Death of a Chancellor: A Murder Mystery Featuring Lord Francis Powerscourt [Paperback]

I had wanted to read a mystery by David Dickinson after so many reviews admired his writing style and interesting stories. Too bad I couldn't find "Good Night Sweet Prince" which I really wanted to purchase, and instead had to put up with this "Chancellor" which is a pretty weak effort if Dickinson is an author of some import. It is a story about the decline and near fall into irrelevancy of the Church of England, and a "sinister" plot to return Roman Catholicism to one "unlucky" cathedral. This new "gun powder plot" is led by a group of renegade high C of E clergy who have "gone over to Rome" after John Henry Newman started the exodus. But these blokes are evil killers, or at least one of them is a madman who in the end falls from the tower. Yes indeed, I kid you not, Dickinson has him hurling off the top of the cathedral to his eternal reward. What a fitting end. Besides the story, which is a little tedious at points, and then becomes uncredible, it is annoying the way Dickinson puts accurate prophesies about the Church and the world into the mouth of his hero, as if were were a seer; but this genius (who is virtually unerring in everything) sees so clearly through the 20/20 vision of the author that it becomes obvious that he is too perfect and that hurts the story too. It is not all together certain whether Dickinson wants to make a commentary comparing what he describes as virtually empty C of E churches (were they SO empty around 1900?) and the huge crowds that show up when the Catholics storm the baracades. Still, this is a very silly anti-Catholic stuff; not worthy of much consideration unless you like that sort of hyperbolic rot, and you would be willing to believe that the fairly staid organization called Opus Dei was accurately portrayed in "The Da Vinci Code", then you might like this.

Having saved the monarchy from scandal in Goodnight Sweet Prince the Prime Minister in Death and the Jubilee (The Lord Francis Powerscourt) and the Bank of England in Death of an Old Master, Lord Francis Powerscourt is again pressed into service, this time on behalf of the Church of England. While I remain a fan of Dickenson's characters and writing, this installment was lackluster.

Originally hired to investigate a contested will (his employer a bitter, shrewish woman), Powerscourt is soon investigating a larger plot that could shake England to its roots, and which becomes much broader and sinister than the story progresses. The issue I take with _Death of a Chancellor_ is its unevenness. The horrible woman who initially brings Powerscourt to a small village in west England disappears mid-way through the story (she conviently takes a vacation to Italy, essentially writing her out of the book), never to be heard from again. In the meantime, Powercourt brings his wife and children to the village while he investigates. A sub-plot involving necessecary characters to help provide exposition (and perhaps ease the tension) only added to the fluctations in the relating of the story.

The idea of the story (I'm afraid I have to be vauge, lest there be spoilers - figuring out how parts of the plot interrelate is much of what the mystery is about) is clever, and the interrelationships between Johnny Fitzgerald (a long friend and former military associate of Powrescourt) and Lord and Lady Powerscourt is always entertaining to read, which saves the book from a lower rating. While I remain a fan of the series (and will continue to follow the adventures of the Powerscourts), _Death of a Chancellor_ isn't as strong as the previous books.

First Sentence: There was just one figure on the deck of the ship at four o'clock in the morning.

The Chancellor of the Cathedral at Compton has been found dead in his chamber by his servant. Together with the doctor and undertaker, they arrange for no one else to see the body. Upon discovering her brother was one of the richest men in England, The Chancellor's sister, married to a wastrel, hires Powerscourt to find out how her brother died and, if murdered, find the killer. After another death, Powerscourt comes to suspect the motives are very different than anything he's dealt with before.

Dickinson opened with an excellent opening that drew me into the story and the characters. He has a unique voice with almost a lightness to it that indicates just how much he enjoys his characters and writing his books.

I love his characters; Powerscourt, whom the author allows occasional mental flights of fancy and wonderful wry humor; Johnnie Fitzgerald, the Irishman who loves wine and bird watching; William McKenzie, the tea-totaling Protestant Scotsman who can follow a suspect for days, and Powerscourt's beloved wife, Lucy. His secondary characters are equally strong, particularly Patrick and Anne.

The historical information may set me running to the internet, but I always Dickinson's research holds true. I appreciated the important, but concise, definitions of the various roles of the church figures, the information on the Reformation and the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1538 and learning the difference between the ritualists and the Evangelicals in the Anglican Church at this time. I do caution that Catholics will probably not like this book.

The plot was excellent and built bit-by-bit; body-by-body. There is a very good balance of anticipation and horror and the revelations along with an excellent segment on the motives of murder. The ending was well done, particularly the thoughts and feelings Powerscourt had toward the killer.

While someone commented on there being anachronisms, I did not notice them. What I did notice was a very strong sense of time and place. This was an excellent book in a series which has become a favorite of mine and one highly recommend.

DEATH OF A CHANCELLOR (Hist Mys-Lord Francis Powerscourt-England-1901/Gaslight) - Ex
Dickinson, David - 4th in series
Constable & Robinson, Ltd., 2005, UK Hardcover - ISBN: 1841197785