A DARKLY HIDDEN TRUTH - Donna Fletcher Crow

Felicity has decided to become a nun. She departs to visit convents in spite of her mother's imminent arrival and Fr. Anselm's request that she and Fr. Antony recover a missing priceless Russian icon before the Patriarch of Moscow arrives at the community for Holy Week.

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Even more than the mystery in the story, I enjoyed the history lesson I received while reading the book.

I love reading historical amateur sleuth books like the Brother Cadfael series by Ellis Peters or the Hawkenlye mystery series by Alys Clare. I don't understand all of the religious information, but I can enjoy the flow of it and the life occurring as the story rolls along.

It was the same with A DARKLY HIDDEN TRUTH. It read just like a historical mystery, but it is set in modern times.

Since I was not raised with organized religion, I didn't get all of the religious ceremonial bits, but it didn't keep me from enjoying the mystery. It only enhanced the story, especially as Father Antony is a teacher and enjoyed relating bits of history to Felicity.

I look forward to reading more of this series and I am on the lookout for the book before this one, A VERY PRIVATE GRAVE.

Thank you to Library Thing with another fab book to read and review.

Five English beans......

THE PRIVATE PATIENT - P D James, narr Rosalyn Landor

B&N synopsis: Cheverell Manor is a lovely old house in deepest Dorset, now a private clinic belonging to the famous plastic surgeon George Chandler-Powell. When investigative journalist Rhoda Gradwyn arrived there one late autumn afternoon, scheduled to have a disfiguring and long-standing facial scar removed, she had every expectation of a successful operation and a pleasant week recuperating.

Two days later she was dead, the victim of murder.

To Commander Adam Dalgliesh, who with his team is called in to investigate the case, the mystery at first seems absolute. Few things make sense. Yet as the detectives begin probing the lives and backgrounds of those connected with the dead woman--the surgeon, members of the manor staff, close acquaintances--suspects multiply all too rapidly. New confusions arise, including strange historical overtones of madness and a lynching 350 years in the past. Then there is a second murder, and Dalgliesh finds himself confronted....

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It's been a long while since I've read or listened to a book by P D James. The last one was a couple of years ago, THE LIGHTHOUSE. I do love her books, but I need a few years between each one. They are chewy, involved, well developed mysteries. Each one has highly detailed background on each character so that the reader doesn't really know who might be a suspect, because each person could be. The mystery can be solved (or is it?) and there is more story to be told. I love that P D James writes more than just the mystery. I will be a fan forever, especially of the Adam Dalgliesh series.

Five in-depth British mystery beans....