The Mortal Sickness

First Sentence: Jill knew at once that the woman was dead. English villages are not always peaceful. The vicar and his wife are relatively new to Lydmouth yet someone is doing their best to force them out by sending anonymous letters claiming the vicar has been having an affair with one of his parishioners. When the parishioner is found dead within the church, initial suspicion falls on the vicar. Journalist Jill Francis is also fairly to Lydmouth. Her professional interest soon becomes personal after also being attacked. Mr. Taylor's works reminded me of Agatha Christie only in Miss Marple's observation that the residents of St. Mary's Mead were a microcosm of people everywhere. There were quite a few characters and, although the author was kind enough to provide a list of characters, I found I didn't really need it as each came to life for me. Being set in post-War 1950s, it depicted the, outwardly at least, the secondary role of women. Yet the strongest characters were the women, particularly Jill and the vicar's wife, Mary Sutton. There was a very strong sense of place and evocative descriptions which enabled me to stroll through this fictional village with the characters. Taylor has a wonderful turn of phrase. I found myself stopping and re-reading occasional sentences for the pleasure of them. The plot was deceptive. It was fairly easy to spot a villain early on, but with a couple good twists along the way, I realized how well plotted was the story. Such was my enjoyment; I've ordered two more books in this series.