The Reaper - Hardcover

Lovesey, Peter

3.88

600 ratings by Goodreads

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0786234385 ISBN 13: 9780786234387

Publisher: Thorndike Pr, 2001

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“Gleefully demonic, offsetting church homilies with garden poisons, piety with avarice, and a proper tea with a libido-unleashing tumbler of Scotch.” — Kirkus Reviews

Otis Joy is the popular and handsome young rector of St. Bartholomew’s Church in Foxford, Wiltshire, England. Soon after he receives a pastoral visit from the bishop, the bishop’s body is found lying at the bottom of a quarry. In the bishop’s car are a suicide note, a copy of a racy men’s magazine and a Bible with an underlined text reading: “hath devoured thy living with harlots.” His last telephone call, the police discover, was to a Madame Swish! Did the bishop take his own life? His death is strangely opportune. The bishop had accused Joy of embezzling funds. . . .

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About the Author:

Peter Lovesey is the author of twenty-six highly praised mystery novels and has been awarded the CWA Gold and Silver Daggers and the Diamond Dagger for Lifetime Achievement, as well as many US honors.

From Publishers Weekly:

Wielding the Diamond Dagger for Lifetime Achievement he recently won from the British Crime Writers, Lovesey slashes his way through the overgrown shrubbery of the rural British cozy. The result is an extremely clever, exquisitely written story of a murderous rector who manages to earn a great deal of our sympathy while dramatically whittling down his flock in the Wiltshire village of Foxford. "If you knew Marcus Glastonbury, you would not expect him to appreciate anything out of the ordinary," Lovesey tells us right away about the local bishop, who comes to chastise the handsome young rector for cooking the books at his last parish. And indeed Bishop Glastonbury is no match for the Reverend Otis Joy a wickedly intelligent serial killer (the bishop becomes his second victim, framed to look like a suicide and a sex pervert) who also happens to be a crackerjack priest. That's why the good folk of Foxford especially the women find it hard to swallow the gossip about Reverend Joy that gradually builds up like a winter ground fog. One local housewife, Rachel Jansen, who surprises the rector naked under an apron while he cleans up after killing the bishop, becomes such a strong supporter that she risks losing not only her life but also her immortal soul. Lovesey deftly plants deceptive clues and raises false hopes about Reverend Joy's fate, all the while painting a picture of a town and a church congregation so real that they leap off the page. (Apr. 1)Forecast: Soho is reprinting another one of Lovesey's best novels 1978's Rough Cider in paperback to help celebrate his Diamond Dagger, and he will be the guest of honor at this year's Bouchercon in Washington, D.C. Last year's well-received The Vault is also still available, helping to give this deserving author a lot of visibility.

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