As it turns out, I chose not to watch the series at this time. I read a review of the first episode that made it appear the romance angle was really played up for TV, a romance that only makes a tentative and half-hearted appearance halfway through the book. I can't stand sexed-up adaptations, and frankly the book itself, with its back-cover blurb about Sidney having "eyes the color of hazelnuts" already makes me think of Rose from "Keeping Up Appearances" cooing over the "dishy vicar."
This sixth book I read in 2015 is the first of a planned six volumes of The Grantchester Mysteries. Without huge reserves of enthusiasm, I'll probably sign on for the complete trip. Sidney Chambers is the vicar of Grantchester in Cambridge in the early 1950s: 1953-54, in fact, in this volume, which gives precise dates and provides the newspaper headlines and wireless stories that would have been current at the time. A veteran soldier from the recently-ended World War II and jazz aficionado, Sidney makes for a curiously bloodless protagonist. Historical accuracy substitutes for depth of character, in the hero as well as the supporting cast. I find it hard to get too excited about any of the characters. The reader seems expected to root for the aforementioned romance, despite the fact that neither Sidney nor the lady can gin up any real enthusiasm for each other. I can't help but feel that they'd be a terrible match if they ever bestirred themselves to action, at any rate.
Speaking of awkward publicity text, one of the blurbers compares Sidney inexplicably to Mma Ramotswe. Because they're both mystery series, I suppose? The two have very little in common beyond their genre. The more natural comparison would be to G. K. Chesterton's Father Brown, although perhaps that's not current enough to sell books. They are, after all, both Anglican priests who solve crimes on the side. Sidney, however, suffers from the comparison, as there seems to be as little thought put into his theology as there is into his romantic life. He repeatedly complains that his hobby of solving crimes conflicts with his vocation, as being a priest demands that he think the best of everyone; Father Brown, on the other hand, with a more orthodox understanding of original sin, held that his vocation made him the perfect investigator, having heard confession, witnessed repentance, and plumbed the depths of human depravity. His less idealistic view of human nature, ironically, makes him a warmer and more forgiving character and less of a disapproving scold than Sidney manages to be.
(As a side note, the capitalization of 'The' in the middle of the title -- Sidney Chambers and The Shadow of Death -- is really annoying from a grammatical point of view. I suppose the 'Sidney Chambers and' is appended to the title of each of the books for branding, as if the 'The Grantchester Mysteries' heading wasn't enough. Might as well stick a hashtag on it. #StrunkandWhite.)
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