Where else are you going to find riffs on wonderful liturgical music combined with a character like Binny Hen, the Scripture Chicken and a good mystery to boot than in one of Mark Schweizer's Liturgical Mysteries, in this case The Tenor Wore Tapshoes (#490)?
St. Barnabas Episcopal Church in picturesque St. Germaine, North Carolina, is just a hotbed of activity. Hayden Konig, Police Chief and organist at St. Barnabas is ready for a little peaceful downtime, but things never go as planned. A Tent Revival will be visiting town for several weeks, a breakfast pastry looks uncannily like the Blessed Virgin Mary, a lawyer new to town is stirring up things at St. Barnabas, and oh, yes, did I mention the body in the altar? Vandalism all over town, and all the clues point straight to Hadyn himself. What's going on? And will he ever propose to Meg?
These questions are all answered in the most amusing fashion in The Tenor Wore Tapshoes, but I have to warn you: Hayden's writing doesn't get any better, despite not only using Raymond Chandler's own antique typewriter, but now Hayden's channeling him, too. These books make me laugh out loud, a rare, rare thing. How funny was it that Binny Hen pecked her way to First Corinthians, Chapter 13 in the big Bible at Brother Hogmany McTavish's Gospel Tent Revival when First & Second Corinthians happened to be the EfM reading assignment this week? Or that Hayden had to attend the Iron Mike Men's Retreat, where taking someone to hospital ER was the high point? And just for the record, the Gorecki symphony Meg tries to get Hayden to listen to is well worth the effort. My own copy has Dawn Upshaw as the featured soprano; maybe Konig should try that recording...
Can't wait to read the next installment, and I'll never look at a squirrel the same way again!
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