give praise and rejoice' Ian Rankin 'Charming and funny' Observer Even better than I knew it would be' India Knight 'Quintessentially English' Sunday Express 'An absolute joy' Adam Kay ''Wry, tongue-in cheek and whimsical' Daily Mail 'Glorious' Robert Webb 'Beautifully written, charming, funny, intelligent and mordant too' Sunday Times 'Pitch perfect' Philip Pullman 'A cunning whodunnit' Daily Express Canon Daniel Clement is Rector of Champton, where he lives alongside his widowed mother - opinionated, fearless, ever-so-slightly annoying Audrey - and his two dachshunds, Cosmo and Hilda. When Daniel announces a plan to install a lavatory in the church, the parish is suddenly (and unexpectedly) divided: as lines are drawn, long-buried secrets come dangerously close to destroying the apparent calm of the village. And then Anthony Bowness - cousin to Bernard de Floures, patron of Champton - is found dead at the back of the church. As the police moves in and the bodies start piling up, Daniel is the only one who can try and keep his community together... and catch a killer.
- 2021
The Madness of Grief
- 192 pages
- 7 hours of reading
The high-profile clergyman's account of losing his partner of 12 years and coping with 'the madness of grief' after his death
- 2020
The book of the brilliant BBC Radio 4 series, Three Vicars Talking, in which the Reverends Richard Coles, Kate Bottley and Giles Fraser discuss birth, marriage, funerals, Christmas - and Easter in a time of coronavirus.
- 2016
Bringing in the Sheaves
- 232 pages
- 9 hours of reading
The Revd Richard Coles' reflective account of life as a parish priest and broadcaster on BBC Radio 4's SATURDAY LIVE.
- 2015
Fathomless Riches
- 278 pages
- 10 hours of reading
The memoir of popular BBC Radio 4 SATURDAY LIVE presenter and former member of the Communards, the Reverend Richard Coles.
- 2013
Legends of the Improbable Saints
- 192 pages
- 7 hours of reading
From St Edith of Wilton, who beat up the Devil, to St Eutychius of Phrygia, who fell asleep and dropped from a window ledge while listening to a sermon of the Apostle Paul, only to be raised from the dead, here are 180 more astonishing stories of the saints ofChristian legend from best-selling author Richard Coles and illustrator Ted Harrison.
- 2012
Lives of the Improbable Saints
- 192 pages
- 7 hours of reading
Communard-turned-priest and Radio 4 broadcaster Richard Coles' quirky guide to the saints.