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UNHOLY GHOSTS by D.M. Greenwood

UNHOLY GHOSTS

By

Pub Date: Oct. 1st, 1992
ISBN: 1906288100
Publisher: St. Martin's

Deaconess Theodora Braithwaite's second venture as unofficial sleuth (Clerical Errors). This time out, she's house-sitting in Norfolk for vacationing friends Bishop Charles Julian and wife Rosalind--giving Theodora a rest from her London duties--when the body of local Rector Hereward Marr is found, neck broken, in his church of St. Benet. Marr's unhappy wife Amy, known to Theodora from her counseling job, has disappeared, her car found empty in a local waterway. Marr was appointed to his church by the area's landed gentry--Baron Louis Dersingham--last of an ancient, no longer prosperous family, along with his elderly sister Vanessa, and no heirs in sight. Meanwhile, the Yaxlee family has served the Dersinghams for decades and continues to do so, even though senior Henry runs a profitable stable. Sifting through a tangled web of church politics, genealogical history, and hidden liaisons, Theodora's persistence is finally rewarded. The complexities of church hierarchy provide an exotic but often tedious background for the author's graceful, meandering style, much given to leisurely discussion. Distinctive, subtle flavors here--but not everyone's cup of tea.